IMPROVING STUDY HABITS USING A BEHAVIOUR CHANGE FRAMEWORK INCORPORATING SOCIAL MOTIVATION AND GAMIFICATION

Students entering into their first year of university studies are subject to a jarring difference between the learning experiences of high school and university. High schools typically take a very structured approach to teaching whereas university expects students to take ownership of their learning. This dramatic shift often means students are not adequately prepared to form positive study habits on their own, or existing habits are likely to break down. Further complicating this issue is the rising popularity of video games and social networking amongst students. These two areas provide fun and engaging experiences for their users where traditional learning environments struggle to do so. In this research-in-progress paper, we propose a framework that can be used by instructors to improve learning environments so that their students are better engaged and encouraged to form positive study habits. The framework utilises a hybrid of the Transtheoretical model of behaviour change (TTM) and the SNAP model of motivation. Social networking and gamification are used as triggers that enable the process to occur. It is envisaged that this research will lead to instructors creating more effective learning environments with less effort, and making academic learning a more enjoyable pursuit for students

COMBINING THE FOGG BEHAVIOURAL MODEL AND HOOK MODEL TO DESIGN FEATURES IN A PERSUASIVE APP TO IMPROVE STUDY HABITS

Using technology to persuade people to behave in a certain way is an ever-increasing field of study. The ability to persuade individuals is quite clear in e-commerce, where individuals are persuaded to make purchasing decisions. However, it can also be applied to other disciplines, such as education where improving the study behaviour of students would be particularly useful. Forming good study habits can be a challenge for university students who have not done so in the earlier years of their education, or where the pressures of external commitments have eroded previously good habits. We use a combination of the Fogg Behavioural Model and the Hook model to design features for an app as a component of a larger persuasive system to help improve three key areas of study habits: study scheduling, class preparation and group study. The app will be built and tested in a university setting targeting undergraduate students

Evaluating Persuasion in a Digital Learning Environment

The massification of higher education has produced cohorts of students with varying motivation and ability to meet their academic potential. Providing individualised support is not always feasible for instructors as class sizes continue to grow, so this research evaluates the persuasive design of a digital learning environment (DLE) to address the aforementioned issue. A system with persuasive features called Task-Test-Monitor (TTM) was used by students for a semester at an Australian university. At the conclusion of the semester, students were surveyed on their experience of using the system. Results showed students were strongly in favour of using such a system to help them study, with a significant portion of respondents reporting that the system influenced how they studied. Educators and system designers can benefit from these findings by applying persuasive design principles used in this research in their own pedagogy or system designs

Teaching Business Process Management with Simulation in Graduate Business Programs: An Integrative Approach

Games offer people engaging and motivating experiences. The process of recreating this type of experience in systems that are not typically considered games is called “gamification.” Improving engagement and motivation in a learning environment is desired by many educators as traditional approaches do not seem to be as engaging as they once were with students. Hence, gamification may be a useful tool to improve the learning environment. As a precursor to the development of a game-like learning system, we survey 51 undergraduate IT students to obtain their perceptions on game elements, which are the building blocks of what makes a game identifiable as such. All game elements that were presented to the respondents were highly rated. It was found that undergraduate students have a positive perception of systems that use game elements and are interested in its use for learning. Overall, students favored social interaction, engagement, feedback, and increased learning, which suggests that gamification is particularly suited to learning approaches such as social constructivism. We suggest that future work should include the development of a prototype for a game-like educational system that helps to provide useful feedback for students about their learning progress

Leveraging Data and Analytics for Digital Business Transformation through DataOps: An Information Processing Perspective

Digital business transformation has become increasingly important for organisations. Since transforming business digitally is an ongoing process, it requires an integrated and disciplined approach. Data Operations (DataOps), emerging in practice, can provide organisations with such an approach to leverage data and analytics for digital business transformation. This paper proposes a framework that integrates digital business transformation, data analytics, and DataOps through the lens of information processing theory (IPT). The details of this framework explain how organisations can employ DataOps as an integrated and disciplined approach to understand their analytical information needs and develop the analytical information processing capability required for digital business transformation. DataOps-enabled digital business transformation, in turn, improves organisational performance by improving operational efficiency and creating new business models. This research extends current knowledge on digital transformation by bringing in DataOps and analytics through IPT and thereby provides organisations with a novel approach for their digital business transformations

