Designing Game-Based Activities in a Digital Learning Environment: A Ready-to-Use Model

Game-based learning, gamification and serious games are becoming increasingly widespread in education. Digital technologies can effectively support these approaches, creating more interactive and engaging learning environments. The University of Turin has developed two serious games to enhance Mathematics learning and integrated them into a digital learning environment. These activities were conducted with 357 university students enrolled in five non-Mathematics degree programmes during 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years. A model for designing game-based activities in a digital learning environment was developed based on a review of the literature and the results of experiments conducted. The model is intended to be shared as an open educational resource. The research group considered the qualitative and quantitative data from two experimentations involving one of the games (the “Murderer Game”). The results show that the game was favourably evaluated in terms of its usability and its impact on students' perceptions of their Mathematics learning. However, the results regarding technology acceptance and engagement were less satisfactory. Differences in the evaluation of the serious game also emerge across degree programmes and between genders