Level up ahead: introducing gamified levels into teaching

Contemporary students check their phones every 30 minutes—three out of four cannot last longer without peeking at their devices, even in class (Roig-Merino et al. 2024). In their digital lives, students embark on quests, chase achievements, and collaborate globally. Yet, these motivating elements often disappear in most classrooms. Traditional teaching offers few chances for immediate feedback, visible progress, or personalised challenge levels. If we want learning to feel as engaging as the most-played games, education must mirror the expectations of today’s learners.

This article explores how we plan to ‘walk the talk’ by integrating gamification into two hospitality courses at Haaga-Helia: Gamification of experiences and transformations and Experience management and imagineering. Both courses examine how hospitality businesses can leverage storytelling and meaningful game mechanics to create memorable experiences.

Over the years, we’ve discovered what works—and what does not—when game elements intersect with hospitality education. Now, we’re taking it further by introducing gamified levels into our own teaching, ensuring our students experience the very principles they study.

Beyond games: advanced gamification strategies

Gamification is more than adding quizzes. The most effective strategies embed game principles into the learning experience itself (Sánchez, 2024). In the future, we aim to build our approach on principles proven in game design: clear progression systems, meaningful choices, and immediate feedback loops.

Importantly, this plan does not replace our current course content—it enhances it. The foundation remains the same: core concepts, theories, and practical applications in hospitality and experience design. What we are doing is elevating that content to the next level by wrapping it in a structure that feels interactive, motivating, and adaptive. Students will still learn the same essential material, but through a framework that reflects the dynamics of modern game environments.

We envision a grading system that mirrors game difficulty settings. Students would choose their challenge level—easy, medium, hard, or extreme—with corresponding point values. Easy tasks would strengthen foundational skills, while extreme challenges would push students toward industry-ready expertise. This idea stems from observing how students engage differently with optional versus required work. When learners control the difficulty, engagement tends to increase.

Attendance could evolve into quest completion. Instead of checking names, we plan to design puzzles and challenges that unlock course content. Imagine solving a ‘Monday morning mystery’ to gain access to that week’s materials.

The principle remains straightforward: gamification should support learning objectives, not distract from them. Our goal is to create a learning experience that feels as dynamic and motivating as the games students love—while staying firmly rooted in educational outcomes.

Entertainment or Meaningful Learning?

Games in education should serve learning goals, not just entertainment. They should reflect real challenges and feedback cycles of professional environments. In hospitality, adaptability and collaboration determine success—guests change preferences, teams shift dynamically, and problems require immediate solutions. Gamification succeeds when it scaffolds visible progress, authentic feedback, and mastery opportunities (Astrero 2024; Samudra et al. 2024; Hellín et al. 2023).

We have seen this play out in our classroom. When students complete a ‘service challenge’ in which they must handle an escalating guest complaint in real time, they experience the pressure and quick thinking that hospitality demands. These mechanics are grounded in real-world limitations that hospitality professionals encounter.

Gamifying the course itself can transform motivation, help students learn by playing, and prepare them for dynamic workplaces. Motivation powered by games drives engaged learning. We hope that when students choose their path, see their progress, and understand why each task matters, learning will shift from obligation to opportunity.

Our next iteration launches in autumn 2026. We are planning on documenting what works, what fails, and how students respond when the entire learning experience becomes gamified. The key criterion is whether students develop practical skills and stay motivated, not if gamification appears innovative.

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