Gamification in Education for Educators and Policy Makers

Teacher support significantly influences student engagement and learning outcomes in educational environments that incorporate generative AI (GenAI). Simulation-based learning (SBL) fosters complex skill development but may cause cognitive overload without appropriate instructional support. While GenAI tools provide personalized assistance, their integration into teaching and learning presents pedagogical challenges. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study investigated the effects of SDT-based teacher support on undergraduates’ psychological need satisfaction, engagement, and learning outcomes in a GenAI-assisted simulation-based learning environment. Eighty university students participated in a GenAI-assisted performance management simulation activity and were assigned to conditions with or without teacher support. Our analysis showed that teacher support: (i) significantly enhanced competence and relatedness satisfaction; (ii) significantly increased cognitive, emotional, and agentic engagement; (iii) significantly improved learning performance, problem solving, and critical thinking; and (iv) did not significantly promote autonomy satisfaction, behavioral engagement, or creativity. This study underscores the essential role of teacher support in improving student engagement and higher-order thinking skills in learning contexts incorporating GenAI.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among lifelong learning motivation, social support, learning engagement, and learning outcomes in Chinese adult women to enhance their lifelong learning performance. The research examines differences in lifelong learning motivation, social support, learning engagement, and learning outcomes among Chinese adult women based on background variables. Additionally, the study analyzes the structural relationships between these variables and explores the mediating effects of social support and learning engagement. According to the results, adult women's motivation for lifelong learning has a positive impact on learning outcomes, and both learning orientation and goal orientation also positively influence learning outcomes. Positive relationships were observed between lifelong learning motivation and social support, learning orientation and social support, as well as goal orientation and social support. In terms of the relationship with learning engagement, both lifelong learning motivation and learning orientation had a positive impact, while the relationship with goal orientation was not significant. Furthermore, indirect effects of social support and learning engagement on learning outcomes were confirmed. Social support mediated the relationship between lifelong learning motivation and learning outcomes, as well as between learning orientation and learning outcomes, and goal orientation and learning outcomes. The study's findings highlight that Chinese women's lifelong learning motivation positively influences learning outcomes through social support and learning engagement. Consequently, the study suggests strategies to enhance lifelong learning motivation, improve social support, and foster learning engagement in Chinese women to elevate their learning outcomes. Efforts are emphasized to strengthen social support and promote diverse learning activities for the positive influence of women's lifelong learning motivation on learning engagement and outcomes.

Background: Menstrual blood banking, an emerging field in regenerative medicine, requires enhanced health literacy among nursing students to promote patient education and informed decision-making. Gamification, the integration of game design elements in non-game contexts, has shown promise in improving engagement and learning outcomes in nursing education. Objective :This study evaluates the effect of a gamification teaching strategy on the health literacy of fourth-year BSc Nursing students concerning menstrual blood banking. Methods: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was employed with 80 fourth-year BSc Nursing students at a tertiary nursing college in India. Participants were divided into an experimental group (n=40), receiving a gamified educational module, and a control group (n=40), receiving traditional lectures. The Health Literacy Survey on Menstrual Blood Banking (HLS-MBB), a validated tool, measured health literacy before and after the intervention. The gamified module included points, badges, leader boards, and scenario-based challenges delivered via an e-learning platform. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests and independent t-tests. Results: The experimental group showed a significant increase in health literacy scores post-intervention (mean difference = 16.32, p<0.001) compared to the control group (mean difference = 4.2, p=0.04). The gamified approach also enhanced student engagement and motivation, as reported in post-intervention surveys. Conclusion: Gamification significantly improves health literacy regarding menstrual blood banking among fourth-year BSc Nursing students, suggesting its potential as an innovative teaching strategy in nursing curricula.

Gamification introduces game elements and game thinking in non-game contexts. Many scholars argue that gamification can potentially be a viable online learning approach to promoting student engagement and learning outcomes in recent years. However, various obstacles impede their practical implementation. As a result, user experience (UX) and user participation may be affected, possibly resulting in high course drop-outs rates. Furthermore, it is unclear which game elements are effective and recognized as the current state-of-the-art gamified online learning research. This study provides a review identifying the game elements introduced in online learning and tested in previous studies from 2017-2020 through a systematic search strategy. By reviewing the literature, we identified the most effective game elements and determined their impact on the learners’ user experience. The results show that in 26 of the 34 selected studies, gamified online learning had a significant beneficial effect on user experience, engagement, and completion of courses. Moreover, points, leader boards, levels, badges, and progress bars are the most widely used game elements in the studies. This study’s findings may guide the design of more successful gamification interventions for online learning.

