College of Information Studies

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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.

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PREDICTING AND MOTIVATING ACHIEVEMENT IN SELF-PACED LEARNING: A FORMATIVE DESIGN, STUDY AND EVALUATION
(2014) Goldman, Alina; Bederson, Benjamin; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Student motivation and retention is a notorious problem in self-paced and mastery environments. This thesis uses a formative study conducted during a self-paced mastery course at the University of Maryland to understand how background variables affect achievement and to explore whether student success can be positively influenced by: a) receiving a course credit suggestion; b) setting goals and sticking to self-made deadlines; c) viewing aggregated and individual progress feedback; and d) receiving game-inspired incentives and rewards. After evaluating the effectiveness of the integrated design, the thesis suggests design changes to improve motivation.