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Published in: Universal Access in the Information Society 3/2019

22-07-2019 | Long Paper

Understanding student behavior and perceptions toward earning badges in a gamified MOOC

Authors: Alejandro Ortega-Arranz, Erkan Er, Alejandra Martínez-Monés, Miguel L. Bote-Lorenzo, Juan I. Asensio-Pérez, Juan A. Muñoz-Cristóbal

Published in: Universal Access in the Information Society | Issue 3/2019

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Abstract

Despite the advantages of MOOCs, such as the open and free access to education, these courses are criticized for students’ lack of motivation and their high dropout rates. Gamification is a technique used to increase student motivation and engagement in small-scale educational contexts. However, the effects of gamification on student engagement have been scarcely explored in MOOC environments, and the findings so far are inconsistent. To address this gap, this research work examines the students’ behavior toward earning badges and how it relates to their engagement in a gamified MOOC. According to the results, the behaviors toward badges of the active students were generally positive and significantly correlated with other variables measuring their engagement (e.g., pageviews, submitted tasks, forum posts), although this positive behavior seems to decrease throughout the course. Additionally, students that reported high motivation by badges at the end of the course showed a higher engagement level than those that were not appealed by badges.
previous article Improving student engagement in a biometric classroom: the contribution of gamification
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Footnotes
1
Although different authors have proposed multiple definitions of engagement in technology-mediated environments [28], in this study we will focus on the students’ behavioral engagement. According to Fredricks et al., behavioral engagement concerns the observable behaviors that represent the student involvement in learning such as participation, persistence or contributions [20].
 
2
According to Csikszentmihaly, flow is defined as a state of absorption in one’s work characterized by intense concentration, loss of self-awareness, a feeling of being perfectly challenged and a sense that time is flying [9].
 
3
Khan Academy: https://​www.​khanacademy.​org/​, last access: June, 2018.
 
4
Canvas Network: https://​www.​canvas.​net/​, last access: June 2018.
 
5
Badgr: https://​info.​badgr.​io/​, last access: June, 2018.
 
6
Open Badges: https://​openbadges.​org/​, last access: June, 2018.
 
7
Learning Tools Interoperability: https://​www.​imsglobal.​org/​activity/​learning-tools-interoperability​, last access: June, 2018.
 
8
According to Miles and Huberman [40], data reduction refers to the process of selecting, focusing, abstracting and transforming the data that appear in written-up fields notes or transcriptions.. These data are advised to be divided into topics and subtopics at different levels of analysis deciding the conceptual framework, cases, research questions and data collection approaches to choose [40].
 
9
Badges associated with compulsory group activities (i.e., Good Colleague and Awesome Colleague) were included in the analysis, but their results could differ from the other badges since: (i) they are compulsory tasks, and therefore, students could fulfill the conditions without being motivated by badges, and (ii) the submission of these activities (one condition of the badges associated with group activities) could be done by any member of the group, a different day that the student log in the MOOC platform affecting to the claiming time span.
 
10
Activity time counts the time the student had the course open in the browser. Although this measure is different than the total time a student was working in the course, it can help us to understand the relationship with other parameters measuring the engagement.
 
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Metadata
Title
Understanding student behavior and perceptions toward earning badges in a gamified MOOC
Authors
Alejandro Ortega-Arranz
Erkan Er
Alejandra Martínez-Monés
Miguel L. Bote-Lorenzo
Juan I. Asensio-Pérez
Juan A. Muñoz-Cristóbal
Publication date
22-07-2019
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Universal Access in the Information Society / Issue 3/2019
Print ISSN: 1615-5289
Electronic ISSN: 1615-5297
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-019-00677-8

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