Open Digital Badges and Reward Structures

• In Event: Motivation and Learning: What Is Provocative and/or Novel?

Abstract

The emergence and use of Open Badges in online environments has reignited debates about the role of rewards in learning. Open badges are learning credentials that contain hyperlinks which provide easy access to relevant web-enabled information; they are used to signal accomplishment. Open Badges are controversial because they have been used by some and characterized by many as “extrinsic” rewards for learning. These new digital credentials can contain specific claims about competency and evidence supporting those claims, and this information can be annotated, curated, and shared over digital networks, where comments and endorsements can provide additional meaning.

In this presentation, consideration of reward structures is informed by a study that traced the development and evolution of 30 new Open Badge systems. Seven arguments will be articulated: (1) digital badges are inherently more meaningful than grades and other credentials; (2) circulation in digital networks makes Open Badges particularly meaningful; (3) Open Badges are potentially transformative motivators; (4) the negative consequences of extrinsic rewards are overstated; (5) consideration of motivation and badges should focus primarily on social activity and secondarily on individual behavior and cognition; (6) situative models of engagement are ideal for studying digital credentials; and (7) the motivational impact of digital credentials should be studied across increasingly formal “levels.”

Author

• Daniel T. Hickey, Indiana University