Chess.com players will see familiar faces as their automated opponents: the Duolingo World characters. Players can face off against the sweet but hyper-competitive Zari, bored and unimpressed Lily, refined and overconfident Oscar,

Duolingo's Mascot, Duo the Owl, Joins Chess.com to Capture Your Pawns in 12 Languages

Duolingo, Inc. (DUOL) possesses the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.

Duolingo, Inc. (DUOL) Expected to Beat Earnings Estimates: Can the Stock Move Higher?

Duolingo Inc’s filing revealed that its 10% Owner Durable Capital Partners LP unloaded Company’s shares for reported $8.72 million on Oct 24. In the deal valued at $160.22 per share,54,447 shares were sold. As a result of this transaction, Durable Capital Partners LP now holds 3,733,688 shares worth roughly $545.31 million.

Keeping an Eye on Duolingo Inc (DUOL) After Insider Trading Activity

AN official Gaelic version of the popular board game Scrabble has been announced in time for Christmas, as the game’s creators say it will

Scottish Gaelic Scrabble game to be released before Christmas

The language-learning app announced last week it would "pause" updates to its Welsh course which prompted politicians to write to the chief executive with concerns.

Duolingo hopes to support Welsh speaker target despite course update 'pause'

Users spend an average of 53 minutes on the App each day, showcasing its high user engagement. Duolingo – Master Multiple Languages (Release Date: November 2011) Duolingo, with a user base of over 300 million, is the most downloaded education app globally.

15 Most Downloaded Apps You Can’t Afford to Miss in 2023

DEMENTIA will strike many of us – and among those over the age of 65, the risk of developing the disease doubles every five years. But Dr Tim Beanland, head of knowledge and learning at

I’m a dementia expert – here are my five training hacks to help you beat silent killer

The boss of a language learning app which is pausing its Welsh course hopes to still help with promoting the language. Duolingo said it would no longer update the Welsh course and redirect resources to more popular courses. It comes despite the company saying in 2020 the language was the fastest growing in the UK.

Duolingo: Language app boss to help Welsh language goal

The boss of a language learning app which is pausing its Welsh course hopes to still help with promoting the language.Duolingo said it would no longer update the Welsh course and redirect resources to more popular courses.

Duolingo boss says it still backs Welsh language

Once you've filled your home screen with apps that can teach you something, consider taking another stop: hiding the time-sink ones. You don't have to uninstall these apps—you can just remove them from the home screen and then find them in the App Drawer (Android) or App Library (iOS). Simply tap-and-hold, then remove the app from your home screen.

How to Use Your Phone Addiction to Actually Learn Stuff

Get the most recent info and news about Duolingo on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Duolingo, Inc. develops a language-learning website and mobile app in the United States and China. The company offers courses in 40 different languages, including Spanish, English, French, Japanese, German, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, and others. It also provides a digital language proficiency assessment exam. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Duolingo

