Badges? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges!

Badges? We Don’t NeedNo Stinkin’ Badges!

And Other Gamification Myths

Presentation Download

• http://tinyurl.com/

stinkbadge

Who am I?• Lead Instructional Designer

• At PSU since 1984

• Working on bringing best

practices/uses of educational

technology to Penn State

• Founded the Educational Gaming Commons

The Educational

Gaming Commons• Goal • Foster research, teaching, and learning around

educational games, virtual worlds, and simulations.

• Staff• Brett Bixler – Founder and Evangelist• Chris Stubbs – Manager• Elizabeth Pyatt – Instructional Designer

• Web – http://gaming.psu.edu• Facebook - http://tinyurl.com/FBPSUEGC

The EGC (contd)• Projects

• Engagement Initiatives

• One-on-one consultations

• Virtual Worlds Research and Development

• Sponsoring presentations, guest speakers, etc.

• EGC Lab

• Innovative space at PSU containing PCs, game

consoles, and a variety of games, virtual worlds,

and simulations

Some EGC Works

iStudy for Success!• http://istudy.psu.edu .• Tutorials designed to advance

students’ knowledge in areas that can promote overall academic achievement.

SOFTWARE PROVIDED BY

www.TurningTechnologies.com

What is your level of knowledge about

gamification?

What is your level of knowledge about digital

badges?

Why are gamification and badges important to

education?

How It All Started…

This is Stupid

• Gamification is dumb.

• Badges are stupid!

(He’s lying.)

What is Gamification?

Gamification <> Games

What is Gamification? 2

What’s Going on Here?

How About Here?

• Foldit.• An online puzzle

game about protein folding.

• Scientists can use the “results” to solve real-world problems.

• Players get bragging rights.

Gamification Defined

• Gamification• The use of one or more "game-like

elements" or dynamics in a non-game context to improve engagement or change behavior.

• Game-like Elements• Pieces or mechanics that make up

games.

Badges Defined

• A digital badge is an online record of an achievement, the work required, and information about the entity that issued the badge.

What is this Important?

• Education is under attack!

• Costs of education are spiraling up.

• Employers want skills, not degrees.

• Open courseware.

• MOOCs.

• Badges.

The Barbarians Are at the Gate!

And there ain’t nothin’ you can do

about it!

Or can you?

A Vision of the Future

What will the future hold for education?

Back to the Present…

Let’s look at gamification

and badges in today’s

world.

Game-like Elements

Over 25 Elements Exist

From http://gamification.org/wiki/Game_Mechanics

AchievementsAppointments

BadgesBehavioral MomentumBlissful ProductivityBonuses

Cascading Information TheoryCombosCommunity CollaborationCountdownDiscoveryEpic MeaningFree Lunch

Infinite Gameplay

LevelsLoss AversionLotteryOwnership

PointsProgressionQuestsReward Schedules

StatusUrgent OptimismVirality

Achievements

• A virtual or physical representation of

having accomplished something.

• Achievements can be easy, difficult,

surprising, funny, accomplished alone or as

a group.

• Achievements are a way to

give players a way to brag.

Scaffolding

• Match the level of task difficulty to the current ability of the student.

Cascading Information Theory

• Provide just enough support so the student can accomplish the task. Remove this “scaffolding” over time.

Progressive Implementation

A series of tasks, from simple to complex, that lead

towards the ultimate goal.

Levels• Levels are a system by which players are

rewarded for accumulating points.

• Often features or abilities are unlocked as

players progress to higher levels.

• Levelling is one of the highest components of

motivation for gamers.Examples• Real world – Job promotions.• In a game – Earn enough points.• A good use – Use levels to show

competencies.

Points & Leaderboards• Points are a running numerical value given

for any single action or combination of

actions.

• Leaderboards allow one to display their

“earnings” to the world.

Examples• Real world – Grocery points.• In a game – Earn enough

points.• A good use – Grade by

points.

Marriage – The Game?

Progression• Where success is granularly

displayed and measured through the process of completing itemized tasks. Progress bars!

Examples• Real world – Coffee cards. Buy 6,

get one free.• In a game - Progress bars and subtasks. As you level

up, you receive power and better equipment, etc. Progression is powerful.

• A good use – Show students where they are in a course.

Status

• The rank or level of a player.

• Players are often motivated by trying to

reach a higher level or status.

If You Do This Right – Flow!

• The ultimate motivational state, where hours go

by in minutes.

• Achieved by balancing

the learner’s current

ability with the

difficulty of the

current challenge.

This Sounds Too Good…

What is a potential

problem with

gamification?

What is it All About?

• Feedback! It’s motivating.

• Timely informing the student of their

accomplishments/failures.

• Games do it all the time!

• Behavioristic in nature.

Motivation?•Defining it is an elusive prcess, as difficult to do as grasping a slippery fish in a dark cave.

•Here’s the one I like:• “The term motivation in psychology is a

global concept for a variety of processes and effects whose common core is the realization that an organism selects a particular behavior because of expected consequences, and then implements it with some measure of energy, along a particular path.” (Heckhausen, 1991, p. 9).

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic - From outside you.Intrinsic - From inside you.• There is a controversy over gamification

and extrinsic motivation - some say it weakens or “crowds out” intrinsic motivation.

