Designing a Gamified Tool: An ADDIE Approach to Capital Market Flashcard Development

Traditional, lecture-based finance courses frequently overwhelm undergraduate students with dense theoretical content, leading to poor knowledge retention, lower overall engagement, and a heavy reliance on last-minute cramming before major assessments. To address these persistent educational challenges, this study details the design, development, and implementation of a mobile-friendly digital flashcard game specifically tailored for an undergraduate Financial Markets and Institutions (FIN) course using the systematic ADDIE instructional design framework. By integrating active recall strategies, custom visual aids, and an algorithm-driven Spaced Repetition System (SRS), the platform transforms passive studying into a dynamic learning process that prompts students to systematically review challenging concepts based on their individual mastery levels. Subject-matter experts rigorously vetted the curriculum content for accuracy and practical relevance prior to deployment, while formative evaluations directly measured student usability, overall engagement, and conceptual comprehension during active coursework. Formative findings, including high expert ratings for content validity and evidence of adaptive scheduling from system logs, suggest that the tool has strong potential to support active recall. However, its effectiveness in improving long-term knowledge retention and reducing academic anxiety will be examined in a subsequent summative evaluation. Ultimately, by documenting the comprehensive analysis, design, and development phases, this study provides instructional designers and finance educators with a practical, replicable blueprint for implementing gamified, technology-enhanced active learning tools across complex capital markets curricula.