An Interview With Marko Jukic: Nobody Knows How To Learn A Language

Education has always had a significant impact on people around the world. We all remember the memories from kindergarten through high school. And it is not easy to forget our memories from college to the start of your working life. Even though we consider education to be a one-room and a red-brick schoolhouse, it has evolved. Education now is a booming industry that has already seen immense growth and is still rapidly expanding. Companies and investors in this industry know and recognize all the various trends that continue to help in the growth. And that is also why many substantial educational companies are not just growing but going public as well. In this article, we will talk about the rise of EdTech unicorns and the Duolingo IPO. EdTech Unicorns Many EdTech startups are launched every day. And a lot of them end up failing as they did not learn from the mistakes and the success of other education companies in the industry. But when it comes to EdTech unicorns, not all startups can be called unicorns . ( you can see Eqvista's complete list of 2021 unicorns here ) Let's begin by talking about the industry, and then we will define what an EdTech unicorn is. EdTech Industry Overview The EdTech industry is a vast and rapidly growing one. You can find every kind of company here, from startups and middle-market companies to even public companies. The companies in this industry are not only getting the attention of veterans but also from general investors too. We all know that there are three key education categories including: Prek-12 Post-secondary Corporate training With technology infused in all these parts, a learner is always in contact with technology. And each of these sectors has its own sub-segment in the industry. Moreover, each category is different and has unique buyers, end-users, and funding mechanisms. The growth of each has been shared below: - , about $1.7 billion in venture capital was invested in the EdTech market in 2019 itself for over 105 deals. And most of these investments were of the Series C round. US EdTech VC investments As per EdSurge - There was about $18.7 billion investment made on a worldwide scale in learning technology supplies in 2019, as per . Global learning technology investment Metaari - A report by showed that $7 billion venture capital funding was invested in educational institutions all over the world in 2019. Seeing its comparison to $0.5 billion VC funds invested in 2010, there is a prediction that this amount will triple in the next decade. Global venture investment HolonIQ - Other than VC funds, a lot of private equity funds are being raised too for being invested in the education sector. In addition to this, the education sector is being categorized as the "impact" sector, which is attracting many investors who want to have an impact in the world. Private equity funds for EdTech investments - A considerable part of the EdTech market is from publicly traded companies. In the USA alone, there are about 29 companies with $71 billion capital as of January 2020. Publicly traded EdTech companies In short, the EdTech industry is actually very vast and growing every day. What is an EdTech Unicorn? EdTech is basically the practice of introducing IT tools in education to make learning more engaging, inclusive, better, and for an individualized learning experience too. With this said, what is a "unicorn?" "Unicorn" in the business world and VC world describes a privately held startup that has a value of $1 billion or more. This term was coined by Aileen Lee, the founder of Cowboy Ventures. So, how do we differentiate an EdTech unicorn from the rest? Well, the first step is to check all the startups to see which ones are EdTech unicorns and which are not. To explain better, some startups have a value of more than $1 billion, like Roblox. But this company has its feet in different industries and not just in the EdTech one. So you need to identify the handful of companies both in the Education and Technology industry with a value of over $1 billion. Top Edu-Tech Unicorn Startups in the World There are many recognizable EdTech unicorn startups in the world. Here are the top 10 that you should know: - Valued at $1 billion in 2016 Age of Learning - Valued at $1 billion in 2018 BYJU'S - Valued at $1 billion in 2020 Course Hero - Valued at $1 billion in 2019 Coursera - Valued at $1.5 billion in 2019 Duolingo - Valued at $1 billion in 2019 Guild Education - Valued at $1 billion in 2019 Knowbox - Valued at $1 billion in 2020 Quizlet - Valued at $1 billion in 2015 Udacity - Valued at $2 billion in 2020 Udemy Out of these, we will be talking about Duolingo and its decision to go public through an IPO. Duolingo IPO is a Pittsburgh-based company that offers language learning resources and tools via its mobile app, website, and assessment platform. Anyone can easily learn up to 40 languages through Duolingo. The company was started in 2011 by a computer science professor named Luis Von Ahn with his postgraduate student, Severin Hacker. This professor also started the bot-detection company - CAPTCHA, which was sold to Google. He then decided to start this company to solve the problem of expensive language courses for everyone. Duolingo The company grew over the years till it finally became a unicorn in 2019. It has about 10 million users and is rapidly increasing. And now, in July 2021, the company went public, changing the face of the EdTech industry. Now, Duolingo has some 300 million global users of its technology. This has also led the company to have about 1k global employees and about $161 million in revenue! Why is Duolingo's IPO Great News for the EdTech Industry? Duolingo has been growing rapidly since it entered the scene in the EdTech industry. It has raised a lot of funding till now and has hundreds of millions of users, thanks to its free language resources. And with all the rapid growth, the company decided that it was time to go public. And on 28th July 2021, under the ticker DUOL, the company went public on Nasdaq. The company has raised about $521 million through the sale of 5.1 million shares during the IPO. The price of the shares at this time was $141.40 a share. This also brought the value of the company to $5 billion after the sale. Thanks to this step taken by the company, it has changed the face of the EdTech industry. Although EdTech companies are growing and people value education, Duolingo has just shown that not only do tech companies have the way to reach the top, but also the EdTech companies. It has given hope to many others that their growth doesn't have to stop, and they too can conquer it all. Edu-Tech Industry Trends and Predictions With all these changes in the EdTech industry, we can expect more extraordinary things to come ahead for the industry. But two topics have the most impact - online learning and emerging technologies. Both these trends have been talked about briefly below: : The last decade has had a lot of hype around online learning. And by 2019, a lot of things had changed. As a matter of fact, investors are much more inclined to invest in online education. Private equity-backed providers are looking for opportunities to expand the online K-12 market. And the prominent non-profit players are focusing more on higher education. Moreover, India and China are attracting a lot of capital for their Edutech startups. Online learning will grow more in 2021 : Again, in the last decade, we have seen all the new technologies being used in education from books to the radio, from computers to the internet and so on. Even though there have been failures, IT experts keep working towards finding a way to use technology and improve the learner's experience. Due to this, many investors have an interest in investing in such projects. Talk about anything like VR, AR, and Robotics too; everyone part of the education industry is attracting investors and the industry growth. Emerging technologies will be used in education Wrap Up EdTech is a diverse and enormous industry that keeps growing. In fact, this industry will keep growing as people will never stop learning. And this opens a new gate of opportunities for everyone, as we have seen with the Duolingo IPO. If you are planning to start an education company, then this is a good time. And if you already have one, then you are in luck as you can pitch to investors and gain more expansion.