The integration of technology in education has revolutionized traditional teaching methods, and one of the most innovative approaches to emerge in recent years is gamification. Defined as the application of game elements and mechanisms in non-game contexts, gamification has demonstrated great potential in increasing motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes in various educational fields, including language education. In the context of teaching Romanian as a foreign language, the challenges are significant. International students often face difficulties in maintaining motivation and interest, given that language learning can be perceived as an overwhelming and monotonous task. This is even more true when medical students must engage in learning complex concepts of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, which can seem difficult tasks for beginners. However, the introduction of gamification in Romanian language teaching has proven to be a transformative solution. By integrating elements like points, badges, leaderboards, and game-like challenges, educators can create an interactive and immersive environment that fosters greater student engagement. Gamification builds on the natural desire of medical professionals to achieve and compete, motivating them to participate in the learning process in an enjoyable and effective way. Research shows that gamification not only increases student interest and engagement, but also improves their language skills by creating a dynamic and enjoyable learning environmen

This study explores how different motivation categories influence college students’ learning engagement behaviors and outcomes under the context of eastern culture. 178 junior college students were surveyed at a four-year research university in Taiwan. The study addressed two research questions: 1. Are there subgroups of students with significantly different motivation profiles? 2. If so, do these subgroups of students differ significantly in terms of their engagement behaviors and learning outcomes? Three motivational profiles were found based on individual differences in motivational beliefs (high intrinsic motivation, high extrinsic motivation, and high motivation [i.e., both high intrinsic and high extrinsic motivation]). Following ANCOVAs, the study confirmed that college students who have both high intrinsic and high extrinsic motivations have higher scores on specific engagement behaviors and learning outcomes. This finding suggests that a motivation profile of both high intrinsic and high extrinsic motivation is most beneficial for learning.

The presence of a feedback system is a key factor in maintaining individuals' engagement in educational games. This system aims to enhance player motivation and active participation in educational games. In addition, the feedback system can improve the players' learning outcomes by augmenting their knowledge. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of comprehensive research in the field of feedback systems in educational games, leading to an inadequate comprehension of how to construct a proficient feedback system that can more effectively accomplish the objectives of educational games. The overview of feedback systems in educational games is frequently scattered and fragmented, making it challenging to figure out which educational games incorporate such systems. This research not only improves the comprehension of the feedback system in educational games but also addresses an important gap in the existing literature. The aim of this study is to conduct an extensive and systematic review of the existing literature on feedback systems in educational games. This review is based on 36 relevant journal articles published from 2019 to 2023. This research examines the patterns in the utilization of feedback systems in educational games, including the technologies employed to build these systems, the educational domains studied, and the types of products developed through the creation of educational games. In this study, the discussion also includes the design techniques and methods for feedback systems. This text discusses the utilization feedback types as well as the algorithms used to analyze the feedback systems. The text thoroughly discusses the comprehensive selection of feedback components to be delivered as mediums for player feedback. In this paper, we will clarify the impact of using feedback systems in educational games on the players. This study greatly contributes to the progress of learning conducted through educational games.

This study aimed to empirically analyze the differences in learning satisfaction, learning engagement, and learning outcomes among university students based on the method of safety education: face-to-face, online, and blended learning. With the continued occurrence of laboratory accidents in universities, there is a growing need to verify the effectiveness of various educational methods and to present effective strategies for implementing safety education. A survey was conducted among students enrolled in four-year universities across South Korea, and a total of 408 responses were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 23.0 through factor analysis and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that face-to-face education yielded the highest levels in all three variables—learning satisfaction, engagement, and outcomes—followed by blended education, and lastly online education. Additionally, as students progressed to higher academic years, the overall effectiveness of safety education tended to decrease. In particular, fourth-year students showed the highest rate of online education participation and the lowest level of learning outcomes. These findings suggest the necessity for personalized and systematically designed safety education programs. By empirically demonstrating significant differences in learning outcomes according to the method of instruction, this study provides foundational data for improving university safety education. It particularly highlights the effectiveness of interaction and experience-based learning in face-to-face education, the potential of blended learning, and the importance of developing customized strategies based on students’ academic levels. Future safety education should be diversified and refined in alignment with learner characteristics and educational objectives.

Introduction This study applies Reeve’s four-dimensional student engagement framework to a medical education context to elucidate the relationship between behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic engagement and learning outcomes. Meanwhile, we categorize learning outcomes in knowledge and skills, and added taxonomies to the cognitive education objectives for the knowledge part, including memorization, comprehension, and application. Methods We used the China Medical Student Survey to investigate student engagement, and combined it with the Clinical Medicine Proficiency Test for Medical Schools results as a standardized measurement of learning outcomes. We performed multivariate regression analyses to delve into the effectiveness of different types of student engagement. Moreover, we evaluated the moderating roles of gender and the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) within the relationships between student engagement and learning outcomes. Results We observed that emotional engagement is most effective in promoting learning outcomes in basic medical knowledge and basic clinical skills. Emotional engagement and cognitive engagement could effectively contribute to learning outcomes in all three aspects of basic medical knowledge. In contrast, behavioral and agentic engagement showed negative effects on learning outcomes. Besides, we found that the results of the NCEE played a positive moderating role. Conclusion This study provides robust evidence for the effectiveness of emotional engagement and cognitive engagement in promoting learning outcomes. Whereas behavioral and agentic engagement may not be good predictors of learning outcomes in macro-level general competence tests. We suggest a combined effort by students and institutions to promote student engagement and bridge the distance between general competency tests and daily learning activities.

