Engaging Participants in the Ensemble Computing Pathway
ABSTRACT
The Ensemble Computing Pathway is an NSF-sponsored NSDL project that provides an online space
where computer science educators can come together from across the
world to share resources, comments, advice, and curriculum. Online
communities like Ensemble depend on the participation of its members
to be relevant and helpful. We've been working to develop a virtual
reward system in order to encourage active participation. Our system
awards users with "roles" for performing relevant tasks that
contribute to a positive and productive atmosphere in the Ensemble
ecosystem. We believe this has many advantages over the ubiquitous
"badges", employed by many games and web sites. In this talk, we will
describe Ensemble, the motivation and architecture of our rewards
system, and demonstrate the live website.