The impact of off-task and gaming behaviors on learning: Immediate or aggregate

Mihaela Cocea*, Arnon Hershkovitz, Ryan S.J.D. Baker

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

Both gaming the system (taking advantage of the system's feedback and help to succeed in the tutor without learning the material) and being off-task (engaging in behavior that does not involve the system or the learning task) have been previously shown to be associated with poorer learning. In this paper we investigate two hypotheses about the mechanisms that lead to this reduced learning: (a) less learning within individual steps (immediate harmful impact) and (b) overall learning loss due to fewer opportunities to practice (aggregate harmful impact). We show that gaming tends to have immediate harmful impact while off-task tends to have aggregated harmful impact on learning.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFrontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
PublisherIOS Press
Pages507-514
Number of pages8
Edition1
ISBN (Print)9781607500285
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009

Publication series

NameFrontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
Number1
Volume200
ISSN (Print)0922-6389
ISSN (Electronic)1879-8314

Keywords

  • Discovery with models
  • Educational data mining
  • Gaming the system
  • Off-task behavior

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