Game Design Elements Research Articles

A qualitative investigation of student experience in a gamified course at the Open University of Mauritius

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a paradigm shift from traditional on-campus presence learning to online learning. While the transition to digital education and online learning has been embraced worldwide, the biggest challenge remains the lack of motivation and engagement of the online student. Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts and in an online learning context; it is an innovative strategy to encourage motivation and engagement. This study shows the findings of qualitative research that aims to examine students’ experience in an online gamified course. The gamified online course, Music and Movement, was offered to Bachelor in Education (Honours) Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) students at the Open University of Mauritius in the semester August to December 2021. The course was redesigned using a gamification theoretical framework called D6. Out of 46 ECEC students, 15 volunteered to further contribute through semi-structured interviews. The collected data was transcribed and analysed using open coding. The findings reveal that the perception and experience of students about the gamified online course can be categorised into five main themes, namely gamified course elements, general feelings and experience of students, personality of the tutor, traits of the students and collaborative work.

Mechanism of gamification: Role of flow in the behavioral and emotional pathways of engagement in management education

Gamification of learning is the integration of game design elements into the learning context. Decade-long research has revealed evidence on the ability of gamification to increase the engagement levels of users. Research attributes this enhanced user engagement to the unique experience offered by gamification. However, the literature is still unclear about this experience, its pathways, and the underlying mechanism. Hence, the present study examines the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional pathways of learning engagement in a gamified management course through a within-subject experiment. The results indicate that both behavioral and emotional engagement is significantly higher during the gamified sessions. In contrast, no significant change was found in learners' cognitive engagement. Moreover, flow was found to mediate the relationship between gamification and engagement when examined using the multi-categorical mediation analysis. The study brings clarity to the mechanism of gamification based on the foundations of goal setting theory and stimulus organism response (SOR) theory. It also assists practitioners by providing insights into the ‘experience to target for’ while designing gamification in a learning setting.

The Effects of 10 User Interface (UI) Elements on Game Design Process

This paper aims to seek and identify the relationships between 10 user interface (UI) elements in game design. To study the relationships, 50 games of varying designs and genres were selected and analyzed. The 10 elements in focus are connectivity, simplicity, directional, informative, interactivity, user-friendliness, comprehensiveness, continuity, personalization, and internal use. At the same time, it discusses how the game interface should follow the rules of the user interface to experience optimal gameplay and to derive valuable outcomes and user acceptance of the technology. To that end, the results showed how important it is to incorporate the 10 UI in the game designing process and facilitating higher learning outcomes through understanding and engagement.

Pedagogical Design Perspective of Digital Game-Based English Language Learning

The number of digital game-based language learning studies over the past two decades has considerably increased. Conversely, game-based pedagogy from the instructional design perspective has been discussed to a lesser extent despite the emergence of a variety of digital games in the global educational technology market. The objectives of the present study were to examine the game design elements of digital game-based language learning as a pedagogical tool for English language settings and to address the application of digital games in pedagogical settings. A scoping review was employed as the research synthesis, and the PRISMA method was utilized to manage the screening process and to code the articles. The results revealed that game design elements including game genres, game availability, and game platforms have an impact on the effectiveness of digital game-based language teaching. In addition, the implementation of digital game-based pedagogy relies upon two aspects: system design and instructional design.

A Scholarly Character Sheet to Frame Learning Activities and Improve Engagement

Character sheets are an essential element of game design for tabletop role-playing games. They can be adapted to frame a series of learning activities and to improve participants' engagement. In this study, they are used at the beginning of a five-session graduate seminar on library instruction to assess the participants' knowledge and present the curriculum. They are also used as wrap-up at the end of the final session to measure the participants' progress. Besides providing a better assessment of the group by the instructor, the character sheet activity improves comprehension of the content and offers an engaging opportunity to start the seminar and create a personal connection with the students. Through objectivation, a theoretical framework, I argue that character sheets can support metacognitive abilities like self-authorship, self-determination, and a growth mindset. By framing and matching the content with the participants' personal journey, character sheets provide gamified syllabi to improve motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes in a series of workshop activities.

