Enhancing Gamified Online Learning User Experience (UX): A Systematic Literature Review of Recent Trends

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.

Keywords: Adherence, Affordance, Application, Engagement, Education, Gamebased, Game elements, Gamification, Gameful design, Innovation, Intervention, Literature review, Motivation, Novelty, Online learning, Platform, Pedagogy, Performance, Technology, User experience.