Using badges for shaping interactions in online learning environments

Abstract

In this paper, we describe an online course management system (titled Adventures in Emerging Media) designed to allow students to choose their own pathways through learning content (a choose-your-own-adventure online course). In addition to providing students with additional agency and narrative prompts, we also used badges, or achievements, to promote specific types of student behaviors. This study provides data collected from approximately 200 students enrolled in this online digital media course in which badges were used to incentivize targeted student behaviors, such as taking an exam within a certain timeframe or responding to student work with especially helpful feedback. In addition to a brief analysis of relevant achievement assessment data, we also describe our approach to the mechanics of achievement design and show some of the elements of design and layout used to incorporate the achievements into a learning management system.

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