The Impact of the Metaverse on the Programming Learning Motivation of University Students

Currently, educators are looking for new techniques in the teaching–learning process. Previous research has presented various teaching strategies designed to motivate students to learn. Existing research has focused on the use of spatial world design in elementary and secondary education settings. Therefore, it is essential to analyze how these immersive environments, designed and programmed by teachers, provide insights into the motivational perceptions of university students in teaching programming courses. This study employed a single-group, fixed-order, within-subject design (N=41) to examine students’ reported motivation after traditional instruction and a subsequent Roblox-supported activity and also to see if there is any difference in motivation when using Roblox, considering gender. The present study used the RIMMS to measure motivation. To analyze motivation using the teacher’s material and Roblox, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used, and to analyze how gender affects it, the Mann–Whitney U test was used. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between both modalities (Z=−2.264, p=0.024, r=0.354, N=41). With regard to gender, the results indicated no statistically significant difference between males (N=31, Mean Rank =21.60) and females (N=10, Mean Rank =19.15), U=136.500, Z=−0.567, p=0.571 (exact p=0.580). The findings indicate that students reported higher motivation scores after the Roblox-supported activity than after the preceding traditional instruction. However, given the fixed-order design and the lack of formal measurement equivalence between the contextualized RIMMS versions, these differences should be interpreted as exploratory descriptive evidence rather than as evidence of an effect attributable specifically to Roblox.