An analysis of the use of badges in an educational experiment

Abstract

The use of badges in educational contexts its starting to gain popularity. However many studies do not offer an extensive analysis of the results regarding the use of badges after the educational experiment is finished. In this work we offer an evaluation of the results of three courses (physics, chemistry and mathematics) that we have conducted using Khan Academy with a wide badge system and 291 different students. We analyze these results regarding the distribution of badges per student, analyzing also the different badge types and which of them were delivered more often. We also explore the influence of factors such as the difficulty of problems or video length in the amount of badges triggered by exercises and videos respectively. We compare the results among the three courses trying to find possible explanations to these differences. We also put the lessons learned into context and give recommendations so that our findings can be used by instructional designers and other researchers.