Maintenance effects of a gamification intervention on motivation and physical activity in patients with coronary heart disease: intermediate results of a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Despite the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention, patients with coronary heart disease frequently fail to meet their daily physical activity goals. When one is stuck in a cycle of bad habits, changing one's behavior can be very challenging. One of the difficulties to maintaining a healthy lifestyle may be a lack of motivation. The use of game design elements (such as points, leaderboards, progress bars, and badges) in non-game contexts to promote motivation and engagement is known as gamification. It could be a powerful tool for encouraging patients to engage in physical activity. However, solid ideas that utilize the fundamental experience and psychological impacts of gaming mechanics must be built upon. Purpose The aim of this study is to look into the impact of a smartphone-based gamification intervention on physical activity engagement and other related psychological outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease, as well as the 24-week maintenance of effects beyond the 12-week intervention. Methods Participants with coronary heart disease were randomly assigned to three groups (control group, individual group and team group). The individual and team groups received gamified behavior intervention based on behavioral economic principles. Based on the Individual group, the team earned social incentives (collaboration). The intervention lasted 12 weeks, with another 12 weeks of follow-up. The primary outcomes included the change in daily steps and the proportion of patient-days that step goals achieved. The secondary outcomes included competence, autonomous, relatedness and autonomous motivation. Results The follow-up period has now been completed by 65 participants (mean age 52.8+10.3, 18.2% female) completed the follow-up period. Compared with the control group (n=17), participants in the individual group (n=25) had a significantly greater increase in mean daily steps from baseline during the intervention group (difference 956; 95% CI, 243–1623; P<0.01), and had a significantly greater proportion of patient-days that step goals achieved (difference 0.35; 95% CI, 0.03–0.12; P<0.001), competence (difference 0.5, 95% CI, 0.3–0.7; P<0.001), autonomous motivation (difference 3.2; 95% CI, 2.0–4.0; P<0.001). However, no significant difference of change in step counts was found between team group (n=23) and control group. During the follow-up period, mean daily steps and autonomous motivation in the individual declined but remained significantly greater than that in the control arm compared with baseline (steps: difference 452; 95% CI, 138–818; P<0.05) (motivation: difference 1.2; 95% CI, 0.3–1.8; P<0.05). Conclusions A smartphone-based gamification intervention was found to be an effective strategy to enhance motivation and physical activity engagement, as well as having a great maintenance effect. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): This work is financially supported by a Construction Programme of Independent Innovation Ability of Community Health Nursing Engineering Laboratory in Jilin Province (Study code: 2020C038-8) awarded to FL.

Analysis of the college underachievers’ transformation via gamified learning experience

Underachievers - students have poor academic performance, are lazy in behaviour, and hold negative learning attitudes in class. Many studies have shown that the lack of interest in learning is a fundamental reason students become underachievers. With the rapid development of information technology, games have gradually integrated into our lives. Gamification has been applied to stimulate students learning interests and strengthen their motivation by incorporating game design elements in educational environments. This paper first elaborates on the current trends of gamified learning and the transformation of underachievers. Next, this research reviews the theoretical basis and defines the relevant concepts of gamified learning. Then, through questionnaires and interviews, the paper investigates the learning status of the underachievers with the gamified platform – GamiClass based on ADDIE instructional design model and Grasha Learning Styles. A total of 10 underachievers among 76 Raffles University Malaysia Innovation module students were selected for practical analysis. This experiment investigated gamification feasibility and effectiveness in the transformation of underachievers. This research found that gamification could effectively improve the underachievers' learning interest. Game elements such as meaning, onboard tutorial, social pressure and guild/teams are necessary for a gamified learning platform to motivate underachievers in online lesson participation.

