The effects of virtual currency on homework performance in online learning

• In Event: Methodology

Proposal

Introduction
Online learning has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it offers a more affordable and accessible way to obtain education. One of the key goals of online learning is to provide more people with opportunities for education and professional skills development.
Gamification is a technique that uses game elements to increase students’ interest and motivation to study. It has been shown to be an effective way to increase student engagement in online learning. However, the implementation of virtual currency as an element of gamification remains an underused and least studied area.
Methods
This study investigated the relationship between the introduction of virtual currency and the results of learning English as a foreign language. The experiment was conducted with students of the platform "Skyeng" in April–December 2020, the total sample size was 11,893 people. During the experiment, users were randomly divided into two groups - experimental and control. The first got the opportunity to earn in-game currency during the learning process by completing homework. The earned currency could be spent in the Skymarket virtual store.
To assess the statistical significance between the two branches of the test, a nonparametric analogue of the Student's criterion, the Mann-Whitney U-test, was used. The differences between the branches of the test, taking into account the type of purchases made, were evaluated using pairwise comparisons using the Kraskell-Wallis criterion. The analysis of the effects of using game currency was carried out using linear regression using the method of least squares.
The dependent variables in our study were the student's average score for completed homework and his average percentage of completion of all homework. The evaluation of the experimental impact was carried out considering two indicators: the fact of getting into the experimental group (branch B), as well as the type of purchases made. The socio-demographic characteristics of students available to us were used as control variables: sex, the number of household chores performed.
Results
The results of the study showed that the introduction of virtual currency led to an increase in the percentage of homework completed by students. However, the positive effects of the game currency on the average score of students were only significant in some models. There are statistically significant differences in the effects of various types of purchases. For example, purchases of virtual goods that were directly related to learning (e.g., practice exercises, additional lessons) had a larger positive effect on student engagement than purchases of virtual goods that were not directly related to learning.
The results of this study suggest that virtual currency can be an effective way to increase student engagement in online learning. However, the effects of virtual currency are likely to vary depending on the specific context of use. For example, the effects of virtual currency may be more pronounced in courses that are perceived as challenging or boring. Students who did not use the game currency available to them showed similar or even lower results than the participants in the experiment from the control group. This suggests that the expansion of functionality due to new, but rarely used features, will not give the expected result.

Author

• Tatiana Chirkina, Michigan State University