Gamification refers to the use of game-like components in classrooms to attain students’ attention and provide an engaging learning environment. Previous studies have shown that there are apparent reports on the ineffectiveness of taught literature lessons, calling for the need to have more engaging and student-centered methods such as gamification to improve student engagement and learning outcomes in schools. This review is based on the need to investigate gamification as a teaching approach to teach literature in education (LiE) in a more effective and engaging manner, in order to inform educators and policymakers on best practices for enhancing the teaching of LiE. This paper aims to study the impact of gamification on student engagement and learning outcomes, particularly in the context of Literature in Education It analyzes 36 past studies which investigated the integration of gamification in LiE, specifically focusing on its impact on learning outcomes and student engagement where four phases were administered: identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion. The papers were carefully reviewed to ensure they contributed to a comprehensive and deeper understanding of the impact of gamification on student engagement and learning outcomes in LiE. The review of past studies contributed to a greater understanding of the impact of gamification and was needed to assess the effectiveness of using gamification in LiE. In addition, previous studies and data pertaining to challenges of LiE, students’ and teachers’ perceptions towards gamification as a teaching approach in LiE were included. The findings suggests gamification to be a promising and creative tactic to boost student engagement, involvement and improve learning outcomes.

One of the essential factors in a learning process, especially in higher education, is lecturer performance. This study aims to discover the impact of a lecturer's performance on students learning outcomes in the online learning environment. Lecturer performance is represented by four aspects which are the lecturer's performance on learning technology (X1), the lecturer's performance on learning pedagogy (X2), the lecturer's performance on supporting learners (X3), and the lecturer's performance on supporting educators (X4). This quantitative research approach aims to discover one variable's cause-and-effect relationship to another. The subject of this study is 37 lecturers and 146 students. The result shows that the lecturer's performance contributes 43.1% to students' learning outcomes. It is known that learning technology and pedagogy aspects have a significant effect on students' learning outcomes. However, supporting learners and educators does not significantly impact students' learning outcomes. Therefore, the lecturer's performance positively impacts learning outcomes and is valuable for further online learning development. A potential research contribution could be to investigate further the relationship between specific aspects of a lecturer's performance and students' learning outcomes in an online learning environment. this study's findings have significant implications for higher education institutions seeking to improve online learning experiences for students. By identifying the specific aspects of lecturer performance that most impact learning outcomes, institutions can provide targeted support and training to their lecturers, ultimately leading to improved learning outcomes for students in online learning environments.

Associations between baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of educational environment and HESI™ scores and GPA

This article explores the impact of gamification — the integration of game elements into the educational process — on students’ intrinsic motivation. The study employed a mixed-methods quasi-experimental design involving university students from Uzbekistan and Germany. The experimental group studied through a gamified Moodle platform, while the control group used a traditional digital learning environment. The results demonstrated that specific gamification elements, particularly badges, progress bars, and leaderboards, effectively enhanced students’ intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, cultural context (individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures) emerged as a significant moderating factor in this relationship. The paper emphasizes the importance of culturally adaptive gamification design to maximize motivational and learning outcomes in diverse educational environments.

Gamification, understood as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, is increasingly used in education to strengthen engagement and to support accessibility in diverse learning environments. The article aims to synthesize evidence on gamification in education and to propose an inclusive gamification framework that improves meaningful engagement while reducing accessibility barriers for learners with diverse needs and participation constraints. A structured narrative literature review with thematic synthesis is applied. The review integrates conceptual definitions of gamification, empirical syntheses on effectiveness, and accessibility-oriented frameworks, then codes findings into themes related to engagement mechanisms, accessibility safeguards, risks and negative effects, and evaluation practices. The analysis indicates that gamification may produce positive average effects on motivation and engagement, but results are heterogeneous and depend on design quality, context, and learner characteristics. Inclusive gamification is most credible when it supports autonomy, competence, and belonging through flexible pathways, adjustable pacing, multimodal feedback, and accessible interfaces, while limiting exclusion risks created by time pressure and social comparison. Gamification should be treated as instructional architecture rather than a reward layer, with accessibility designed from the outset and monitored through both learning outcomes and equity-sensitive participation indicators. Future studies should test inclusive gamification designs in diverse contexts, strengthen causal evidence on accessibility impacts, and develop validated metrics for participation quality, belonging, and differential effects across learner groups.

This study aims to examine the effects of applying gamification in learning Arabic and English on student motivation and learning outcomes at MTs Negeri 1 Ponorogo and MAN 2 Ponorogo. Gamification involves incorporating game elements into non-game contexts, applied here to language learning. The research utilizes an experimental method with a pretest-posttest control group design to assess the effectiveness of gamification. The participants are students from MTs Negeri 1 Ponorogo and MAN 2 Ponorogo, divided into two groups: an experimental group that uses gamification and a control group that follows traditional learning methods. Data collection was carried out using learning motivation questionnaires and language proficiency tests. The findings reveal that the group employing gamification showed a significant improvement in motivation and learning outcomes compared to the control group. These results suggest that gamification can be a potent tool for boosting motivation and learning outcomes in Arabic and English, indicating that educators should consider incorporating game elements into their teaching methods.