{"id":2745,"date":"2012-09-16T11:31:03","date_gmt":"2012-09-16T17:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=2745"},"modified":"2014-09-12T10:29:46","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T16:29:46","slug":"coursera-gamification-course-assignment-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/09\/16\/coursera-gamification-course-assignment-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Coursera Gamification Course, Assignment 2."},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

I\u2019m still playing along with the coursera course on Gamification<\/a>. (See my initial reaction here<\/a>, and my first assignment here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This week we get our second assignment (out of three). This course only runs 6 weeks (August 27 – Oct. 8) so we are now into week three.<\/p>\n

Our work consists of quizzes and short written assignments. I haven’t seen the final yet but I would imagine it is the same format as the quizzes, only longer.<\/p>\n

Here’s the scenario this week:<\/p>\n

Project Part II<\/span>: Motivation<\/strong><\/p>\n

You are approached by Ryan Morrison, the mayor of a medium-sized city in the Midwest of the United States.\u00a0 He has heard that you know a lot about gamification and believes that gamification techniques can transform city government.<\/p>\n

He would like to start with the health of city employees.\u00a0 The city has 50,000 employees and they happen to have exactly the same rates of obesity as the U.S. average: 34.4% overweight (but not obese) and 33.9% of them are obese.\u00a0 53.1% of the city\u2019s employees do not meet the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines for aerobic physical activity and 76% of them fail to meet the Guidelines for muscle-strengthening activity.\u00a0 The city pays for health benefits for its employees and this cost is a huge part of the city budget.\u00a0 Economists in Mayor Morrison\u2019s office have estimated that a 3% improvement in the average physical fitness of city employees would amount to a US$94 million reduction in annual city health costs; a 5% improvement would save US$188 million.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Describe in general terms a gamified system that could effectively motivate behavior change to address the challenge presented above. Specifically, explain how the system would effectively incorporate intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, or both.Your answer should address the fact that this is an internal gamification project, targeted at the institutional goals of the city government.\u00a0 The system can use any technology (or no technology!), so long as the resources required seem justified by the scope of the opportunity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s my Response<\/h2>\n

Goal: Improve Physical Fitness of City Employees<\/p>\n

Context:<\/p>\n