The effect of virtual achievements on student engagement.

ABSTRACTBadge-based achievement systems are being used increasingly to drive user participation and engagement across a variety of platforms and contexts. Despite positive anecdotal reports, there is currently little empirical evidence to support their efficacy in particular domains. With the recent rapid growth of tools for online learning, an interesting open question for educators is the extent to which badges can positively impact student participation. In this paper, we report on a large-scale (n > 1000) randomized, controlled experiment measuring the impact of incorporating a badge-based achievement system within an online learning tool. We discover a highly significant positive effect on the quantity of students' contributions, without a corresponding reduction in their quality, as well as on the period of time over which students engaged with the tool. Students enjoyed being able to earn badges, and indicated a strong preference for having them available in the user interface.