An empirical evaluation of gamified authentic assessment in undergraduate insurance and investment planning courses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55573/JISED.118789Keywords:
Authentic Assessment, Financial Literacy, Higher Education PedagogyAbstract
Promoting robust financial literacy among university students is essential for personal economic resilience and sustainable socio-economic development. This study evaluates undergraduate students’ perceptions, experiential engagement and perceived learning outcomes following participation in "Financial Quest," a gamified learning activity designed as an authentic assessment strategy. Grounded in Experiential Learning and Self-Determination theories, a mixed-methods design evaluated post-intervention survey responses from 118 undergraduate business students. The survey instrument utilised a validated 34-item Likert scale across five constructs alongside three open-ended qualitative questions. Quantitative findings demonstrate an overwhelmingly positive reception, with 92.4% agree with the activity's pedagogical effectiveness. The intervention yields an identical average rating (M= 4.67 out of 5.00) across both experienced and non-experienced student cohorts. Teamwork & Collaboration emerged as the highest-rated construct (M=4.70, SD= 0.69), reinforced by individual items emphasizing interactive dynamics (M= 4.73) and enjoyable learning (M= 4.73). Thematic analysis of qualitative data confirmed that active peer bonding, collaborative problem-solving, and contextual application were primary pedagogical strengths, while identifying operational bottlenecks surrounding physical navigation, clue ambiguity, and station wait times. These findings indicate that gamified authentic assessment strengthens perceived application confidence and team communication in quantitative business courses while equipping educators with practical framework to teach complex quantitative topics.
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