How the timing of using digital games in courses influences students' learning: a study on digital citizenship education

Many studies have explored the incorporation of DGBL into school education with respect to learning motivation, engagement, and achievement, but little attention has been paid to how the timing of digital games affects learning outcomes. In this study, a 4-week quasi-experiment was designed to promote digital health literacy by using the same digital game in two phases of a course. A group of 120 sixth graders from three classes completed similar learning activities with the same teachers. Students in experimental group 1 (n = 40) and group 2 (n = 39) experienced DGBL in the first lesson and the last lesson, respectively; students in the control group (n = 41) received traditional instruction. Post-test results revealed no significant variation in three groups' digital health literacy. However, students in group 1 were significantly inferior to the other two groups in learning motivation. Students in group 2 did not significantly differ from the control group in learning motivation or engagement. These findings suggest that the timing of digital games greatly influences students' learning motivation and engagement but has little impact on digital health literacy. Applying a digital game early in a course may weaken students' learning motivation and reduce their learning engagement.