playr.co.uk - Zilch, Codecademy and the Badges

playr.co.uk - Zilch

Honey Badger may not care, but I DO care about Badges. I'm only human.

I came across a very cool interactive JavaScript tutorial site... now wait a minute it's not a traditional tutorial site. It's worth a look to see how it guides you through the lessons. I'll write a more detailed post about it later.

But I wanted to mention one of the things I like about it which is: badges

Badges-sometimes called achievements-are little rewards and reminders of accomplishments you have done. Think about Boy Scout or Brownie badges - or gold stars on the board or your assignments. They may sound simple or silly but they are powerful reinforcements for motivating and sustaining action.

Game designers know this. Educators sort of know, but are doing it well. Take for example code Academy contrasted with zilch (the game I linked to at the beginning of this post)

Both are doing it, but zilch has a full 120 badges to earn with fun and engaging titles like - 'falling on your face' and 'rolling like there's no tomorrow'

What kind of badge does a university course have? A,B,C,D,F. five lousy badges.