The Development and Evaluation of a Gamified Virtual Heritage Tour for Cultural Learning: A Perspective of Cognitive and Affective Immersive Learning

Abstract

This study aimed to integrate gamified mechanism into the design of a web-based virtual heritage tour for cultural learning. There were five core drives of gamification used in this study including (1) epic meaning & calling, (2) development & accomplishment, (3) empowerment of creativity & feedback, (4) ownership & possession, and (5) unpredictability & curiosity. With 40 post-secondary students’ survey responses, we also evaluated the virtual tour from the perspective of cognitive and affective immersive learning. The results showed that the students expressed stronger cognitive perceptions (cognitive benefit) than affective senses (spatial presence and flow experience) when engaging in the gamified virtual heritage tour. The crucial role of the affective variables rather than the cognitive variable in learners’ perceived learning outcomes was also identified. The research data of this study has been continuingly collected. We also indicated several directions for this work in the future.