ABSTRACT: We present a report from our preliminary research, which focused on the possibilities of implementing game elements into e-learning at university. We were interested in the attitudes and preferences of the students on the introductory course for the study of culture, where a questionnaire survey was conducted. We asked students what potential they see in the application of digital technologies in e-learning, what motivates them to study online and what advantages and limits of the educational principles of games they see in e-learning. Here we offer a description of the preliminary results that led to our next research steps. The questionnaire was distributed among students of two runs of the Introduction to the Study of Culture course at the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University, who completed it after the final test. A total of 188 students submitted a completed form. These were bachelor students, usually in the first year of study, mostly women. We chose a freely available online tool for the analysis, our approach to data processing was non-mathematical at this stage. Nevertheless, we believe that it has enabled us to gain a direct and unmediated insight into the subject of our research. Mixed methods pragmatic rationalization of the research process traditionally refers to the complementarity of datasets and greater validity. Based on the findings, we recommend to educators and developers of the online learning environment how they could improve the design of e-learning in accordance with the needs and different learning styles of students.
KEY WORDS: digital games, e-learning, flow, game-based educational principles, gamification, learning objectives, motivation and self-determination theory, online learning systems, teaching model.
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