Enhancing learning through adaptive gamification: A comparative study on behavioural patterns, computational thinking skills, and motivation

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’ behavioural patterns,  computational thinking skills, and motivation to learn via a quasi-experiment design. Based on Bartle’s taxonomy of player types, we activated Achiever and Explorer player types by assigning different game elements and challenges and students could choose their own adventures in either learning path. The results showed that AG could significantly enhance students’ actual computational thinking skills compared to OG group. Regarding the behavioural pattern, the connections of “pre-task reading” to “post-task review” and “just-in-time learning” to “post-task review” are the two most common behavioural patterns in AG. The connection of “post-task review” to “pre-task reading” is the most common behavioural pattern in OG. The two groups present no significant difference in self-reported extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation levels. Participants in the AG setting reported six themes in terms of learning perceptions: (1) setting goals with rewards, (2) competing against self and peers, (3) access to varied challenges, (4) immediate feedback on performance, (5) collaboration and interaction, and (6) engaging narrative and fantasy. This study provides empirical evidence supporting adaptive gamified learning and demonstrates the effectiveness of adaptive gamification in addressing diverse motivational needs.