A Critique of “Gamification” in Khan Academy

Khan Academy (Kahn Acadamy, 2013) is an informal online learning platform that is adding game elements that participants encounter as they move through curricula. This “gamification”, includes the addition of badges, accomplishment statistics and skill tree visualizations that reflect the completion of different learning task and participation in the online community. In this paper we outline the types of gamification used in Khan academy and reflect on their effectiveness in relation to learning theory and motivation theory

Exploring Approaches to Data Literacy Through a Critical Race Theory Perspective

In this paper, we describe and analyze a workshop developed for a work training program called DataWorks. In thisworkshop, data workers chose a topic of their interest, sourced and processed data on that topic, and used that data to createpresentations. Drawing from discourses of data literacy; epistemic agency and lived experience; and critical race theory, we analyze the workshops’ activities and outcomes. Through this analysis, three themes emerge: the tensions between epistemic agency and the context of work, encountering the ordinariness of racism through data work, and understanding the personal as communal and intersectional. Finally, critical race theory also prompts us to consider the very notions of data literacy that undergird our workshop activities. From this analysis, we offer a series of suggestions for approaching designing data literacy activities, taking into account critical race theory

Information Seeking Practices of Parents: Exploring Skills, Face Threats and Social Networks

Parents are often responsible for finding, selecting, and facilitating their children\u27s out-of-school learning experiences. One might expect that the recent surge in online educational tools and the vast online network of information about informal learning would make this easier for all parents. Instead, the increase in these free, accessible resources is contributing to an inequality of use between children from lower and higher socio-economic status (SES). Through over 60 interviews with a diverse group of parents, we explored parents\u27 ability to find learning opportunities and their role in facilitating educational experiences for their children. We identified differences in the use of online social networks in finding learning opportunities for their children based on SES. Building upon these findings, we conducted a national survey in partnership with ACT, an educational testing services organization, to understand if these differences were generalizable to and consistent among a broader audience

“Bettering Data”: The Role of Everyday Language and Visualization in Critical Novice Data Work

Informed by critical data literacy efforts to promote social justice, this paper uses qualitative methods and data collected during two years of workplace ethnography to characterize the notion of critical novice data work. Specifically, we analyze everyday language used by novice data workers at DataWorks, an organization that trains and employs historically excluded populations to work with community data sets. We also characterize challenges faced by these workers in both cleaning and being critical of data during a project focused on police-community relations. Finally, we highlight novel approaches to visualizing data the workers developed during this project, derived from data cleaning and everyday experience. Findings and discussion highlight the generative power of everyday language and visualization for critical novice data work, as well as challenges and opportunities to foster critical data literacy with novice data workers in the workplace

Qualitative data collection technologies: A comparison of instant messaging, email, and phone.

ABSTRACT With the growing body of qualitative research on HCI and social computing, it is natural that researchers may choose to conduct that research in a mediated fashion-over telephone or computer networks. In this paper we compare three different qualitative data collection technologies: phone, instant message (IM), and email. We use quantitative analysis techniques to examine the differences between the methods specifically concerning word count and qualitative codes. We find that there are differences between the methods, and that each technology has affordances that impact the data. Although phone interviews contain four times as many words on average as email and IM, we were surprised to discover that there is no significant difference in number of unique qualitative codes expressed between phone and IM

Pink Boxes and Chocolate-dipped Broccoli: Bad Game Design Providing Justifications for Reluctant Learners

Presented at the Games + Learning + Society 11 ConferenceThe use of games to make boring activities fun is usually a bad idea. The thoughtless use of points and badges as a method of “gamification” is usually a bad idea. Pandering to stereotypes about women by making games pink and on “girly” topics is usually a bad idea. Yet, these design tactics may provide face saving strategies for those who are reluctant to openly engage in learning. In this paper I review tactics such as sugar-coating learning with games, pointsification of educational experiences, and pink boxing games and ask why, if these are such bad design tactics, they sometimes work. In answering these questions the pretense of gaming and fun can be seen as a powerful justification for participation in learning

Glitch game testers: the design and study of a learning environment for computational production with young African American males

The implementation of a learning environment for young African American males, called the Glitch Game Testers, was launched in 2009. The development of this program was based on formative work that looked at the contrasting use of digital games between young African American males and individuals who chose to become computer science majors. Through analysis of cultural values and digital game play practices, the program was designed to intertwine authentic game development practices and computer science learning. The resulting program employed 25 African American male high school students to test pre-release digital games full-time in the summer and part-time in the school year, with an hour of each day dedicated to learning introductory computer science. Outcomes for persisting in computer science education are remarkable; of the 16 participants who had graduated from high school as of 2012, 12 have gone on to school in computing-related majors. These outcomes, and the participants' enthusiasm for engaging in computing, are in sharp contrast to the crisis in African American male education and learning motivation. The research presented in this dissertation discusses the formative research that shaped the design of Glitch, the evaluation of the implementation of Glitch, and a theoretical investigation of the way in which participants navigated conflicting motivations in learning environments.PhDCommittee Chair: Bruckman, Amy; Committee Member: Crowley, Kevin; Committee Member: Guzdial, Mark; Committee Member: Kolodner, Janet; Committee Member: Nakamura, Lisa; Committee Member: Pearson, Willi

Click!: Pre-Teen Girls and a Mixed Reality Role-Playing Game for Science and Technology

Click! Urban Adventure Game was a mixed-reality role-playing game where girls worked in teams to solve a fictional mystery based on a real-world issue, using technology and science to conduct their investigation. In this article we describe the design of the experience and present evidence that the game increased girls’ confidence, interest, and knowledge of science and technology and helped to build a community of support and conversation-centred learning for girls. This example has implications for the design of informal learning experiences that bridge interest and identity with science and technology content. Keywords: girls, technology, role-playing games, environmental educatio