Understanding the Effects of Mobile Gamification on Learning Performance

With the development of mobile technology, mobile learning, which is not bound by time and space, has become one of the most essential learning methods for modern people. However, previous studies have suggested that improvements are still needed in mobile learning performance. One of the means to achieve this goal is situated learning, which enhances learners’ autonomous motivation and make them more enthusiastic in learning. Nonetheless, few studies have attempted to increase learning performance through situated learning. This study attempts to explore the development of a productive learning atmosphere in the context of mobile situated learning. An experiment is conducted with university-level students having homogenous background and coursework by applying heterogeneous pedagogies, including textual pedagogy, video pedagogy, collaborative pedagogy, and gamification pedagogy. Moreover, the uses and gratification theory and the cognitive load theory were adopted to identify the cognitive factors that influence the learning performance in situated learning. It is hoped that education service providers can benefit from the insights discovered from this study and implement more effective learning strategies in mobile education.