Notes on Duolingo's IPO and the Rise of EdTech Unicorns

As of Q2 2024, there were 2.2 million apps on the Google Play Store and 1.5 million mobile apps on the App Store. Despite this, the average person uses only about 10 apps daily or 30 apps monthly. With these in mind, how well do you think your new mobile app will perform in the market? That depends on two things: First, the category your app belongs to, and next, the penetration rate of that category. 2.2 million apps 2.2 million apps 1.5 million mobile apps 1.5 million mobile apps For instance, the penetration rates for tools and communication apps among Android users are 99.81% and 99.93%, respectively. That sounds like good news, but considering their categories, it really isn't. Communication apps and basic tools are common smartphone default apps. Meanwhile, other categories have penetration rates between 30 and 80%, which leaves your app only one chance for survival—differentiation. Creating distinct mobile apps that offer a trending approach gives your app a better chance at survival. Read on as I share six trends that'll determine the future of your app, so you can implement what gives you an upper hand in the market. . AI and Machine Learning As you may have heard, artificial Intelligence will not be taking over the world anytime soon. But it's impossible to underplay its contribution to software development. According to PWC, AI might increase global revenue by over $15 trillion by 2030. $15 trillion It's no surprise, as many big tech companies use AI in their operations, software, and mobile applications. For instance, Netflix's AI-powered recommendations engine saves over $1 billion yearly. $1 billion Also, music platforms like Spotify curate highly targeted playlists based on the user's listening history. This level of personalization helps them retain their audience and stand out amidst the many music apps available today. Spotify However, personalization is only one of the many AI features that could give your app an edge. Integrating chatbots, AI assistants, and real-time data analysis can also get users glued to their screens. For instance, learning platforms like Duolingo use AI to analyze each learner's performance and adjust learning to match their pace. AR/VR With augmented and virtual reality, so much is possible, including gaming, virtual shopping and tours, learning, product visualization, and more. Perhaps you want to take a picture on Snapchat or run a quick search with Google Lens, AR and VR give users a more seamless and innovative experience. By creating a mobile app that uses one or both technologies, you increase the chances of engaging and consequently retaining users. In one survey,  2 in 5 people said they would spend more on online shopping if it provided AR experiences. That means you can get users to pay more for your app, which isn't an easy fit. 2 in 5 people Besides, you know it's a big deal when all the giant tech companies are investing tons of money in it. Google has its Tango project, Facebook has Oculus, Apple has its AR-development platform, ARKit, etc. But not all apps need an AR or VR feature. Sometimes, all they need is the ability to work on AR/VR devices like Netflix. IoT IoT entered the consumer world with devices like the LG smart refrigerator. Since then, it has evolved into a technology that is applicable in almost every facet of life. If you're building apps under the tools, communication, and lifestyle categories, you want to optimize them for all types of devices, including wearables and smart objects. By doing that, your application can be integrated into wearables like smartwatches or connected to home devices like lights, refrigerators, etc. In addition, you want to ensure that your mobile app is optimized for IoT connectivity. This includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular connections like 5G, which we'll discuss in the next section. 5G 5G's latency speed is as low as 1 ms and is 200 times faster than 4G. As a result, smartphones that use the 5G network enjoy download speeds of at least 87.5MB/s. What this means for you as a developer is that you can now build mobile apps that boast high-definitive features with fewer limitations. Examples are having graphics of the highest quality and impressive video-streaming performance. 5G's latency speed is as low as 1 ms 5G's latency speed is as low as 1 ms Besides these, 5G speeds up real-time collaboration with technologies like AR, VR, and IoT. Augmented and virtual reality apps will provide immersive, engaging experiences without the device lagging. IoT will also be able to process and exchange data between mobile apps and other interconnected devices. Cross-Platform Support Previously, developers had to write different codes for an app to be well-optimized on multiple platforms. Now, we can kill more than two birds with one stone. Technology advancements have made it possible to write a codebase for different operating systems (OS). Unlike before, you can now save money, time, and effort on building and managing apps. Developers also no longer need to choose between Android and iOS. They can have both. Some frameworks that can help you achieve this cross-platform development include: Flutter: Flutter is an open-source framework for building UIs for web, mobile, and desktop apps. As Google's software development kit, it uses its Dart language and is known for its speed. Flutter: Flutter is an open-source framework for building UIs for web, mobile, and desktop apps. As Google's software development kit, it uses its Dart language and is known for its speed. Flutter: React Native React Native React Native React Native is a software development framework companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Uber use. It's written in JavaScript and allows you to use native device features. In addition to web, mobile, and desktop, it will enable you to optimize your app for macOS, tvOS, and UWP. Low Code/No Code According to Gartner, 70% of applications will be created with low-code or no-code technologies by 2025. The use of these technologies has increased significantly over the last few years, and their global market revenue is projected to reach $187 billion by 2030. You can prototype and launch your application in weeks with low-code and no-code technologies. This is a faster deployment time than you'd ever get from the traditional software development method. You can skip the money, complexity, and manual labor you would've required otherwise. Even if you're not a developer, you can build a minimum viable product (MVP) to test ideas before you invest heavily in it. However, not all apps can be built with low or no code, and some may require extra customization. And that's when you'll need a few hands on deck. Final Thoughts You could create a very good app and still experience a high churn rate, which is the rate at which people stop using your product. You might likely lose 71% of your users within the first 90 days of download. So, you must keep your platform highly engaging and give users a reason to return. Whether optimizing it for 5G, adding features that make it usable with wearables, or making personalized recommendations, there must be something to lock them in. Remember these trends as you develop your mobile app, and you may get an edge over the 30 other apps on your audience's smartphone.

