Augmented reality and gamification in higher education : Designing mobile interaction to enhance students’ intrinsic motivation and learning

Abstract: The emergence of augmented reality (AR) and gamification in higher education has gained significant relevance by virtue of their demonstrated usefulness in learning spaces. Prior research has examined these technologies separately and shown promising results, but less is known about the impact of combining AR and gamification in higher education. This article aims to conceptualize, design, and evaluate the effects of AR and gamification on students’ intrinsic motivation and learning with physical course literature. The results from a web - based experiment involving 95 students demonstrate that using AR enhances students’ intrinsic motivation compared to conventional methods such as reading lecture notes. However, the combination of AR and gamification did not influence students’ intrinsic motivation or learning. The findings could serve as a basis to further gamification in higher education and may support authors in the design of AR in future course literature.