Playful Participatory Mapping: Co-creating Games to Foster Systems Thinking

This paper presents a currently evolving hybrid research, teaching and public engagement methodology that uses game design principles and elements to overcome established limitations of participatory research methodologies and pedagogies (such as lack of transferability of findings and difficulties in comparing outcomes and datasets) through the inclusion of game design elements and a focus on systems thinking. Game design is inherently rooted in systems thinking, which has been highlighted a key competence in addressing the “wicked” problems and Sustainable Development Goals, a linkage which is still weakly explored by research. The paper will discuss the methodology’s theoretical groundings and inspirations, with a particular focus on linking participatory approaches, game design and Donella Meadows’s work on “Leverage Points” for systems-oriented interventions. The paper will then discuss how the methodology builds on and moves beyond established community mapping approaches by working with participants to progressively and co-creatively add more formalised game-like elements and dynamics (simulation, goal-setting, player-mapping, turn-taking, role-playing) that organically scaffold participants in moving towards more abstract systems modelling. Following an articulation of the process and its underlying theoretical framework, the paper will also present brief, reflective accounts of a number of experiments in playful participatory community mapping facilitated over a 18-month period, with diverse groups of participants across different countries engaging with the methodology and informing its evolution. These accounts will showcase how the game design lens has allowed participant communities to develop systems thinking and engage in systems mapping, moving from materially grounded and culturally relevant categories towards more systematised models, which include possible, practical “leverage points” for intervention.

Climate4Kids – A Gamified App Teaching about Climate Change

As per Deterding et al. (2011), gamification can be defined as using game design elements in non-game contexts and it is used to increase motivation and engagement. That is why there are already gamified application to change people’s behavior when it comes to environmental protection. Climate change is a complex topic which is for younger children aged 6 to 10 years quite often too abstract to understand properly. Therefore, a browser-based app is being developed that aims at teaching basics about renewable energy, mobility, greenhouse effect, soil sealing, heat insulation and the like. Using elements of gamification like points, collecting stars, planting trees digitally, a changing background (depending on the progress made) as well as a narration about the protagonist Mani (a groundhog that is affected by climate change) and his friends encourage the children to use the app not only at school but also at home. By telling stories which introduce the topic, the children get a first understanding of how everybody of us affects the environment and what we can do to prevent effects of climate change. Moreover, instructions for easy hands-on experiments are used to make children experience certain effects and/or consequences of climate change. The app seeks to meet children’s emotional needs acknowledging feelings, emphasizing solutions, and encouraging action. The contribution shows how elements of gamification are included in the app to ensure that children are motivated to engage with the topics as well as stay immersed and transfer the learnings into their every-day-life.

Pre-service Teachers' Player Types and Their Relation to Self-efficacy With Digital Media

Gamification in educational contexts is often used to increase learners’ intrinsic motivation and their self-efficacy beliefs, two constructs which are positively related with each other as well as to scholastic outcomes. As self-efficacy beliefs are conceptualized context-specific, it is important to consider various users’ needs by adapting the learning environment to their corresponding gamification player types (GPT). Studies show that different GPT are characterized by different motivational aspects (intrinsically motivated, extrinsically motivated, disruptive GTP) Therefore, the aim of the present study is the examination of six different GPT according to the HEXAD typology (Tondello et al., 2016) for pre-service teachers regarding their distribution and their relation to self-efficacy with digital media. Altogether N = 75 pre-service teachers were assessed in terms of their GPT and their self-efficacy with digital media. It was hypothesized that the GPT distribution for pre-service teachers is comparable to the distribution reported by Tondello et al. (2016). Additionally, it was exploratively examined to what extent the different types of players differ in their self-efficacy with digital media. Results show that the GPT distribution in the current sample differs significantly from the expected distribution. Pre-service teachers seem to show specific GPT characteristics due to their profession. Concerning self-efficacy with digital media, pre-service teachers show a high subjective perception of their self-efficacy with digital media, but contrarious to the hypothesis no significant relation was found between GPT and self-efficacy with digital media. The results indicate that pre-service teachers feel confident to the use of digital media in class and that pre-service teachers form a group with a specific distribution of player types and therefore have specific needs in gamified learning environments. Due to the reported high amount of intrinsic player types, game design elements which promote intrinsic motivation should be in the focus of prospective analyses.

Creating an Escape Room for Cultural Mediation: Insights from "The Archivist's Dream"

The Archivist’s Dream („Der Traum der Archivarin“) is a Live Escape Room Game that has been developed by the University of Krems’ Center for Applied Game Studies on behalf of the Archives of Contemporary Arts in Krems, Austria, which are dedicated to collecting pre-mortem bequests and post-mortem estates of outstanding artists. Located in the underground facilities of the archive, the Escape Room interweaves selected archival materials, historic media devices and archivist approaches to form an interactive puzzle experience. However, it is not an interactive exhibition showcasing the archives’ contents; and while the Escape Room incorporates elements of educational game design, it is an example for a less common application of (Escape Room) Games: the use of game design in the field of cultural mediation (Kulturvermittlung). Instead of following an educational goal in the narrower sense, the Escape Room is designed to turn aspects of cultural mediation and archival practice into gameplay principles, focusing on letting players explore the tenets of archival thinking rather than on “teachable” content. This is achieved by establishing different levels of (un-)reality players have to travers within the game: players follow a fictional archivist into her dreams, which merge with the real-life archives. In order to “escape” this dream world, players combine archival practices with dream logic to solve a secret tied to actual archival materials, while at the same time dissolving the borders between real life, dream and game.

