Leaderboards, a key topic in the gamification literature, are often used to enhance student engagement and motivation through social comparison. Previous research has examined the overall effects of leaderboard versus a no leaderboard condition but paid less attention to how positions on different types of leaderboard may affect students' learning performance, intrinsic motivation, and course engagement. In the two studies, we exposed 50 postgraduate students from two fully online courses to two types of leaderboard (absolute and relative) and measured their learning performance, course engagement, intrinsic motivation, and perceptions. Results suggest that the absolute leaderboard helps intensify students’ sense of comparison and competitiveness more than the relative leaderboard. In the absolute leaderboard class, students at different positions showed similar levels of learning performance and course engagement, but a higher position was associated with higher intrinsic motivation. Conversely, in the relative leaderboard class, students ranked in the top third tended to display better learning performance than their peers in the lower two thirds did. Students who ranked in different positions showed similar levels of course engagement and intrinsic motivation for learning. Qualitative analyses based on a survey suggested that the students ranked in the bottom third preferred anonymous (vs public) comparison on an absolute leaderboard but favoured public (vs anonymous) comparison on a relative leaderboard. Most students reported positive attitude toward the use of leaderboards for sustaining comparison and competitiveness.

排行榜是游戏化文献中的一个关键主题，通常用于通过社会比较来提高学生的参与度和动机。先前的研究已经检查了排行榜与无排行榜条件的整体影响，但较少关注不同类型排行榜上的位置如何影响学生的学习表现、内在动机和课程参与度。在这两项研究中，我们将来自两门完全在线课程的 50 名研究生暴露于两种类型的排行榜（绝对和相对），并衡量他们的学习表现、课程参与度、内在动机和看法。结果表明，绝对排行榜比相对排行榜更有助于增强学生的比较感和竞争力。在绝对排行榜类中，不同职位的学生表现出相似的学习成绩和课程参与度，但职位越高，内在动机越高。相反，在相对排行榜中，排在前三分之一的学生往往比后三分之二的同龄人表现出更好的学习成绩。排名不同的学生表现出相似的课程参与度和内在学习动机。基于调查的定性分析表明，排名倒数第三的学生更喜欢绝对排行榜上的匿名（vs 公开）比较，但偏爱相对排行榜上的公开（vs 匿名）比较。大多数学生对使用排行榜保持比较和竞争力表示积极态度。