What are Achievements?
If you have watched anyone playing a video game, you know how the digital universe motivates people. Faculty can also motivate students in the upcoming Blackboard with a form of "gamification" by incorporating badges into their courses. With the Blackboard achievements tool, faculty can provide this kind of incentive by designing a badge system to encourage students to explore and participate more.
A student's badge collection can represent the key learning milestones that he or she met. Earned badges can show a complete view of a person’s skills and achievements.
Being rewarded is also a powerful extrinsic motivator. One of the best rewards is recognition for a job well done. Finally, providing these opportunities for rewarding students throughout a course can create a map of what they can learn.
- Learn 7 things about badges and 7 things about gamification from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative
- Get ready to use the Achievements tool in Blackboard, coming in January 2015
- Read more about best practices with using Achievements