Overcoming the novelty effect in online gamified learning systems: an empirical evaluation of learner engagement and performance

Learners in the Higher Education context who engage with computer-based gamified learning systems often experience the novelty effect: a pattern of high activity during the gamified system's introduction followed by a drop in activity a few weeks later, once its novelty has worn off. We applied a two-tiered motivational, online gamified learning system over two years, and used three-years' worth of longitudinal data to assess students' engagement and performance in that period. Quantitative results suggest that students engaged and performed better in the gamified condition vis-à-vis the non-gamified. Likewise, they sustained engagement better in the second year compared to the first year of the gamified condition. Our qualitative data suggests that students in the second year of the gamified delivery exhibited sustained engagement, bypassing the novelty effect. Thus, we suggest that sustained engagement with computer-based gamified learning systems beyond the novelty effect relies in making the engagement meaningful and useful for the students.