Leaderboards are among the most prevalent game elements and are widely used in educational gamification. However, most research has primarily compared learning scenarios using leaderboards with those not using leaderboards, ignoring the role of specific components of leaderboards such as rankings. Given that learners’ perceptions of leaderboards depend on their rankings, this study investigated how rankings (high vs. low) and learners’ trait competitiveness (high vs. low) influence learning in educational gamification. Sixty-one high-trait-competitiveness and sixty-two low-trait-competitiveness learners were randomly assigned to either high-ranking or low-ranking conditions. The results revealed the moderating role of trait competitiveness in the relationship between leaderboard rankings and learning. Interestingly, higher rankings were more beneficial in enhancing learning motivation of learners with low trait competitiveness, while lower rankings had more positive effects on performance of those with high trait competitiveness. Additionally, negative emotions mediated the relationship between rankings and learning performance, while the mediating effect of learning motivation was only significant for learners with low trait competitiveness. The implications of these findings for the design of effective gamified learning environments based on learners’ characteristics were discussed.

中文翻译：

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教育游戏化中的个性化：具有不同特质竞争力的学习者与排行榜上的排名不同


排行榜是最普遍的游戏元素之一，广泛用于教育游戏化。但是，大多数研究主要将使用排行榜的学习场景与不使用排行榜的学习场景进行比较，而忽略了排行榜的特定组件（如排名）的作用。鉴于学习者对排行榜的看法取决于他们的排名，本研究调查了排名（高与低）和学习者的特质竞争力（高与低）如何影响教育游戏化中的学习。61 名高特质竞争力学习者和 62 名低特质竞争力学习者被随机分配到高等级或低等级条件。结果揭示了特质竞争力在排行榜排名与学习之间关系中的调节作用。有趣的是，较高的排名更有利于提高低特质竞争力学习者的学习动机，而较低的排名对高特质竞争力学习者的表现有更积极的影响。此外，负面情绪在排名与学习成绩之间的关系中起中介作用，而学习动机的中介效应仅对特质竞争力低的学习者显著。讨论了这些发现对基于学习者特征设计有效游戏化学习环境的影响。