Pre-service Teachers' Player Types and Their Relation to Self-efficacy With Digital Media

Abstract

Gamification in educational contexts is often used to increase learners’ intrinsic motivation and their self-efficacy beliefs, two constructs which are positively related with each other as well as to scholastic outcomes. As self-efficacy beliefs are conceptualized context-specific, it is important to consider various users’ needs by adapting the learning environment to their corresponding gamification player types (GPT). Studies show that different GPT are characterized by different motivational aspects (intrinsically motivated, extrinsically motivated, disruptive GTP) Therefore, the aim of the present study is the examination of six different GPT according to the HEXAD typology (Tondello et al., 2016) for pre-service teachers regarding their distribution and their relation to self-efficacy with digital media. Altogether N = 75 pre-service teachers were assessed in terms of their GPT and their self-efficacy with digital media. It was hypothesized that the GPT distribution for pre-service teachers is comparable to the distribution reported by Tondello et al. (2016). Additionally, it was exploratively examined to what extent the different types of players differ in their self-efficacy with digital media. Results show that the GPT distribution in the current sample differs significantly from the expected distribution. Pre-service teachers seem to show specific GPT characteristics due to their profession. Concerning self-efficacy with digital media, pre-service teachers show a high subjective perception of their self-efficacy with digital media, but contrarious to the hypothesis no significant relation was found between GPT and self-efficacy with digital media. The results indicate that pre-service teachers feel confident to the use of digital media in class and that pre-service teachers form a group with a specific distribution of player types and therefore have specific needs in gamified learning environments. Due to the reported high amount of intrinsic player types, game design elements which promote intrinsic motivation should be in the focus of prospective analyses.