Understanding Motivational Differences through the Lens of Gamification User Types.

Abstract

In the context of an educational technology course, teacher candidates completed Marczewski’s User Types Hexad Test, a questionnaire based on a typology for classifying both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational tendencies. The test results showed teacher candidates' motivational tendencies, through indicating their resonance with six different User Types, including Socializers, Free Spirits, Achievers, Philanthropists, Players, and Disruptors. Knowing their User Type allowed teacher candidates to reflect on their own personal motivations to use various types of digital tools, as well as to consider how their peers and their students with different user profiles may be motivated differently than themselves. The main research questions in this study were related to discovering the motivational differences present in a group of teacher candidates, and whether knowing about these differences would empower them to acknowledge differences in motivation among their learners. The findings include teacher candidates’ understandings of the importance of differentiating for motivational tendencies through insight, relationships, and effective teaching, as well the different language teacher candidates use to describe their own developing teacher identity, according to their resonant User Types. These data provide examples of how User Type awareness can help teacher candidates take practical steps toward differentiating instructional design based not only on consideration of learners’ abilities and interests, but also on learners’ motivational profiles. Suggestions for language that would resonate with various User Types is presented, and may help teacher educators as they coach pre-service teachers through their identity development.