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ERIC Number: EJ1333183
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Jun
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0266-4909
EISSN: N/A
More Challenging or More Achievable? The Impacts of Difficulty and Dominant Goal Orientation in Leaderboards within Educational Gamification
Cao, Yang; Gong, Shao-Ying; Wang, Zhen; Cheng, Yang; Wang, Yan-Qing
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, v38 n3 p845-860 Jun 2022
Background: As one of the gamification elements, leaderboard, especially absolute leaderboard, is widely used in educational gamification systems. However, empirical studies on the optimal use condition of the leaderboard and underlying influence mechanisms are deficient. Objectives: This study explored which difficulty was more conducive to learning performance in leaderboard context, and when and how it played a role. Methods: To address these questions, this study conducted a 2 (dominant goal orientation: learning/performance) × 2 (difficulty: high/low) between-subjects design. Seventy-eight dominant learning-oriented and 78 dominant performance-oriented participants were recruited and randomly assigned to the high or low difficulty group respectively. Results and Conclusions: Participants in the low difficulty group experienced more positive emotions, less negative emotions, and higher learning motivation than those in the high difficulty group, but the effect of difficulty on performance was not significant. Moreover, goal orientation did not moderate the effects of difficulty, dominant learning-oriented and performance-oriented learners were equally affected by difficulty. Further mediating analysis showed that negative emotions and learning motivation rather than positive emotions mediated the relationship between difficulty and learning performance. Implications: These results confirmed the positive effect of low difficulty in leaderboard context, as well as the mediating roles of emotions and motivation involved in the relationship between difficulty and learning performance. These findings enlighten us that it is necessary to equip leaderboards in educational gamification with achievable difficulty.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A