Comparing Effects of Adaptive Gamification and One-Size-Fits-All Gamification on Students' Task Completion Process and Learning Performance

Abstract

Gamification applies game elements, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, to influence people's motivation to complete certain tasks. One-size-fits-all gamification (OG) uses the same game elements for all users, while adaptive gamification (AG) customizes game elements to align with individual users' motivations in gamified systems. This study compares the effects of AG (n 36) and OG (n 37) on students' task completion process and learning performance via a quasi-experiment design. The results showed that AG could significantly enhance students' task engagement and learning performance by applying different game elements based on player types. The connections of "pre-task reading" to "post-task review" and 'just-in-time learning" to "post-task review" are the two most common task completion processes in the adaptive gamification group. The connection of "post-task review" to "pre-task reading" is the most common task completion process in the one-size-fits-all gamification group. This study contributes empirical evidence to the adaptive gamified learning and indicates the effectiveness of the use of adaptive gamification to cater to diverse motivation needs.