The University Pages Game: Gamified use of the LinkedIn Student & Alumni Tool to enhance student understanding of the role of social media in building social capital

Like many other academic disciplines, gamified learning environments are increasing in IS education. Creating and using gamified learning experiences contributes to "flipped classrooms" and is widely viewed as a mechanism for increasing course engagement among millennial students. This paper describes the creation and use of a social media module for a MIS course that uses game elements to introduce students to LinkedIn's Student and Alumni Tool and how it can be used to build social capital. Because LinkedIn Student & Alumni tool is relatively unknown among students, the social media module, which we call the University Pages Game, also provides instructors with a vehicle for illustrating precepts of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT).