On-boarding

Tan, Steinbach and Kumar (p.231) note that arm length and reading ability are strongly correlated. When you fix the age the correlation evaporates. I'm trying to find the confounding factor in this one: Failure to post a profile photograph or avatar is strongly correlated with failure to complete an online course. I think if I could make only one change to courses I work on, it would be to extend the on-boarding component. I like: mihi-mihi; team-building; practice assignments; assessment simulations; and real life face to face beach parties.

Extrinsic motivation

Worrying about gamification again, and remembering Knowles on motivation: "Adults respond better to internal versus external motivators." Looking at Kevin Werbach's framework there's a lot I can take from it and repurpose. How can I say that Boss Fights (against the clock multichoice tests), Collections (toolkits), Combat (simulations), Levels, Quests, and Teams are not useful components in course design? There's also the nagging question; is extrinsic motivation actually unethical?

Analog missions

Looking at simulations. Got this fear of didactic approaches, prefer serious gameplay. Very interested in NASA NEEMO. Realise we can't all do simulation to that extent, but the principle is still there; analog missions. More interesting, more demanding, and more productive than class.