Cognitive, Affective, and Motivational Effects of Gamified Learning in a Research-Guided Teaching Context

While evidence accumulates that gamified learning has small to moderate positive overall effects on learning outcomes, these effects may considerably depend on the exact conditions in which learning occurs. This study investigated the effect of embedding a gamified learning task within a homework assignment in a university course on cognitive, motivational, and affective outcomes (in contrast to online and laboratory settings unrelated to specific educational contexts investigated in earlier studies). Fifty students, enrolled in a basic statistics course, completed either a gamified or an equivalent, non-gamified memory task as a homework assignment. Their outcomes were compared with 97 participants not enrolled in the course (overall: n = 147). We found that gamified learning had small to medium significant effects on motivation (d ~ 0.4–0.6), regardless of enrollment in the course. Effects on affective and cognitive learning outcomes were not significant, ranging from negligible to small effect sizes (d ≤ 0.25). Juxtaposing our present results with earlier results suggests that, beyond the setting itself, additional contextual features may change the motivational effectiveness of gamified learning in the present, homework assignment setting compared to earlier extra-curricular (online and laboratory) settings. Further research on potential boundary conditions is required.