The relationship between challenge and feedback mechanisms in gamified learning experiences and learning engagement: The mediating role of flow.

With the continued expansion of digital learning environments, gamified learning has been increasingly applied in higher education. This study examined how challenge and feedback in gamified learning are associated with college students' learning engagement and whether flow mediates these relationships. Based on the stimulus-organism-response framework, challenge and feedback were conceptualized as contextual stimuli, flow as the internal psychological state, and learning engagement as the response. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 355 college students from Chinese universities. Validated scales were used to measure challenge, feedback, flow, and learning engagement, and the data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that both challenge and feedback were significantly and positively associated with learning engagement. Flow partially mediated the relationships between challenge and learning engagement and between feedback and learning engagement. Multi-group analysis further indicated gender differences in the paths from challenge and feedback to flow: the challenge-flow path was stronger among male students, whereas the feedback-flow path was stronger among female students. These findings clarify the distinct roles of challenge and feedback in gamified learning and highlight flow as an important psychological mechanism linking gamified learning experiences to learning engagement.