Tiers of Engagement II: Profiling the Characteristics of User Engagement and Motivational Tiers in Business Simulators

This study investigates student engagement and motivation in the use of a business simulation game in the context of a fully online economics course. Building on our prior research, we refined our data collection instrument to include self-reported measures of engagement, intrinsic motivation, perceived learning outcomes and reflections on learning from 388 BA students. Based on this data, we updated and expanded our Tiers of Engagement framework, identifying 15 different engagement tiers. By analyzing 1552 qualitative comments on our respondents’ reflections on their learning, we provide characteristics describing these tiers. The tiers show a correlation between higher engagement and intrinsic motivation on perceived learning outcomes and depth of reflection on learning. We also examined the impact of narrative tasks added to the simulator, which were designed to bridge theoretical concepts with practical application. Our findings highlight the simulator's effectiveness in fostering engagement and learning, particularly for highly motivated students, while also identifying areas for improvement in facilitating engagement (and potentially learning) for lower tiers. This research contributes to understanding how game-based learning can enhance educational outcomes in higher education.