During the last several weeks during a graduate class, I have been introduced to two new platforms on built on a blockchain system, SpringRole and HiveBlog. Both have leaderboard screens to demonstrate user rewards and engagement...and they couldn't be more different. Different in looks, different in information and different in their success in rewarding me or engaging me.
Now, not everyone is a fan of leaderboards. I'll admit, when I consider my personality, I'm not very competitive and in most cases a leaderboard is either simply not motivating or it is actually de-motivating. I never employed them in my class and wondered how they were used by teachers. As I drifted down that Google rabbit hole, I was shocked at the range of uses in schools and classrooms. Some schools use them in a cooperative setting where the progress of different classrooms are displayed. That I can appreciate in how it would build team spirit and engagement. But I also found instances where students were listed by GPA or instances where each assignment was tracked on the wall for all to see. I can't believe that doesn't break some sort of privacy law or policy (Vander Ark, 2016). I see where they are attempting to motivate students, but for me and in my experience that would not be a motivator for anyone that wasn't at the top of the board.
*Photo credit - Tom Vander Ark
Vander Ark goes on to share thoughts from Tim Hudson from Dream Box.
“Some math programs with competitive aspects show students getting excited and giving each other high-fives when they win; but in the background you can see the losing students are devastated. Similarly, leaderboards publicly show winners and losers, which can negatively impact a student’s growth mindset and agency" (2016)
So when I started to think about this assignment and how the leaderboards affected my engagement with the platforms, I expected it to be a solid "it doesn't" on both counts. But, the leaderboards are so different, that when thinking about both of them, I could only say that the leaderboard for SpringRole doesn't engage me. HiveBlog's leaderboard has qualities that even my non-competitive self engaged with. This comes down to their content and design.
SpringRole's leader board is non-descript, bland and the information is undefined. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure what the goals are. HiveBlog's leaderboard, HiveBuzz, is engaging to look at, has clear iconography of what the badges/rewards represent, and they encourage behavior that is good for me on HiveBlog and good for the HiveBlog community. Additionally, the only person I'm competing with is myself. It is really more of a goal chart, rather than a leader board and with the level of competition in my personality, that is right kind of leaderboard.
#education #motivation
References
Vander Ark, Tom. (2016, March 29). To Leaderboard or Not: The Art of Motivating and Monitoring Performance. Getting Smart. https://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/03/to-leaderboard-or-not-the-art-of-motivating-and-monitoring-performance/
Welcome to HIVE. You've probably noticed that HIVE is a tough audience for new users.
For example, I see that you didn't get a payout on your first three posts. The system does not give out post rewards when upvote total is less than $0.02 . People call the lost rewards "dust."
The Upvote Calculator shows expected rewards for a given amount of HP in one's account.
Hive has a low user retention rate because of poor interaction with new users. I've seen many new users leave after creating great posts with no upvotes or comments.
Back when I was in the plankton, I got rewards on only a third of my posts. I was extremely discouraged.
NOTE: HiveBuzz was originally called SteemItBoard before the Justin Sun fiasco.
The creators of SteemItBoard spent hundreds of hours actively engaging with new users to create a motivational system. So, @HiveBuzz did not happen by accident. It was created after a great deal of thought and interaction with new users.
The Solution to Dust
BTW: There are two bots that help with HIVE Dust. These are @dustsweeper and @dustbunny . You can hire @dustsweeper by transferring the free HIVE in your wallet to @dustsweeper . Dusty will use the transferred funds to upvote posts below the dust threshold. So, if you sent Dusty $1.00 , Dusty will vote on 50 posts with low vote totals.
As I recall, you can hire @dustbunny through a discord server.
Welcome to HIVE. I hope you find your sojourn worthwhile.
I created @dustbunny with new users and plankton specifically in mind, which is why it is happily giving some support for free.
I'll be adding @geekydad to the watchlist. This looks like quality content and genuine ambition.
New users and plankton are not expected to support the bunny with a delegation, the bunny just hopes to be remembered when they are rich... hehe
@fraenk , Thanks for supporting @geekydad (and for supporting me when I was in the plankton).
I ended up buying HIVE so that I could start sweeping my own dust. I probably shouldn't discuss masterDUSTation in public. MasterDUSTation involves the nasty habit of upvoting one's own posts.
Users in the plankton should never upvote their own posts. Plankton votes are so small that a self vote is never worth it.
Now that I can get rid of my own dust, I drop an upvote on any of my own post with less $0.03 in rewards or less ... or when I can't find other good content to curate.
The upvote calculator says that it currently takes about 900 HP to have a two penny upvote. It is usually takes $500 worth of HIVE for a two penny upvote. The actual amount changes with the size of the reward pool and price of HIVE.
The math is as follows: Each upvote reduces voting power by 2 percent. Voting power regenerates at a rate of 20% a day. That means a person can upvote 10 times a day. A two penny upvote would be worth a little under $0.20 a day.
If a person upvoted every day of the year (and the price of HIVE stayed the same); then they would receive 0.2 * 365 = $73 in value for a $500 investment. NOTE: half of the value of an upvote goes to curators and half to the author. So, a dedicated upvoter will get roughly $36.50 in curation rewards and distribute $36.50 to other authors.
The risk is that the price of HIVE might fall. When I joined, the price of STEEM was $4.00. It fell to a dime. Who knows where it will go next?
The high interest rate is the reason why people are willing to buy thousands of dollars in HP. The risk is that the price might collapse in which case the investment would be lost.
It's interesting to hear the perspective of someone who describes themselves as non-competitive. I think that what I'm starting to see is that gamified education and rewards systems are of two varieties: those where you compete against others (like your GPA board), and those where you compete against yourself or your own goals (like the HiveBuzz badges). I tend to think that the latter has a more positive impact on student goals and motivation, as well as on their self image. Systems that pit students against each other may be motivating for some students but also have the potential to cause some students to feel bad about their own performance or to experience anxiety.
I, too, have a non-competitive nature, and would find the negative used of leaderboard that you have outlined here rather horrifying, particularly as a K-12 student. I found learning more about intrinsic learning motivations helpful in that regard. Although the rewards gained by being extrinsically motivated can also elicit positive internal feelings in the learner, their behavior is not motivated by it. I like to think that I genuinely enjoy the process of learning for its own sake. But, if I am provided with an additional perk of earning some cryptocurrency along the way, that would be okay too.
Thank you for the positive feedback about our work @geekydad.
The "classic" leader board can be found here: https://hivebuzz.me/ranking
However, once again we tried to promote several "categories" thanks to the multiple available sorting. You can be the topmost stakeholder with bunches of HP, but not doing any post or vote. You can have the highest reputation, but not have your word to say on governance because of low HP.
That sums up our whole mind =)