On an absolute leaderboard, top-ranked online students report significantly higher post-intervention intrinsic motivation than bottom-ranked students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q2
Currency · no dated study recorded · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Top-ranked learners on an absolute leaderboard were more intrinsically motivated than bottom-ranked learners at post-intervention, supporting H1a. → Bai 2021

Evidence¶

Bai 2021¶

Bai, Shurui, Khe Foon Hew, Michael Sailer, and Chengyuan Jia. 2021. "From top to bottom: how positions on different types of leaderboard may affect fully online student learning performance, intrinsic motivation, and course engagement." Computers & Education 173: 104297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104297.

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Quasi-experiment with 24 postgraduate students in a fully online course using an absolute leaderboard; intrinsic motivation measured with the IMI interest/enjoyment subscale at three stages. The Kruskal-Wallis test at post-intervention was significant, H (2) = 6.55, p = .038, and the Mann-Whitney U-test showed "a significant difference was found in favour of the top-ranked students".

"A significant difference was found in favour of the top-ranked students compared with the bottom third students in the post-intervention measurement (U = 11, p = .028), which is in line with our hypothesis (H1a )."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Motivation — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• On a relative leaderboard, intrinsic motivation is equal across top, middle, and bottom ranked students — related
• Two major challenges undermine gamification's effect on intrinsic motivation: students' lack of perceived competence and lack of perceived autonomy — related
• Leaderboards prompt upward comparison with group members, continued effort, and forum-based opinion comparison in fully online courses — related