DevQuest
CS 426 Senior Project in Computer Science, Spring 2025, at UNR, CSE Department
Team 35: Tyler Olson, Matt Stanley, and Jason Parmar
Instructors: David Feil-Seifer and Sara Davis
External Advisor: Eric Olson - Senior DevOps Engineer at Figure Markets
DevQuest is an educational web application designed to teach fundamental Computer Science concepts through a gamified learning experience. The goal is to make learning Programming Basics, Data Structures, and Algorithms more engaging and accessible, especially for beginners. Inspired by platforms like Duolingo, our project incorporates interactive elements such as quizzes, coding challenges, and progress tracking to keep users motivated.
It is designed for students, self-learners, and beginners who want to strengthen their understanding of Computer Science in a structured and interactive way. Many learners struggle with traditional, text-heavy materials, and this helps bridge this gap by making concepts more digestible through hands-on challenges and rewards.
The app provides public value by making Computer Science education more accessible to those who may not have access to formal training. By offering a free or low-cost learning alternative, DevQuest aims to help more people develop valuable coding skills. It also keeps users engaged with a competitive yet friendly learning environment through leaderboards and progress tracking, encouraging long-term engagement.
DevQuest includes an interactive glossary that allows users to quickly look up key Computer Science terms and concepts. The gamified learning system rewards users with points, streaks, and level-ups as they complete lessons and challenges. A global and friend-based leaderboard fosters motivation by allowing users to compare their progress with others. User progress, scores, and achievements are saved to ensure continuous learning. Hands-on coding challenges reinforce theoretical concepts, while secure user authentication provides a personalized experience.
The backend is developed using Go for efficient server-side logic and API development. The frontend is built with Vue via Nuxt to create a dynamic and responsive user interface. Postgres is used as our database solution for storing user progress and other data. Additional tools are Docker for containerization and Tailwind for CSS styling.
To ensure reliability, we undergo testing such as unit testing, integration testing, and load testing, to guarantee stability and smooth performance. Security measures include secure authentication, data encryption, input validation, and rate limiting.
By integrating gamification, structured learning, and strong security measures, DevQuest aims to make Computer Science education more engaging, effective, and widely accessible.
Research demonstrating gamification's potential to boost student engagement and motivation in educational settings, particularly when addressing challenges like dropout rates. Through analysis of gamification's core concepts, applications, and theoretical frameworks, evidence supports its value in educational design.
Research on the importance of feedback in higher education assessment, emphasizing timely, relevant, and context-appropriate feedback for enhancing student learning and classroom dynamics.
A model platform for gamified learning, demonstrating effective implementation of micro-lessons, reward systems, and progress monitoring features.
An interactive coding education platform featuring structured learning paths and achievement systems, serving as a model for engaging computer science education.
Extensive collection of free, in-depth computer science tutorials and project-based learning resources, covering a wide range of programming topics.
The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education (2012) by Karl M. Kapp
This seminal work provides a comprehensive framework for implementing game mechanics in educational contexts. Kapp thoroughly examines how game elements like challenges, rewards, and engagement loops can enhance learning outcomes. The book's research-based approach to gamification directly influenced our project's design principles, particularly in how we structure our learning progression, reward systems, and user engagement features. Its insights on balancing entertainment with educational value helped shape DevQuest's approach to making computer science concepts both engaging and effectively learned.
Latest Nuxt update brings significant performance improvements and new features that enhance development workflow, which will benefit our frontend implementation.
Go's latest major release introduces built-in support for structured logging and improved performance, features we'll leverage in our backend development.