Design and Development of Serious Games for Accounting Education

This thesis describes the design and development of two gamified digital artefacts, a digital assessment artefact and a serious game. These digital artefacts were tested with undergraduate student participants to explore the extent to which they (a) improve student engagement and flow experience in various educational settings, and (b) reduced students’ cognitive loads when learning complex topics. Following design and development, the artefacts were pilot tested with undergraduate student participants. This research extends cognitive load theory to the examination of how serious games design features can support accounting pedagogy. It contributes to the field of higher education through its development of pedagogical tools for use in the classroom. Both gamified digital artefacts are dynamic research vehicles that can be used for further behavioural and experimental research. By providing a stepped approach to the development of gamified artefacts, this research also enables accounting academics to design and develop their own digital innovations.