6 Key Trends To Consider While Developing A Mobile Application

Launching a startup for the first time can be exciting, terrifying, and, more often than not, chaotic. Between chasing down the first investors, refining your product, and questioning whether you’re the next Elon Musk or just hopelessly delusional, it’s a miracle anyone willingly signs up for startup life. Yet, despite the chaos, there’s one area startups consistently overlook—how they handle technology infrastructure. Traditional setups, complete with physical servers and dedicated IT teams, are expensive, cumbersome, and often overkill. The better way? Cloud technology. Cloud tech isn't just some trendy buzzword to throw around at meetings. It’s the ultimate hack for any startup founder trying to accelerate growth, cut costs, and sleep better at night. Here’s exactly how startups can leverage cloud solutions to boost their growth—without bankrupting themselves in the process. 1. Scale Quickly Without Breaking the Bank Scaling your startup sounds fantastic in pitch decks, but when reality hits, your website crashes, and your engineers scramble, it’s not a pretty site (got it? lol). Cloud technology solves this exact issue by letting you scale instantly. Cloud technology solves this exact issue by letting you scale instantly. Slack’s story is a great example—When starting out, they scaled rapidly without stressing about building and managing their own server infrastructure. Instead, they trusted AWS to handle traffic spikes smoothly. As stated in their case study: "Using AWS, we can look at user metrics weekly or daily and react with new capacity in 30 seconds."
— Slack Case Study | AWS "Using AWS, we can look at user metrics weekly or daily and react with new capacity in 30 seconds." — Slack Case Study | AWS Then, take Airbnb’s early days. Instead of building costly data centers, they relied on AWS as well. This meant they could direct their limited resources into refining their product and creating a top-notch user experience—exactly what a startup should prioritize. According to Airbnb's case study: "Initially, the appeal of AWS was the ease of managing and customizing the stack. It was great to be able to ramp up more servers without having to contact anyone and without having minimum usage commitments." — Airbnb Case Study | AWS "Initially, the appeal of AWS was the ease of managing and customizing the stack. It was great to be able to ramp up more servers without having to contact anyone and without having minimum usage commitments." — Airbnb Case Study | AWS In cloud computing, the feature responsible for this is called Autoscaling, and every major cloud provider supports it. So, you don’t need to throw thousands of dollars into emergency hardware purchases when starting out. Instead, spend that precious cash on other areas like marketing, product development, or, heck, even some decent coffee for your hardworking team. 2. Use Advanced Tech Without a Huge Engineering Team Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are powerful—but also intimidating. Hiring a team of expert data scientists can feel impossible when you barely have enough funds for your core product team. Cloud providers solve this headache by offering easy-to-use AI and ML services; all you have to do is configure them, and everything from provisioning to scaling is handled automatically. AI and ML services Duolingo, for instance, smartly leveraged cloud-based ML from AWS and Google to personalize lessons. They didn’t hire an army of data scientists but used accessible, cloud-powered solutions to innovate quickly and cheaply. The lesson is clear, the cloud makes advanced tech achievable, even on a startup’s tight budget. the cloud makes advanced tech achievable, even on a startup’s tight budget 3. Make Your Remote Team Happier and More Efficient Remote work isn't going anywhere. While it’s great for flexibility, it can also lead to communication chaos. If I had a penny for every time a missed Slack message caused hours of confusion, I’d be Jeff Bezos-level rich by now. Cloud-based collaboration tools simplify your workflow dramatically. Platforms like Firebase streamline backend development, keeping your engineers productive instead of frustrated. With fewer roadblocks and clearer communication, your team can focus on what truly matters—building amazing products. And happy teams, in case you didn’t already know, build better products faster. 