Can Videogames Fix Online Learning? The Effect of Educational Videogames on Student Learning and Engagement

Abstract

This paper presents the first estimates of the causal effect of educational videogames on students’ academic performance in a large introductory microeconomics course at a major research-intensive university. To this effect, we designed and implemented an online module that captures the basic elements of educational videogames while maintaining full consistency with the course material. Using administrative data and the exogenous variation given by the timing of the videogame deployment, we find that students who had access to the game scored 8.35% and 9.05% more in their mid-term and final exam, respectively, compared to those without game access. These positive results are particularly strong for the final exam scores of female students and of those studying Economics and Commerce or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. We also find the effects to be large and robust for all score quantiles, suggesting that both high- and low-achieving students benefitted. Overall, our results indicate that educational (or serious) videogames may be a genuinely effective learning resource, with substantial beneficial effects on student performance.