How game-based learning supports the creativity of university students? The context of China

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, gamification has gained widespread acceptance in education. However, limited studies have focused on whether and how game-based learning impacts university students’ creativity. This study aims to explore the relationship between university students’ engagement in game-based learning and their creativity. By drawing upon flow theory principles, we conducted interviews with nine actively participating university students in game-based learning. The findings highlight that game-based learning stimulates the generation of novel ideas and fosters the adoption of innovative behaviours among students. Subsequently, an empirical study involving 142 undergraduate students was conducted, utilising game-based learning as an intervention. The results demonstrate a significant positive effect of game-based learning on university students’ creativity. Furthermore, the effect varied among individuals with different personality traits: game-based learning exhibited stronger effects for individuals characterised by high conscientiousness, low openness, or a combination of low neuroticism and high openness.

KEYWORDS:

• Game-based learning
• creativity
• university student
• flow
• personality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research and Reform Practice Project of New Liberal Arts [2021090012]; Ministry of Education of China.

Notes on contributors

Xiaomei Li

Xiaomei Li is a professor in the College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, China, and also a visiting scholar at Purdue University, USA. She is certified in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitation and “Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Innovative Leadership” from Babson Business School. Her research interests include innovation, cross-cultural, and supply chain management. Her teaching expertise covers organisational behaviour, leadership, team building, innovative methods, and cross-cultural management. She utilises immersive teaching methods, including LSP and AI, and conducts corporate training for large enterprises.

Ruiyi Li

Ruiyi Li is a master in the College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, China. Her research interests include enterprise management and innovation. She completed her undergraduate studies at the College of Education, Tianjin University, focusing on educational experiments.