4. Never Fear Disaster Recovery Again Startups often underestimate the reality of data disasters. A single misstep can erase customer data, halt your business, and severely damage your reputation (ask Yahoo; they never recovered). With traditional systems, disaster recovery can be expensive, slow, and complicated. erase customer data halt your business severely damage your reputation Cloud providers, however, integrate robust disaster recovery measures right into their service packages. Netflix, a cloud pioneer, utilizes AWS to ensure its services remain uninterrupted, even when things go wrong behind the scenes. Your startup deserves the same reliability and peace of mind, and you don’t need millions of dollars to get started—I’ll expand on this in the next section. 5. Level the Playing Field With Bigger Competitors Start-ups often find themselves facing giants with seemingly limitless resources. With cloud technology, however, the playing field is surprisingly equal. Unlike traditional data centers that require you to pay huge upfront enterprise fees to get access to quality servers, most cloud providers operate on a pay-as-you-go model, which means you only pay for what you use, not what you might. With as little as $10, you can spin up a Digital Ocean server right now and compete with SAAS giants with no contracts, no signup fees, or bottlenecks. GoToMeeting, for example, started small, going head-to-head against established giants like Skype and Cisco. But because Zoom smartly leveraged cloud infrastructure, they scaled rapidly without major upfront costs, ultimately outperforming their bigger, more traditional competitors. You can do the same, no matter how small your startup currently is. 6. Tap Into Generous Cloud Provider Programs (Yes, Free Stuff!) Cloud providers like startups. They want you to succeed, grow, and—let’s be honest—become loyal customers down the line. As a result, companies like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure offer incredibly generous startup packages with free credits, training, mentorship, and resources. AWS Google Cloud Azure AWS Activate alone provides thousands of dollars in credits; Google Cloud has similar programs that grant $300 for first-time users, and Microsoft Azure isn’t far behind. Not taking advantage of these resources is leaving free money on the table especially when starting out. AWS Activate thousands of dollars in credits 7. Focus On Your Core Business, Not Tech Maintenance As a founder, your focus should be on growing your business, attracting customers, and refining your product—not maintaining servers. Cloud solutions handle infrastructure management so you don’t have to. Instead of worrying about backups, updates, security patches, and uptime, your engineers can focus purely on creating value for your users. After all, why waste valuable brainpower on tasks that cloud solutions handle effortlessly? 8. Improved Security Without Hiring a Security Team Security breaches can end startups overnight. However, maintaining robust security systems in-house can be prohibitively expensive and technically challenging. Cloud providers take security seriously, employing entire teams dedicated to securing their infrastructure. By using their services, startups inherently benefit from top-tier security practices. It’s like having a fully staffed security team without actually having to hire one. 9. Faster Market Entry, Faster Innovation Speed is everything in the startup world. The faster you innovate, the faster you can capture market share. Cloud tech enables rapid development cycles and efficient deployments. It dramatically cuts down the time from ideation to launch, meaning your startup can test, refine, and release products faster than ever before. Wrapping It All Up Startup life may never be completely stress-free, but adopting cloud technology can make it significantly smoother, cheaper, and more productive. Got your own cloud stories, tips, or doubts? Drop a comment below, and let's keep the conversation going.

