A gamified instant perspective comparison system to facilitate online discussion effectiveness

Abstract Online discussion is one of the frequently used learning activities in an e‐learning process. Learners can exchange opinions and thoughts with their peers through online discussion, stimulate their different viewpoints on the discussion topics, and enhance the learning effectiveness of e‐learning. However, most learners mainly take an effort on posting discussion content but easily ignore reading and understanding the contents of peers' discussions, thus reducing the discussion effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to develop an Instant Perspective Comparison System with a Gamified Incentive Mechanism (IPCS‐GIM) to promote learners' discussion awareness and motivation, thereby effectively enhancing their discussion participation, motivation, and effectiveness. A true‐experimental design was conducted in this research to examine the research questions. A total of 38 university students in Taiwan were randomly assigned to the experimental group using the IPCS‐GIM to assist online discussion and the control group using an instant perspective comparison system without a gamified incentive mechanism (IPCS‐NGIM) to assist online discussion to examine their difference in discussion effectiveness, participation, and motivation on a social‐scientific issue (SSI). The analytical results show that compared to the IPCS‐NGIM, the IPCS‐GIM could not only significantly enhance learners' discussion effectiveness in overall discussion effectiveness, complexity, and multiple perspectives, but also significantly enhance learners' discussion participation and motivation. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic An asynchronous online discussion that can allow learners to exchange opinions and thoughts with their peers, stimulate different viewpoints and enhance learning effectiveness is one of the frequently used learning activities in an e‐learning process. However, most learners mainly take an effort on posting discussion content but easily ignore reading and understanding the contents of peers' discussions, thus reducing the discussion effectiveness. An asynchronous online discussion may result in less enthusiastic discussions, learners may feel isolated due to the lack of immediate peer feedback, or they may not know what to contribute to a discussion topic. The lack of visual cues and immediate feedback is also one of the main factors affecting asynchronous online discussion effectiveness. In recent years, many studies have paid attention to promoting the discussion process and effectiveness by visualizing asynchronous online discussion content and interaction. What this paper adds This study uses gamified incentive mechanisms including a bonus point, title name, and leaderboard to develop a novel Instant Perspective Comparison System with a Gamified Incentive Mechanism (IPCS‐GIM) to promote learners' discussion effectiveness, participation, and motivation on social‐scientific issues (SSI) discussions. The result shows that compared to the Instant Perspective Comparison System without a Gamified Incentive Mechanism (IPCS‐NGIM), the IPCS‐GIM could not only significantly enhance learners' discussion effectiveness in overall discussion effectiveness, complexity, and multiple perspectives, but also significantly enhance learners' discussion participation and motivation. Implications for practice and/or policy Current research on the application of gamification design to asynchronous online discussions mainly focuses on enhancing learners' participation, engagement, and motivation, but there is a lack of research on the use of gamified incentive mechanisms to promote learners' reading of other peers' posts to achieve better quality discussions and enhance discussion effectiveness. This study fills the research gap. This study confirms that the proposed novel IPCS‐GIM can promote learners' discussion on reading other peers' posts, participation, and motivation to what extent due to its gamified incentive mechanisms, visualized discussion cues, and immediate feedback, thereby effectively enhancing learners' discussion effectiveness. This study broadens the horizon of the design of asynchronous online‐assisted discussion tools.