Abstract:

The mastery of fundamental business principles is essential for students in diverse academic disciplines, yet traditional methods of repetition and reinforcement often struggle to maintain high levels of engagement. To address this, a "Scavenger Hunt" was developed at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria to transform the review of "Fundamentals of Management Accounting" concepts into an interactive, competitive, and enjoyable experience. This paper explores the design and implementation of a gamified approach engineered to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application.

The scavenger hunt is designed as a hybrid learning tool, offering both a haptic, on-campus version and a digital online alternative. The haptic version encourages students to navigate the university premises and complete tasks at various physical stations, whereas the online version uses digital platforms to provide an equally challenging experience for remote or flexible learners. Both formats focus on core topics such as cost accounting, legal forms, and balance sheet analysis, requiring students to solve puzzles and apply business logic to progress. This dual-track approach ensures maximum flexibility, allowing a seamless transition between face-to-face and online teaching environments without sacrificing the exercise's quality.

The primary pedagogical goal is "Active Learning" through gamification. By embedding complex business problems within a scavenger hunt narrative, the "fear of failure" often associated with difficult topics is replaced by a motivation to solve the "mission." Students work in small groups, which fosters peer-to-peer communication and collaborative problem-solving. The prerequisite for success is not just the retrieval of facts but the ability to apply them under time pressure in a structured sequence of tasks, mirroring real-world decision-making processes.

This gamified teaching intervention has been part of the curriculum for the past four years, demonstrating its durability and effectiveness across diverse student cohorts. Longitudinal data and student evaluations indicate that the scavenger hunt significantly increases motivation and provides a much-needed break from conventional lecture formats. Furthermore, success rates on subsequent examinations have slightly trended upward, indicating that students demonstrate a deeper, more intuitive understanding of the core concepts. The flexibility of the hybrid design has proven particularly valuable in maintaining teaching continuity. The paper concludes that gamified elements, such as the scavenger hunt, which have been tested and optimized over several years, are effective "equalizers" in heterogeneous groups, as the playful nature of the task lowers barriers to participation and encourages students to engage more deeply with the subject matter.

Keywords:

Game-based Learning, Hybrid Education, Business Administration, Active Learning, Student Engagement.