{"id":5412,"date":"2015-08-24T09:34:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T15:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=5412"},"modified":"2015-08-24T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T15:34:25","slug":"can-badges-and-leaderboards-make-low-income-students-participate-more-in-campus-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/08\/24\/can-badges-and-leaderboards-make-low-income-students-participate-more-in-campus-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Badges and Leaderboards make Low-Income Students Participate more in Campus life?"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/chronicle.com\/blogs\/wiredcampus\/how-an-app-helps-low-income-students-by-turning-college-life-into-a-game\/57229?cid=wc&amp;utm_source=wc&amp;utm_medium=en\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Screen-Shot-2015-08-21-at-3.19.38-PM.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>An article about how a &#8220;gamified&#8221; interface to campus life is supposed to help low-income students (can you tell I&#8217;m skeptical?).<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what they do:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Give out points and badges for doing stuff.<\/li>\n<li>Reward competing\u00a0against their fellow students to earn more points (which they can trade for stuff at Starbucks &amp; the bookstore).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here are their goals:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>to make sure low-income students \u2014 many of whom are the first in their families to go to college \u2014 are aware of the dozens of opportunities on campus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here are my problems with this approach:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Superficial reward-driven gamification\u00a0produces effects that don&#8217;t last.<\/li>\n<li>Monetizing engagement does not normally lead to genuine engagement.<\/li>\n<li>External motivators tend to be counter-productive.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m pretty sure that low-income students already feel singled out. Do you really want to add to that?<\/li>\n<li>They are rewarding\u00a0students for competing\u00a0against each other when what they\u00a0really should be doing is creating community.<\/li>\n<li>This emphasizes winning over caring.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote><p>Last year, the average student won less than $100 worth of coffee and bookstore items, and the top earner nearly $200.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hmmmm. &#8220;Less than $100.00&#8221; I wonder how much less?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When the app <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/12\/03\/opinion\/blowing-off-class-we-know.html?_r=2\">officially debuted last fall<\/a>\u00a0after a pilot run in 2013,\u00a0getting students to buy in wasn\u2019t a problem, Mr. Huer says. About half of the Pell Grant population at Ball State eventually downloaded it. In fact, some students were too enthusiastic for the app\u2019s original design. \u201cThere were a few students last year who went through every achievement in the first week,\u201d Mr. Huer says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;d love to see some more detailed results. I don&#8217;t see 1\/2 as a good number.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of gamification, but THIS kind is exactly the sort of thing <a href=\"http:\/\/bogost.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ian Bogost<\/a> complains about as being <a href=\"http:\/\/bogost.com\/writing\/blog\/gamification_is_bullshit\/\" target=\"_blank\">bullshit<\/a>, and he&#8217;s right.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/chronicle.com\/blogs\/wiredcampus\/how-an-app-helps-low-income-students-by-turning-college-life-into-a-game\/57229?cid=wc&amp;utm_source=wc&amp;utm_medium=en\">How an App Helps Low-Income Students by Turning College Life Into a Game \u2013 Wired Campus &#8211; Blogs &#8211; The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-5412'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(5412);\" title='' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>Be the first to like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(5412);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(5412);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>An article about how a &#8220;gamified&#8221; interface to campus life is supposed to help low-income students (can you tell I&#8217;m skeptical?). Here&#8217;s what they do: Give out points and badges for doing stuff. Reward competing\u00a0against their fellow students to earn &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/08\/24\/can-badges-and-leaderboards-make-low-income-students-participate-more-in-campus-life\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,352,369,24],"tags":[49,126,383,384],"class_list":["post-5412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational-technology","category-gamification-2","category-higher-education","category-teaching-learning","tag-fail","tag-gamification","tag-higher-ed","tag-teching-learning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-1pi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3649,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2013\/07\/22\/can-gamification-boost-independent-learning-mindshift\/","url_meta":{"origin":5412,"position":0},"title":"Can Gamification Boost Independent Learning? | MindShift","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Don't get me wrong, I think there is much potential in gamification, but I don't think the reward structure is the most important part. It's really not about points and badges. There are some kinds of people who love these sorts of rewards, and others who don't - points and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7209,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2019\/01\/21\/has-gamification-jumped-the-shark\/","url_meta":{"origin":5412,"position":1},"title":"Has Gamification Jumped the Shark?","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"January 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Badges, Points, and Leader-boards, oh my! I'm working on a book - a series, actually - about gamifying learning, only lately, I've really been struggling with the term itself. GAMIFICATION Hmmmm. It just doesn't seem to fit anymore. Is that because it is bullshit, as Ian Bogost said back in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/icon-scorecard.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2329,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/06\/17\/gamification-are-badges-and-points-enough-will-monetary-rewards-fix-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":5412,"position":2},"title":"Gamification: Are Badges and Points Enough? Will Monetary Rewards Fix It?","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"June 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Badges, points, and leaderboards: Is Gamification good or bad? The short answer is: YES. Part of the problem is that some people who are jumping on the gamification bandwagon don't actually know much about games. Like a great many other fads, gamification is viewed by some as a panacea -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5621,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/10\/04\/gamification-10117-what-is-needed-in-a-gamified-grading-application\/","url_meta":{"origin":5412,"position":3},"title":"Gamification 101[17]: What Does a Gamified Grading Application Need to Have?","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"October 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is Part 17 in my continuing saga of my current iteration of a gamified course. As I've said before, current course management systems don't have the flexibility required to accommodate a gamified design such as mine (here and here). Currently I, using Google Sheets, which works pretty well, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"snap02080","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/snap02080-1024x511.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/snap02080-1024x511.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/snap02080-1024x511.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4026,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/07\/13\/stopping-boring-content-with-this-list-of-gamification-elements-try-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":5412,"position":4},"title":"Stopping Boring Content with This List of Gamification Elements???  Try Again&#8230;..","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this article today. It claims to know the 8 steps needed to \"Stop Boring Content\". I disagree. They say: 1. Win Scenario \u2013 This is one of the most important ways to create a basic Gamified course. By defining the win scenario you define all of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"gamification","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gamification-300x205.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5946,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/11\/01\/worth-sharing-gamification-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":5412,"position":5},"title":"Worth Sharing: Gamification: Separating Fact from Fiction","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"November 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Game-Based Learning \/ Gaming \/ Learning \/ Social Learning While this isn't a new article, it's one worth repeating. The 4 Myths described by Kapp are: Gamification and Games are the same. Gamification alienates older learners. There is no science behind gamification. Gamification is about points, badges, and leaderboards. Source:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5412"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5420,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5412\/revisions\/5420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}