Video Game Design for Learning to Learn

Over the past 20 years, the proposal that immersive media, such as video games, can be leveraged to enhance brain plasticity and learning has been put to the test. This expanding literature highlights the extraordinary power of video games as a potential medium to train brain functions, but also the remaining challenges that must be addressed in developing games that truly deliver in terms of learning objectives. Such challenges include the need to: (1) Maintain high motivation given that learning typically requires long-term training regimens, (2) Ensure that the content or skills to be learned are indeed mastered in the face of many possible distractions, and (3) Produce knowledge transfer beyond the proximal learning objectives. Game design elements that have been proposed to support these learning objectives are reviewed, along with the underlying psychological constructs that these elements rest upon. A discussion of potential pitfalls is also included, as well as possible paths forward to consistently ensure impact.

Possible Gamification Learning for Optimizing Student Learning Motivation?

With low student learning motivation, a teacher must be creative so that students can have a more optimal learning motivation than before. One way to optimize student motivation is to use Gamification Learning. Gamification is a process that aims to change non-game contexts, one of which is in teaching and learning activities to be more attractive by integrating game mechanics, aesthetics, and thinking to motivate students in the learning process. Gamification includes game design elements, including points, scoreboards, badges, and challenges. This study uses a literature review research method that collects data from journals, books, and several other scientific sources relevant to this research topic. The results obtained are Gamification Learning can optimize students learning motivation.

Gamification of robotic simulation to train general surgery residents.

Gamification applies game design elements to non-game contexts in order to engage participation and increase learner motivation. Robotic surgery is gaining popularity in general surgery but requires specialized technical skills. We sought to determine whether gamification of robotic simulation training could increase robotic simulator utilization among general surgery residents. General surgery residents were recruited and sent weekly progress on simulator performance including leaderboards for 4weeksduring the intervention periods. There were also two control periods setup in an ABAB study design. Usage time and mean scores were compared between the control periods and intervention periods. A post-study qualitative assessment interview using semi-structured interviews determined barriers and motivational components of simulator usage. Fifteen general surgery residents enrolled in the study (n = 15). Intervention increased total simulator usage time 9.7-fold from 153 to 1485min. Total simulator days increased threefold from 9 to 27days. Resident participation increased from 33 to 53%. Median average scores were higher during the intervention periods (58.8 and 81.9 vs 44.0). During the first intervention period, median individual-level simulator usage time increased 17min (P = 0.03). However, there was no individual-level increase in median usage minutes or days during the second intervention period. Qualitative assessment determined barriers to be limited time due to clinical duties, and simulator availability while motivational factors included competitive factors such as leaderboards and gaming aspects. Potential improvements were increasing attending visibility of scores to increase recognition of progress by the residents and creating dedicated time for training. Gamification of robotic simulation training increased general surgery resident participation, usage time and scores. Impact was not durable. Instituting dedicated practice time and more attending engagement may increase trainee motivation and performance.

Serious games in future skills development: A systematic review of the design approaches

AbstractSerious games offer a magnificent potential for developing future skills along with the 21st‐century learning ecosystem. A close nexus between the design and effectiveness of serious games is still argued. In this regard, the current study provides a systematic literature review on serious game design approaches with a special focus on future skill development. A systematic review protocol, including planning, conducting, and reporting stages, is followed to comprehensively interpret the existing studies. Applying quality controls, 32 serious game studies which include a practical serious game design approach are selected. For providing a more systematic analysis, these approaches are then categorized based on the intended outcome of the serious game that the approach aims to facilitate. It is found that 8 (25%) of these design approaches support at least one future skills, among which problem‐solving as well as collaboration and teamwork are the most commonly supported ones. It is also discovered that clear goals and interactivity, used in 6 (75%) and 5 (63%) of the 8 design approaches respectively, are the most commonly implemented game design elements. Considering the significant literature gap on the implementation of serious games for future skills development, this study consequently provides valuable insights for the game designers, software developers, educational technology researchers, and engineering educators in various domains.