How Startups Can Actually Grow Faster With Cloud Tech

Research on Gamification in Education

Authors:
(1) Clauvin Almeida, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;
(2) Marcos Kalinowski, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;
(3) Anderson Uchoa, Federal University of Ceara (UFC), Itapaje, Brazil;
(4) Bruno Feijo, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Background and Related Work 3. Systematic Mapping 4. Systematic Mapping Results 5. Focus Group: Developer Perception on the Negative Effects of Game Design Elements 6. Limitations 7. Concluding Remarks, Acknowledgements, and References Abstract Context: While most research shows positive effects of gamification, the focus on its adverse effects is considerably smaller and further understanding of these effects is needed. Objective: To provide a comprehensive overview on research reporting negative effects of game design elements and to provide insights into the awareness of developers on these effects and into how they could be considered in practice. Method: We conducted a systematic mapping study of the negative effects of game design elements on education/learning systems. We also held a focus group discussion with developers of a gamified software, discussing the mapping study results with regard to their awareness and perceptions on the reported negative effects in practice. Results: The mapping study revealed 87 papers reporting undesired effects of game design elements. We found that badges, leaderboards, competitions, and points are the game design elements most often reported as causing negative effects. The most cited negative effects were lack of effect, worsened performance, motivational issues, lack of understanding, and irrelevance. The ethical issues of gaming the system and cheating were also often reported. As part of our results, we map the relations between game design elements and the negative effects that they may cause. The focus group revealed that developers were not aware of many of the possible negative effects and that they consider this type of information useful. The discussion revealed their agreement on some of those potential negative effects and also some positive counterparts. Conclusions: Gamification, when properly applied, can have positive effects on education/learning software. However, gamified software is also prone to generate harmful effects. Revealing and discussing potentially negative effects can help to make more informed decisions considering their trade-off with respect to the expected benefits. Keywords: gamification, negative effects, education, learning, systematic mapping, snowballing, focus group 1. Introduction There are plenty of digital platforms for education with a massive number of users, as Duolingo, a language teaching service used by 300 million people worldwide. It boasts that it gives opportunities for people to learn new languages, no matter their financial standing [1]. Duolingo and other services worldwide use gamification - applying gameplaying elements to non-game contexts [2] that are typically tedious, discouraging, or inefficient - as a strategy to make their objectives more achievable. It’s a strategy with a strong presence in education, and other domains [3], representing a market predicted to grow over 30% through 2019-2025, with an expected value of more than 32 billion in 2025 [4]. This context means that a significant demand for gamified software exists, which calls for software engineers to develop them. Software development is not a trivial task, and it is more complicated in the case of gamified software solutions. These cases require specialized expertise, going beyond what is expected by an average software engineer [5], for instance: • Effective gamification requires knowledge of human psychology, similar to how serious games require knowledge regarding the subject they deal with. This necessity arises because gamified software aims to change human behavior (see Volkswagen’s Fun Theory videos ([6],[7],[8]); • Software engineers need a good understanding of the game design mechanics used as tools and how they contribute to functional and non-functional requirements; • Software engineers face the fact that gamified software has a more limited design space and different objectives to focus on than a game [9]. Hence, selecting the correct gamification elements when designing gamified software is strongly related to requirements engineering and can affect the overall project success [10]. Moreover, defects in requirement are the most expensive to fix when found in production [11][12]. Indeed, given that gamification deals with changing human behavior, when gamified software is ill-specified, it may not hit the intended target or even be counterproductive, which can have serious consequences when applied to education. Education is the main target of the present work for important reasons. For instance, approximately 617 million children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age (roughly 55% of the global total) have not reached minimum reading and mathematics proficiency in 2015 [13]. The reasons for this global learning crisis are manifold, such as inequality and poverty, but the poor quality of education is one of the critical causes. In this context, applying gamification to education and learning represents a promising means to allow educators to make learning fun, contextualize learning quickly, speak the language of young people, and directly deal with soft skills, improving education quality. However, gamification is also prone to generate harmful effects, usually unknown to designers and engineers. These unexpected effects happen because current gamification research lacks a critical lens capable of exploring unintended design consequences [3]. In this paper we extend our previous systematic mapping study efforts on adverse, unintended gamification effects in education and learning software (such as modified learning management software, course wares and digital learning environments) [14]. Our search strategy is driven by broad research questions and uses a hybrid search strategy [15], combining database search with backward and forward snowballing. The extension comprises providing more details on the mapping study, complementing the search strategy to gather evidence reported until the end of 2020 (previously 2020 was not completely