Leveling Up Learning: Game Based Learning Initiatives in Canadian Higher Education

Game-based learning (GBL) and gamification are increasingly visible in Canadian higher education, yet the field remains uneven and under-structured. This environmental scan examines GBL initiatives across more than 100 accredited Canadian post-secondary institutions, motivated by the limited programming at the authors' own institution and by inconclusive empirical evidence on whether GBL improves learning outcomes. Of 108 accredited universities surveyed, 75 reported some form of GBL initiative, though the three territories host no universities and adoption varies sharply by province.

Activity is concentrated in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, which show the most curricular, co-curricular, and research engagement. British Columbia and Alberta each report curricular integration at 66.67 percent of institutions, and undergraduate engagement reaches 77.78 percent in Alberta, while other provinces range from 0 to 57.69 percent. Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba show limited institution-wide adoption, and several institutions in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia offer no GBL programming at all.

The authors attribute much of this unevenness to inconsistent definitions of GBL and gamification across provinces and institutions, as well as to weak institutional structures that leave the field without coordinated support. They conclude that faculty involvement is essential to expanding GBL, and that cross-campus partnerships represent a promising route to broader adoption. The scan's findings point to terminology standardization and institutional infrastructure as priorities for a field whose pedagogical value remains an open empirical question.