• See Deci, Koestner, & Ryan (1999). A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin 125(6), 627-668.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation 2• Extrinsic rewards may “crowd out”

intrinsic motivation.• Sometimes called the over-

justification effect.• Tangible rewards (bonuses) may be

the most de-motivating.• Unexpected rewards (at random) may

be OK.• Performance-contingent (do a job, get

a reward) may be de-motivating if the reward is tangible (money) but OK if it is intangible (praise).

Self Determination Theoryand Gamification

Three factors

• Competence – I am accomplishing something.

• Autonomy – I am in control. I am doing it

because I want to. Meaningful choices.

• Relatedness – I am serving a larger

cause/social group/community.

• See Deci & Ryan at

http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/t

heory

The ARCS Model

• By John Keller -

http://www.arcsmodel.com/

• Attention – How do you gain it?

• Relevance – Tie it to the leaner’s life

experience.

• Confidence – Build in learning success.

• Satisfaction – Make learning rewarding.

But What About Those Stinkin’ Badges?

Badges

• An overt reward of achievement.

• Meant to be displayed for others to see. Examples• Real world – Scouts.• In a game – Complete a task,

earn a badge.• A good use – Mozilla Badges.

Badges 2• A digital badge is an online record of an

achievement, the work required, and information about the organization, individual or other entity that issued the badge.

• A digital badge "certifies" information that has been consumed and skills acquired by the badge earner.

• Digital badges can be used for assessed or non-assessed learning, as determined by the badge issuer.

Badges 3

Example:•A badge issued to people who

are present at a workshop as

an indication of attendance.

• One might also require some

measurement of

comprehension and retention

(via a quiz or an assignment

submission) before issuing a

badge.

Open Badges• The Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI)

project was initiated by Mozilla to create a universal framework for badges.

• The Mozilla framework consists of three components:– Issuer– Earner– Displayer

A Badge In Action

A Badge In Action 2

Displaying a Badge

Potential Benefits of BadgesEnhance One’s Digital Identity

•Provide a more granular and complete picture of skills and learning history than a traditional degree.•Provide informal certification, e.g., from clubs, work experience or online.•Assist in third-party as opposed to individual validation. •Signal skills and achievements to peers, potential employers, educational institutions and others.•Recognize “hidden” skills - appropriating information, judging its quality, multitasking and  networking that don't show up on a transcript.

Potential Benefits of Badges 2

Enable Global Perspectives•Allow one to share skill sets with the world. This fosters flexibility and connections.

Potential Benefits of Badges 3Facilitate Better Instructional

Management•Support better individualized learner support. •Capture the learning path and history.

– Badges can capture a more specific set of skills and qualities as they occur  along the way, along with issue dates for each. This means we can track the set of steps the most successful learners take to gain their  skills - and potentially replicate that experience for others.

•Assist in accreditation. – By capturing the learning path, meeting the

documentation needs of accreditation agencies will be eased.

Potential Uses of Badges• "Course Completion" badge

– Certifies that an individual completed a certain course.

• "Competency-Based" badges– Gives students a way to demonstrate competency derived

from course offerings or non-class experiences, such as clubs.

• "Honors" badge in a program– Define requirements to achieve honors and motivate

students to perform.

• "Event  Participation" badge– For participation in sponsored  events.

• "Community Membership" badge– To establish that an individual actively participates or has

participated in a given community. This can increase the size and participation in academic communities.

What is the main “problem” with digital

badges?

Questions About Badges• Badge infrastructure and metadata is evolving.

• Spoofed badges.

• Support structures needed by an institution to host badges must be created.

• Policies on badges for higher education institutions do not exist. Issuing, accepting from the outside - what does that means for revenue?

• Forces us to examine our current assessment structures.

Badges = Accountability!

Badge Skeptic?

• Read Henry Jenkin’s cautionary post

on badges.

• http://tinyurl.com/badgeskeptic

Insurgent Credentials

• Great read by Michael Olneck, UWM

• http://tinyurl.com/blo6uwy

Some Gamification Providers

Image Credits

• Barbarian

– http://www.flickr.com/photos/florida_photo_guy/4522063643/

– Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

• Schooling for the Future

– http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ONy41FdnwDo/SV8Kle_BKmI/AAAAAAAAINw/

Y99uKbnfb4k/s320/schooling-for-the-future.jpg

– Free to use – Advanced Google Images search.

• Two people talking

– http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two-people-talking-logo.jpg

– In the public domain.

• Panic Button

– http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panic_button.jpg

– Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Some Gamification Info. Sites• Kapp Notes

• http://www.uleduneering.com/kappnotes/

• Gamify

• http://gamify.org

• http://gamification.org/wiki/

• Gamifying Education

• http://www.gamifyingeducation.org/

• The Gamification Summit

• http://www.gsummit.com/

• April 16-18, 2013

Some Badges Info. Sites• Open Badges Overview

– http://bananigans.tumblr.com/post/

22586770579/how-to-learn-more-about-open-

badges

• Show Me Your Badge

– http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/

edlife/show-me-your-badge.html?pagewanted=all

• EDUCAUSE– 7 Things Your Should Know About

Badges

– http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-

things-you-should-know-about-badges

In Conclusion

Jerry Orbach

My Hero

Discussion

Let’s talk!

Thanks!

• Brett Bixler

• bxb11@psu.edu or gaming@psu.edu

• http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/

• Twitter: brettbixler