covered), leading our set of identified studies to increase from 77 to 87. As far as we know, this paper is the most precise, comprehensive, and up-to-date systematic mapping study that organizes evidence regarding the adverse effects of game design elements in gamified education software. Furthermore, we conducted a focus group discussion with developers of a gamified software, discussing the mapping study results with regard to their awareness and perceptions on the reported negative effects. The mapping study reported several different negative effects, allowing to gather valuable information for software engineers and designers of gamified education/learning software, such as the game design elements that have most often been reported being involved with adverse effects; the most common negative effects on students; the adverse consequences affecting teachers; the relation between game design elements and negative effects; the fields in which research on negative effects has been conducted; and the types of empirical studies conducted to assess the adverse effects. The study revealed that badges, leaderboards, competitions, and points are the game design elements most often reported as causing negative effects. The most reported negative effects were lack of effect, worsened performance, motivational issues, lack of understanding, and irrelevance. The ethical issues of gaming the system and cheating were also often reported. We also mapped the relations between game design elements and the negative effects that they may cause, so that these effects can be pragmatically considered when designing gamified software. The focus group revealed that developers were not aware of many of the possible negative effects and that they consider this type of information useful. We report on the discussions held with the practitioners on the use of the identified game design elements and their negative effects. Nevertheless, they recall that this information should be discussed within the context of the gamified software, as in this focus group, to analyze trade-offs between expected positive effects and potential negative ones. Sharing this discussion provides further insights into the usefulness of our mapping study results from the point of view of the practitioners. The organization of the paper is as follows. Section 2 presents the fundamentals of gamification and gamification effects and related work. We explain our systematic mapping protocol and its execution in Section 3. The results answering the research questions are presented Section 4. In Section 5 we describe the focus group its results. Finally, Sections 6 and 7 discuss the limitations and present the conclusions. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. Authors: (1) Clauvin Almeida, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (2) Marcos Kalinowski, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (3) Anderson Uchoa, Federal University of Ceara (UFC), Itapaje, Brazil; (4) Bruno Feijo, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Authors: Authors: (1) Clauvin Almeida, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (2) Marcos Kalinowski, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (3) Anderson Uchoa, Federal University of Ceara (UFC), Itapaje, Brazil; (4) Bruno Feijo, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Table of Links Abstract and 1 Introduction Abstract and 1 Introduction 2. Background and Related Work 2. Background and Related Work 3. Systematic Mapping 3. Systematic Mapping 4. Systematic Mapping Results 4. Systematic Mapping Results 5. Focus Group: Developer Perception on the Negative Effects of Game Design Elements 5. Focus Group: Developer Perception on the Negative Effects of Game Design Elements 6. Limitations 6. Limitations 7. Concluding Remarks, Acknowledgements, and References 7. Concluding Remarks, Acknowledgements, and References Abstract Context : While most research shows positive effects of gamification, the focus on its adverse effects is considerably smaller and further understanding of these effects is needed. Objective : To provide a comprehensive overview on research reporting negative effects of game design elements and to provide insights into the awareness of developers on these effects and into how they could be considered in practice. Method : We conducted a systematic mapping study of the negative effects of game design elements on education/learning systems. We also held a focus group discussion with developers of a gamified software, discussing the mapping study results with regard to their awareness and perceptions on the reported negative effects in practice. Results : The mapping study revealed 87 papers reporting undesired effects of game design elements. We found that badges, leaderboards, competitions, and points are the game design elements most often reported as causing negative effects. The most cited negative effects were lack of effect, worsened performance, motivational issues, lack of understanding, and irrelevance. The ethical issues of gaming the system and cheating were also often reported. As part of our results, we map the relations between game design elements and the negative effects that they may cause. The focus group revealed that developers were not aware of many of the possible negative effects and that they consider this type of information useful. The discussion revealed their agreement on some of those potential negative effects and also some positive counterparts. Conclusions : Gamification, when properly applied, can have positive effects on education/learning software. However, gamified software is also prone to generate harmful effects. Revealing and discussing potentially negative effects can help to make more informed decisions considering their trade-off with respect to the expected benefits. Keywords: gamification, negative effects, education, learning, systematic mapping, snowballing, focus group Context Objective Method Results Conclusions 1. Introduction There are plenty of digital platforms for education with a massive number of users, as Duolingo, a language teaching service used by 300 million people worldwide. It boasts that it gives opportunities for people to learn new languages, no matter their financial standing [1]. Duolingo and other services worldwide use gamification - applying gameplaying elements to non-game contexts [2] that are typically