Abstract—This paper explores the effect of applying gamification and flipped classroom approaches through our group-based assessment game, the CrossQuestion, in the course of IT in Business. The course teaches basic IT fundamentals and their application in different functional areas of business and management. In Spring 2020-21, we delivered this course through Moodle platform, integrated with the Zoom video communication tool, to introduce the CrossQuestion game as supplemental resources to engage students. We conducted measurements using the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey scales to verify the game's learning effect. We divided students into an experimental group (85 students who played the CrossQuestion game through gamified flipped classroom session–Spring 2020-21) and a control group (60 students who previously underwent lecture-based instructions and individualized formal assessments–Spring 2019-20). The analysis of students’ grades confirms improvement by applying gamified flipped classroom group-based assessments in the learning process. The students’ questionnaire also confirms that group-based assessments can improve students’ motivation. We developed a game system that was attractive to the students, implying that it can be an effective instructional and recreational material to boost morale, increase collaboration, enhance engagement and socialization opportunities, especially during this challenging pandemic. Index Terms—Educational game, flipped classroom, gamification, student motivation, ARCS model, instructional materials motivation survey. I. INTRODUCTION Starting January 2020, students, academics, and educational institutions worldwide faced aberrant phycological, technological, and physical challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UAE had its first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, and universities underwent drastic measures to comprehend associated challenges. With their well-established programs and delivery models, these universities became less effective in sustaining the motivation and engagement of the students‘ learning process. It became even a more significant challenge for us to teach IT fundamentals to students with a non-IT background in a completely online environment. Students in these circumstances are often overburdened with too much Manuscript received June 21, 2021; revised July 19, 2021. The authors are with Ajman University, United Arab Emirates (e-mail: dr.udurrani@gmail.com, r.alnajjar@ajman.ac.ae, a.almuaitah@ajman.ac.ae, 201810703@ajmanuni.ac.ae, 201810878@ajmanuni.ac.ae, 201710702@ajman.ac.ae). technical information on topics not directly relevant to their field of study. Applying the right combination of approaches such as gamification and flipped classrooms might help make the learning process more enjoyable, meaningful, and engaging to students and improve the outcomes of their studies [1], [2]. We have applied gamification, flipped classroom approaches, and explored their effects through our group-based assessment web application, the ―CrossQuestion‖. An undergraduate cohort from multiple colleges and programs enrolled for the IT in Business course in the College of Engineering & IT Ajman University. The course explored various topics, including introducing IS and IT, e-commerce, telecommunication infrastructure, e-business, security and ethical issues, and global management through IT. The key aim of the course was to explore critical areas of IT at a high level and highlight its relevance to business. This paper will present the process we used to perform the flipped classroom gamification through the CrossQuestion game. It will specify the design of our gamified flipped classroom and the main gamification components of the CrossQuestion game associated with the course. Although we used the CrossQuestion game explicitly in the IT in Business course, it can be applied to any class with little or no modifications. We used the point-scoring gamification element to reward or penalize groups based on their actions and utilized leaderboards to display groups' positions while in the competition. The two identified hypotheses for this study: gamification can positively enhance student engagement and motivation. As a result, it can improve students‘ grades. We have performed this experiment in the spring semesters 2020-21. We organized this paper as follows. The second section reviews the related work in gamification, flipped classrooms, group-based assessments, and its application in education. The third section of this paper describes the proposed gamified flipped classroom game, the CrossQuestion, and its implementation. In the fourth section, we will provide the research methodology explaining the application of CrossQuestion through a combination of the gamified flipped classroom experience for the IT in Business course. We then offer findings, discuss them in the fifth section, and conclude in section six with limitations and future studies. II. LITERATURE REVIEW Games have played an essential role in education. CrossQuestion Game: A Design of a Group-Based Assessment Tool to Enhance Student Motivation during Pandemic Usman Durrani, Roba Alnajjar, Abdulrahman Al Muaitah, Abdulwahab Daqaq, Abdulrahman Salah, and Reem Zeyad International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 12, No. 1, January 2022 15 doi: 10.18178/ijiet.2022.12.1.1581