Fun Shopping: A Randomized Field Experiment on Gamification

Spotlight Gamification is an emerging digital strategy to engage users across different business domains. Gamification, defined as using game-design elements in nongaming contexts, shows great potential across domains such as education, business, and health. The significance of gamification is highlighted by a $7.17 billion global market in 2019 and is projected to reach more than $40 billion by 2024. This study examines two popular badges and leaderboards that utilize self-determination and social-comparison mechanisms to promote user engagement. We conduct a randomized field experiment (A/B testing) to quantify these effects in one of the largest shopping malls in Asia and further contrast the two games against coupons regarding various shopping outcomes. Quantitatively, badging and leaderboarding promote sales by 21.5% and 22.5% in the treatment period, respectively, whereas couponing delivers a more potent effect of 31.7%. In the posttreatment period, the gamification impacts remain significant, whereas the influence of couponing fades out. Besides, the additional analyses document the salient heterogeneous treatment effects across gender, age, and income. We also zoom in on the contrast between badges and leaderboards, showing that badging is a balanced tool for attracting the general public and leaderboarding is a double-edged sword that could encourage self-reinforcing or self-banishing. Finally, gamification encourages consumers to do more exploration, leading to significant increases in sales.

Gamification in a textbook for Brazilian learners of English

Gamification, i.e. the use of game design elements in non-game settings, has attracted an increasing academic interest with numerous research papers having been published on the application and evaluation of gamification in education. The strenuous effort to introduce innovation to textbooks and improve student engagement in the classroom has allowed gamification to gain ground in English language teaching. This article aims to present and discuss the strategies implemented to gamify a textbook for young Brazilian learners of English. In addition, it also intends to contribute to materials writing by describing some game design principles. Pedagogic and design implications stemming from the strategies adopted in the examined textbook include providing a variety of game design elements on varying levels of abstraction (game interface design patters, game design patterns and mechanics, game design principles and heuristics, and game models). Finally, the text shares some reflections on the importance of creating a student-centred learning environment based on meaningful gamification.

Smartphone-based gamification intervention to increase physical activity participation among patients with coronary heart disease: intermediate results of a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): This work is financially supported by a Construction Programme of Independent Innovation Ability of Community Health Nursing Engineering Laboratory in Jilin Province (Study code: 2020C038-8) awarded to FL. Background Despite the benefits, patients with coronary heart disease are less likely to engage in physical activity. Gamification is the use of game design elements (such as points, leaderboards, progress bars, and badges) in nongame contexts to increase motivation and engagement. Scientific evidence suggests that smartphone-based gamification interventions have the potential to increase physical activity participation. However, empirical evidence on the efficacy of such interventions among patients with coronary heart disease is still emerging. Purpose This study incorporates behavioral economics into a gamification intervention based on a smartphone app (WeChat applet) to explore whether a gamification intervention can improve participation in physical activity and other related physical and psychological outcomes in patients with coronary heart disease. Methods A group of 108 participants (mean age 53.0+10.5, 18.5% female) with coronary heart disease were randomly assigned to three groups (Control group: WeChat applet+step goal setting; Individual group: WeChat applet+step goal setting+gamification; Team group: WeChat applet+step goal setting+gamification+collaboration). The primary outcomes included the change in daily steps and the proportion of patient-days that step goals achieved. Patients also completed Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Exercise Scale (PNSE), Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ)-3, Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 at baseline, 12 weeks and 24 weeks. Results Compared with the control group (n=36), participants in the individual group (n=36) had a significantly greater increase in mean daily steps from baseline during the intervention group (difference 988; 95% CI, 259 - 1717; P<0.01), and had a significantly greater proportion of patient-days that step goals achieved (difference 0.38; 95% CI, 0.04 - 0.13; P<.001), competence (difference 0.6, 95% CI, 0.3 - 0.8; P<.001), autonomous motivation (difference 3.3; 95% CI, 2.2 to 4.4; P<.001), weight (difference -1.2, 95% CI, -1.8 to -0.6; P<.001), BMI (difference -0.4; 95% CI -0.6 to -0.2; P<.001) and waist circumference (difference -1.2; 95% CI -1.7 to -0.6; P<.001). Participants in team group (n=36) had a significantly greater increase in competence (difference 0.3; 95% CI 0.1 to 0.6; P<.001), relatedness (difference 0.9; 95% CI 0.7 to 1.2; P<.001), autonomous motivation (difference 3.0; 95% CI 2.1 to 4.0; P<.001),however, no significant difference of change in step counts was found between team group and control group. Conclusions A smartphone-based gamification intervention may be an effective way to promote physical activity in patients with coronary heart disease within 12 weeks if we incorporate appropriate game elements into the smartphone application.