tedious, discouraging, or inefficient - as a strategy to make their objectives more achievable. It’s a strategy with a strong presence in education, and other domains [3], representing a market predicted to grow over 30% through 2019-2025, with an expected value of more than 32 billion in 2025 [4]. This context means that a significant demand for gamified software exists, which calls for software engineers to develop them. Software development is not a trivial task, and it is more complicated in the case of gamified software solutions. These cases require specialized expertise, going beyond what is expected by an average software engineer [5], for instance: • Effective gamification requires knowledge of human psychology, similar to how serious games require knowledge regarding the subject they deal with. This necessity arises because gamified software aims to change human behavior (see Volkswagen’s Fun Theory videos ([6],[7],[8]); • Software engineers need a good understanding of the game design mechanics used as tools and how they contribute to functional and non-functional requirements; • Software engineers face the fact that gamified software has a more limited design space and different objectives to focus on than a game [9]. Hence, selecting the correct gamification elements when designing gamified software is strongly related to requirements engineering and can affect the overall project success [10]. Moreover, defects in requirement are the most expensive to fix when found in production [11][12]. Indeed, given that gamification deals with changing human behavior, when gamified software is ill-specified, it may not hit the intended target or even be counterproductive, which can have serious consequences when applied to education. Education is the main target of the present work for important reasons. For instance, approximately 617 million children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age (roughly 55% of the global total) have not reached minimum reading and mathematics proficiency in 2015 [13]. The reasons for this global learning crisis are manifold, such as inequality and poverty, but the poor quality of education is one of the critical causes. In this context, applying gamification to education and learning represents a promising means to allow educators to make learning fun, contextualize learning quickly, speak the language of young people, and directly deal with soft skills, improving education quality. However, gamification is also prone to generate harmful effects, usually unknown to designers and engineers. These unexpected effects happen because current gamification research lacks a critical lens capable of exploring unintended design consequences [3]. In this paper we extend our previous systematic mapping study efforts on adverse, unintended gamification effects in education and learning software (such as modified learning management software, course wares and digital learning environments) [14]. Our search strategy is driven by broad research questions and uses a hybrid search strategy [15], combining database search with backward and forward snowballing. The extension comprises providing more details on the mapping study, complementing the search strategy to gather evidence reported until the end of 2020 (previously 2020 was not completely covered), leading our set of identified studies to increase from 77 to 87. As far as we know, this paper is the most precise, comprehensive, and up-to-date systematic mapping study that organizes evidence regarding the adverse effects of game design elements in gamified education software. Furthermore, we conducted a focus group discussion with developers of a gamified software, discussing the mapping study results with regard to their awareness and perceptions on the reported negative effects. The mapping study reported several different negative effects, allowing to gather valuable information for software engineers and designers of gamified education/learning software, such as the game design elements that have most often been reported being involved with adverse effects; the most common negative effects on students; the adverse consequences affecting teachers; the relation between game design elements and negative effects; the fields in which research on negative effects has been conducted; and the types of empirical studies conducted to assess the adverse effects. The study revealed that badges, leaderboards, competitions, and points are the game design elements most often reported as causing negative effects. The most reported negative effects were lack of effect, worsened performance, motivational issues, lack of understanding, and irrelevance. The ethical issues of gaming the system and cheating were also often reported. We also mapped the relations between game design elements and the negative effects that they may cause, so that these effects can be pragmatically considered when designing gamified software. The focus group revealed that developers were not aware of many of the possible negative effects and that they consider this type of information useful. We report on the discussions held with the practitioners on the use of the identified game design elements and their negative effects. Nevertheless, they recall that this information should be discussed within the context of the gamified software, as in this focus group, to analyze trade-offs between expected positive effects and potential negative ones. Sharing this discussion provides further insights into the usefulness of our mapping study results from the point of view of the practitioners. The organization of the paper is as follows. Section 2 presents the fundamentals of gamification and gamification effects and related work. We explain our systematic mapping protocol and its execution in Section 3. The results answering the research questions are presented Section 4. In Section 5 we describe the focus group its results. Finally, Sections 6 and 7 discuss the limitations and present the conclusions. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. This paper is available on arxiv under CC BY 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv

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DUOLINGO

duolingo.com

501-1K employees

Since 2011

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DUOLINGO

EVERGREEN INDEX #5531

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