As online learning becomes a prevalent modern education trend, educational institutions continue to develop new innovative online courses for higher education. Whereas substantial research has been conducted on diverse online learning environments, there is insufficient empirical research regarding game-based online learning in music. Researchers have begun to explore digital games as an online learning tool to improve student motivation and achievement. Extensive research indicates music learning is becoming an important academic component for higher education as it encourages students to be intellectually engaged and well-balanced.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate student motivation and achievement in music appreciation learning by comparing two different online learning environments: game-based and web-based online music learning. It considered how to design an effective game-based multimedia learning environment in the field of music, where more advanced instructional design techniques would be required. Undergraduate students (N=132) participated in an hour-long research experiment established within the pretest-posttest control-group design. Two groups of 66 students were randomly assigned to a control (web-based online instruction) or treatment group (game-based online instruction). A pretest and posttest were administered to assess student achievement, and the IMMS motivation survey by John Keller (2010) was used to measure student motivation towards the online learning materials.

MANOVA and ANCOVA indicated that both the game-based and web-based online music instruction improved student achievement. However, student achievement in the web-based online instruction significantly outperformed achievement in the game-based online instruction. There was no significant difference in student motivation between the two groups even though the game-based online group was slightly more motivated than the web-based online learning group. The key implications suggest that minimizing extraneous multimedia learning materials is important for improving student achievement. Also, confidence was a significant motivation factor for student achievement in online music appreciation learning.