The Effects of Flow, Emotional Engagement, and Motivation on Success in a Gamified Online Learning Environment
Abstract
This study aimed to examine the factors that explain academic success in a gamified online learning environment considering flow, emotional engagement, and motivation. The gamified online learning environment was used by 40 undergraduate students, and the data gathered from them. A hypothetical path model showing the interaction of variables with each other was suggested and tested. The experience of flow and emotional engagement in the gamified learning setting had a highly significant impact on motivation. Furthermore, it was concluded that flow increased academic success through increasing motivation. In line with numerous studies in the literature, motivation was determined to have a positive effect on academic success. In addition, the results show that flow and emotional engagement explained 68% of variance of motivation; flow, emotional engagement, and motivation explained 22% of variance of academic success. It is suggested that subsequent studies should focus on the establishment and testing of models that would help to explain success in gamified settings which should incorporate game elements and player types in the structural model.
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The ARCS Model aligns with gamification: attention via challenges or visual rewards, relevance via real-world goals, confidence via scaffolded levels, and satisfaction via immediate feedback or badges.
“The ARCS Model (i.e., Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction; Keller, 1987) also aligns with gamification.Attention can be captured through challenges or visual rewards; relevance by linking tasks to real-world goals; confidence by scaffolded levels; and satisfaction by immediate feedback or badges (Mese & Dursun, 2019;Özhan & Kocadere, 2020).”
From Gamification on Mathematics Engagement and Motivation in Secondary School and Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Özhan & Kocadere, 2020
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- Authors
- Özhan, Ş. Ç., & Kocadere, S. A.
- Affiliations
- Bartin University (TR)
- Hacettepe University (TR)
- Corresponding author
- Özhan, Şeyma Çağlar
- Venue
- Journal of Educational Computing Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-01-09
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2006-2031
- ISSN
- 0735-6331 (ISSN-L)
- 1541-4140
- OpenAlex
- W2911185633
- Cited by
- 235
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 38.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Educational Computing Research (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Hacettepe University Scientific Research Coordination Unit (SDS-2016-9265)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Flow Experience in Various Fields
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Keywords
- gamification, online learning, flow experience, emotional engagement, motivation, academic performance, game elements, player types, undergraduate students
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