ERIC Number: EJ1067337
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Sep
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1560-4292
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Spendency: Students' Propensity to Use System Currency
Snow, Erica L.; Allen, Laura K.; Jackson, G. Tanner; McNamara, Danielle S.
International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, v25 n3 p407-427 Sep 2015
Using students' process data from the game-based Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) iSTART-ME, the current study examines students' propensity to use system currency to unlock game-based features, (i.e., referred to here as "spendency"). This study examines how spendency relates to students' interaction preferences, in-system performance, and learning outcomes (i.e., self-explanation quality, comprehension). A group of 40 high school students interacted with iSTART-ME as part of an 11-session experiment (pretest, eight training sessions, posttest, and a delayed retention test). Students' spendency was negatively related to the frequency of their use of personalizable features. In addition, students' spendency was negatively related to their in-system achievements, daily learning outcomes, and performance on a transfer comprehension task, even after factoring out prior ability. The findings from this study indicate that increases in students' spendency are systematically related to their selection choices and may have a negative effect on in-system performance, immediate learning outcomes, and skill transfer outcomes. The results have particular relevance to game-based systems that incorporate currency to unlock features within games as well as to the differential tradeoffs of game features on motivation and learning.
Descriptors: Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Educational Games, High School Students, Preferences, Outcomes of Education, Performance, Pretests Posttests, Transfer of Training
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A