A Graphical Interface for Awarding Points in the Moodle Assignment Module MoodleMoot Japan 2016 Date:Feb 23 rd (Tue), 2016 Time:9:00 – 9:40 a.m. Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan Room:Auditorium (Rm. 6210) Gordon Bateson Kochi University of Technology John Brine University of Aizu Alexander Vazhenin University of Aizu

A Ph.D research project Title: A Point Accumulator for Digital Badges in an English Village Reward System Question: Can we create an English-speaking community in a Japanese university using a reward system based around digital badges? Method: Build and test several plugins to enhance the “gamification” potential of the Moodle LMS

Overview of the Ph.D. research project Background topics a)Activity theory + motivation b)English villages c)Digital badges d)Computer interfaces Prototypes a)Course page scorecard b)Multi-activity control panel c)Point accumulator Results

Literature review: Activity Theory A psychological framework that views the actions of an individual within a complex social “activity system” The “activity system” includes the subjects (people) objects mediating artifacts (signs and tools) DESCRIPTIVE not PRESCRIPTIVE describes why people behave they do rules community division of labor

Literature review: Classroom Motivation Course-specific motivational components, the syllabus the teaching materials the teaching method the learning tasks Teacher-specific motivational components the teacher’s behaviour, personality and teaching style Group-specific motivational components goal-orientedness the norm and reward system group cohesion classroom goal structure (competitive, cooperative or individualistic)

Literature review: English Villages The English Speaking Lounge at Osaka Jogakuin College Bramley, D. (2008) Osaka Jogakuin University Journal Kiyo # pp The Cube at Kinki University Kitzman, A. & Nitta, K. (2010) Kinki University Journal #6 pp Gyeonggi English Village, Paju, S. Korea Happy English Village in Taoyuan, Taiwan British Hills, Fukushima, Japan

Literature review: Digital Badges Badges as extrinsic incentives goal is to earn the badge by fulfilling conditions (Game Theory) may undermine intrinsic motivation individuals may value badges differently for fun for self-motivation associate some public significance Badges as evidence-based credentials fuller overview of an individual than academic achievements alone value may not be clear to interlocutors who are “distant” professionally or socially, from issuing context

Literature review: Digital Badges Specification 1.Digital Badges and Open Badges Technical specifications of open badges 2.Functional specification of Moodle badges: Describe function of a system in terms how various kinds of user would use the system for specific purposes

a)Course page scorecard merge the gradebook and course page display category grades in a block display grades next to each activity b)Multi-activity control panel select multiple activities on a single page apply common settings in “one-click” set activity-specific settings too (e.g. completion conditions) c)Point accumulator award a small number of points cumulatively award points easily, during and without interrupting communication

course page (in browser) section 1 resource 1 activity 1.1 activity 1.2 section 2 resource 2 activity 2.1 activity 2.2 section 3 resource 3 activity 3.1 activity 3.2 section 4 activity 4.1 Block extracts grade categories as page is created Course grade category 1 category 2 category 3 category 4 section 0 Scorecard: Structure Course ID section number activity types session id (for security) Transmission via AJAX activity grades activity statuses CSS display formats Database e.g. MySQL Moodle LMS Gradebook API TaskChain plugin web server 90% 70% 10% 95% 85% 90% 50% 20% Javascript adds activity grades after page loads Section 0 contains Javascript to fetch activity grades

Scorecard: Color-coding GREEN box for a HIGH grade ORANGE box for a MEDIUM grade RED box for a LOW grade GREY box for a MISSING grade >= 90% >= 60% >= 0% ---- a “missing” grade indicates that an activity has not been attempted yet

Scorecard: Moodle course page

Access control page (in browser) Dates Grades Groups Access restrictions Teacher selects and/or filters activities to be modified Activity Type Multi-activity control panel: Structure Database e.g. MySQL Moodle LMS TaskChain Navigation block Access control page web server Activity completion Teacher selects and sets setting values for the selected activities Activity Name Section Visibility Specific activities activity filters setting values session id (for security) HTML form values

Control Panel: Activity Filter Activities can be selected in several ways by section by activity type by name (include or exclude) by visibility (visible or hidden) specific activities

Control Panel: Setting Categories Settings are grouped into expandable categories

Control Panel: Dates from/until dates are used by most activities but database fields have a variety of names cut-off dates are only used by Assignments

Control Panel: Grades

Control Panel: Groups as with other settings, the Group settings only appear if they are relevant, i.e. if Groups and Groupings are enabled in the current course

Control Panel: Course page these settings are usually set on the course page when Edit mode is enabled

Control Panel: Access restrictions Standard access restrictions are available date grade profile field Group Grouping Completion Display

Control Panel: Activity Completion Settings for all activity types

Control Panel: Activity Completion Settings for standard activities

Control Panel: Activity Completion Settings for 3 rd -party activities

Point Accumulator: Structure Database e.g. MySQL Moodle LMS Assignment plugin Feedback subplugin 1234 teacher Transmission via AJAX number of points assignment id student id teacher id session id (for security) other info (e.g. GPS) touch-screen interface Teacher clicks student icons to award points. Teacher clicks number icons to set point values. web server 5

Point Accumulator: Input via Moodle

Innovation incremental points a seating plan for students can be setup automatically or manually can be saved, modified and used again a single web-page powered by AJAX (jQuery) replaces 4 web-pages an “undo” button

Prototypes: Incremental Points (3) demonstration

Future Plans: Enhancements 1.Allow rubric grids when awarding awarding points 2.Award badges conditionally on completion of other badges 3.Create Mobile App (based on AngularJS and/or node.js)

Enhancements: Rubric grids API for displaying and using rubrics is already available in Moodle >= 2.9 teacher selects points by clicking or touching a cell comment text can be input too

Enhancements: Conditional Badges Currently, badges can be awarded Manually by any user who has authority to issue badges Automatically on completion of a specified activity or course Allowing the possibility of badges being awarded when several other badges have been obtained would allow a hierarchy of badges

Enhancements: Mobile App Currently the Moodle app is written in angular.js It may be possible to combine this with Multi-Virtual Layer Computer model (Cortez & Vazhenin)

Future Plans: Verification test effectiveness of gamified feedback on three groups of students 1.no feedback 2.normal feedback 3.gamified feedback students are assigned to a group randomly feedback is generated and sent automatically => only difference is type of feedback