Using Analytical Information for Digital Business Transformation through DataOps: A Review and Conceptual Framework

Organisations are increasingly practising business analytics to generate actionable insights that can guide their digital business transformation. Transforming business digitally using business analytics is an ongoing process that requires an integrated and disciplined approach to leveraging analytics and promoting collaboration. An emerging business analytics practice, Data Operations (DataOps), provides a disciplined approach for organisations to collaborate using analytical information for digital business transformation. We propose a conceptual framework by reviewing the literature on business analytics, DataOps and organisational information processing theory (OIPT). This conceptual framework explains how organisations can employ DataOps as an integrated and disciplined approach for developing the analytical information processing capability and facilitating boundary-spanning activities required for digital business transformation. This research (a) extends current knowledge on digital transformation by linking it with business analytics from the perspective of OIPT and boundary-spanning activities, and (b) presents DataOps as a novel approach for using analytical information for digital business transformation

Managing and Making Sense of Data to Drive Digital Transformation: A Case Study

We explore how organizations manage and make sense of data collaboratively to drive digital transformation. We present the results of an in-depth case study of a financial organization that used Data Operations (DataOps) - a collaborative data management practice to transform its digital-first offering initiative and thereby redefining its value proposition. Drawing on sensemaking theory, we develop a process model that explains how organizations use DataOps to perceive cues through data democratization, extract plausible and comprehensive insights from data through data storytelling to make interpretations, and leverage data products to take actions that drive data-driven digital transformation. Our findings have implications for data-driven digital transformation as we show how DataOps constitutes a new class of data management practices that enable collaboration between data managers and data consumers and allow organizations to make evidence-based decisions to drive their digital transformation

Cybersecurity Incident Response in Organisations: A Meta-level Framework for Scenario-based Training

Cybersecurity Incident Response (IR) teams mitigate the impact of adverse cyber-related events in organisations. Field studies of IR teams suggest that at present the process of IR is underdeveloped with a focus on the technological dimension with little consideration of practice capability. To improve IR capabilities, we develop a scenario-based training approach to assist organisations to overcome socio-technical barriers to IR. The training approach is informed by a comprehensive list of socio-technical barriers compiled from a review of the literature. Our primary contribution is a novel meta-level framework to generate scenarios specifically targeting socio-technical issues. As a first step towards demonstrating the utility of the framework, a proof-of-concept scenario is presented

A Model to Investigate Preference for Use of Gamification in a Learning Activity

Applying the engaging and motivating aspects of video games in non-game contexts is known as gamification. Education can benefit from gamification by improving the learning environment to make it more enjoyable and engaging for students. Factors that influence students’ preference for use of gamification are identified. Students are surveyed on their experiences of playing a gamified quiz, named Quick Quiz, during class. Quick Quiz features several gamification elements such as points, progress bars, leader boards, timers, and charts. Data collected from the survey is analysed using Partial Least Squares. Factors including ‘usefulness’, ‘preference for use’, ‘knowledge improvement’, ‘engagement’, ‘immersion’ and ‘enjoyment’ were found to be significant determinants.  Students were found to have a preference for use for gamification in their learning environment

Designing Persuasive Systems to Influence Learning: Modelling the Impact of Study Habits on Academic Performance

Human behaviour is complex and human beings are difficult to persuade. Technology has developed into a crucial tool to influence human behaviour. Computers have increased in power and mobility and have become ubiquitous in people’s daily lives. Persuasive technology involves computers being designed explicitly for influencing behaviour. Social networking sites are good examples of how users can be conditioned to habitually check for updates each day. This habit-forming technology can be repurposed to be useful for education. Non-academically inclined university students often have poor study habits. It is possible to design and implement persuasive systems to influence these students to improve their study habits, which is likely to result in improved learning outcomes for them. However, for a persuasive system to be effective, it needs to target a specific habit. In order to help identify which habits to target, this research provides insights into which habits have the most significant impact on academic performance. Three models were constructed outlining the most important habits for three dimensions of academic performance. It was found that each model had unique habit predictors, except for a small overlap. Generally, study habits related to the management of resources, value placed by the individual student on learning tasks and expectations of learning were found to be the most impactful. These models allow designers to more confidently build educational persuasive systems, by providing evidence-based selection of target habits