# Design, Development and Use of a Digital Badges System in Higher Education
## 2 Related Work  
Following, we present a representative review of works related to the use of digital badges on higher education. Other studies that consider other educational context can be found in [2]. The purpose of the study [11] is to investigate if achievements based on badges can be used to infer the behavior of students of a course on data structures and algorithms, even when the badges have not impact on the grading. Statistically significant differences in students' behavior are observed with some badges types, while other types do not seem to have such an effect. In [12], the authors design and develop two educational games with and without a range of reward features, and examine learning outcomes among participants in university laboratories. Although both games improve learning, analyses suggest that the quantity of rewards do not have an impact on learning outcomes. Nevertheless, those who feel more rewarded have more favorable views of the gameplay experience. The system described in [13] allows the participation of the administrators, teachers, learners and other members of the university community in the creation, attribution and support of badges. Results of a study of use in two schools reveal that earning badges contribute for users to feel more engaged with specific tasks or activities in the platform. The study [14] examines college undergraduates enrolled in first-year writing courses, where badges represent essential course outcomes. Participants are categorized as having either high or low expectancy-values, and intrinsic motivation to earn badges is measured repeatedly during the 16-week semester. Findings suggest that incorporating digital badges as an assessment model could benefit learners who have high expectations for learning and place value on learning tasks, but it could also disenfranchise students with low expectations. In [15], the authors conduct an experimental study to investigate the effectiveness of gamification of an online course on computer graphics. Badges in the gamified course represent achievements related to certain accomplishments. Each badge is rewarded when a certain set of activities is completed. The positive results obtained encouraged authors to study the impact of the use of gamification in other subjects. The article [16] reports the effects of game mechanics on students' cognitive and behavioral engagement through an experiment conducted in a design questionnaires course. Participants who collect badges get some points that are displayed in the course leaderboard. Results show that students enrolled in the gamified version of the course are more motivated to perform more difficult tasks and to participate actively in discussion forums. The research addressed in [17] examines the impact of different learning styles and personality traits on students' perceptions of engagement and overall performance in a gamified business course. Students receive badges for reaching various milestones, including making a specific number of trades, or making a specific number of comments. Findings suggest that students who are oriented towards active or global learning as well as extroverted students have a positive impression of gamification. The work [18] describes the application of gamification in an operations research/management science course, where it is possible to observe an increase of participation in class, better results and a good assessment of the course made by the students. In this case, badges are given to students in many different situations, such as a particularly noticeable participation in the classroom, an extraordinary performance in one activity, and so on. The experiment addressed in [19] describes the gamification methodology employed in a course about teaching principles and methods. In the study, six kinds of badges are used. Students acquire some of the badges in class activities while others are gained through distance learning.