Gamification for behavior change: A scientometric review

Gamification, which refers to the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, provides similar experiences and motivations as games do; this makes gamification a useful approach to promote positive behaviors. As a useful tool for keeping users motivated, engaged and active, there is a wide interest in adopting gamification solutions for supporting and promoting positive behaviors and behavior change (e.g. quit smoking, ecological behaviors, food choices, civic engagement, mental healthcare, sustainability, etc.).In this study, we use the CiteSpace software to examine 984 publications and their 46,609 unique references on gamification applied for behavior change. The corpus of studies was downloaded from the Scopus database and refers to studies published between 2011 and the beginning of 2022. Several methods were used to analyze these data: (1) document co-citation analysis (DCA) was performed to identify the pivotal researches and the research areas; (2) author cocitation analysis (ACA) was performed to identify the main authors; (3) and keyword analysis was performed to detect the most influential keywords and their change over time.The results of the analysis provide an overview of the influential documents, authors and keywords that have given shape to the literature of the field, and how it has evolved, showing an initial interest in motivational and persuasion techniques, and in the gamification design, and subsequently in the development of more rigorous methodologies for both design and use.As the first scientometric review of gamification applied to behavior change, this study will be of interest to junior and senior researchers, graduate students, and professors seeking to identify research trends, topics, major publications, and influential scholars.

Examining the effects of mixed and non‐digital gamification on students' learning performance, cognitive engagement and course satisfaction

AbstractGamification is typically implemented digitally. However, digital gamification is not always possible because of limited resources and logistical problems. It is thus necessary to explore low‐threshold gamification methods that can be easily adopted in classrooms. One such method is non‐digital gamification using physical game design elements. Currently, the literature provides a limited understanding of the design and effects of non‐digital gamification. It is also unclear whether mixed gamification (ie, a combination of digital and non‐digital gamification) is better than purely non‐digital gamification. We explored these topics using an explanatory sequential mixed‐methods design to compare the effectiveness of non‐digital gamification in a face‐to‐face course and mixed gamification in a blended course in terms of student learning achievement, cognitive engagement and course satisfaction. Two secondary grade classes were randomly assigned to the mixed (N = 52) or non‐digital (N = 52) gamification conditions. Contrary to our expectations, the quantitative results showed that the two approaches improved the students' learning achievement to the same extent. Although the students in the non‐digital gamification condition reported significantly higher‐course satisfaction than those in the mixed condition, the improvement in student cognitive engagement was significantly greater in the mixed gamification condition than in the non‐digital condition. Through focus group interviews, we analysed the students' learning experiences and synthesised the factors that influenced student cognitive engagement and course satisfaction. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Gamification is increasingly being used to increase student engagement and enhance learning. Gamification studies have mostly focused on digital modes, which often require gamified digital platforms or applications. Non‐digital gamification can be an effective method to foster learning, but the design and evaluation of non‐digital gamification is at an early stage. What this paper adds We designed non‐digital and mixed (ie, a combination of digital and non‐digital) gamification programmes and compared their effects using an explanatory sequential mixed‐methods design. Both gamification approaches led to a similar improvement in learning achievement. While non‐digital gamification fostered students' course satisfaction, mixed gamification was more effective in improving students' cognitive engagement. Implications for practice and/or policy Non‐digital gamification can be an effective low‐threshold solution for instructors. It is worth further improving the non‐digital gamification approach in school settings as it is cost‐effective and can be transferred between classrooms. The benefits of mixed gamification should not be ignored because of its affordances that improve students' cognitive engagement.