ABSTRACT

In this chapter we discuss challenges in the design of digital badge architectures based on academic delay of gratification, specific to engineering education, and we identify opportunities for fine-tuning solutions through interviews with students and instructors. We distinguish summative from cumulative badge architectures, and we argue that the former can productively rely on the principle of delayed gratification, although there may be some adverse effects of deferral. We also examine several processes through which badges acquire their local significance and effectiveness. Finally, we argue that their meaning is locally constructed and circulated through shared vocabularies of motive.