Edunudging: the future of learning?
I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” But what if you could change the conditions in which the horse was being asked to drink? Perhaps you could provide more accessible water troughs or add some apple juice to the water. By making these simple alterations, you might have more success in getting the reluctant horse to hydrate itself.
Now let’s move from the stables to the classroom (bear with me, please). If you’ve ever worked in education, you’ll know how frustrating it is when a student doesn’t want to engage in an activity. Or they forget to turn in their assignment. Or especially when their parents miss the deadline for submitting an important permission letter.
As an educator myself, I know from experience that getting students and their caregivers to do the things that will help them achieve their learning objectives is not always easy or straightforward. Unfortunately, “gentle reminders” and telling students how to study are often ineffective. Humans value agency and most of the time, they don’t respond well to being directly told what to do… especially when they’re teenagers.
Of course, I’m in no way comparing children and their parents to horses. Neither am I suggesting that water troughs and apple juice are miraculously going to get your average teenager to turn in their assignments on time (although the apple juice may appeal to younger students!). Rather, the analogy highlights how small changes in our environment can affect our behavior and decision-making. What is the education equivalent of water troughs and apple juice? Edunudging.
References
- Leal, C. C., Branco-Illodo, I., do Nascimento Oliveira, B. M., & Esteban-Salvador, L. (2022). Nudging and Choice Architecture: Perspectives and Challenges. Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 26(5), doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-7849rac2022220098.en
- Thaler, R. H. & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Penguin Books.
- Decuypere, M., & Hartong, S. (2022). Edunudge. Learning, Media and Technology, 48. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2022.2086261
- Szaszi, B., Palinkas, A., Palfi, B., Szollosi, A., & Aczel, B. (2018). A Systematic Scoping Review of the Choice Architecture Movement: Toward Understanding When and Why Nudges Work. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 31, 355–366.
- Azmat, G., & Iriberri, N. (2010). The Importance of relative performance feedback information: Evidence from a natural experiment using high school students. Journal of Public Economics, 94 (7-8), 435–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.04.001
- Damgaard, M. T., & Nielsen, H. S. (2018). Nudging in education. Economics of Education Review, 64, 313–342.
- Owen, H., Chadeesingh, L., & Arnold, B. (2020). Applying Behavioural Insights in EdTech. NESTA. https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/Applying_Behavioural_Insights_EdTech.pdf
- Yeung, K. (2017). ‘Hypernudge’: Big Data as a Mode of Regulation by Design. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 118–136, doi:10.1080/1369118X.2016.1186713
- Blumenstein, M., Liu, D. Y. T., Richards, D., Leichtweis, S., & Stephens, J. (2018). Data-informed nudges for student engagement and success. In Lodge, J. M., Horvath, J., & Corrin, L. (eds.) Learning Analytics in the Classroom: Translating Learning Analytics Research for Teachers. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351113038
- Hefling, K. (2019, January 16). The ‘Moneyball’ solution for higher education. Politico. https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/01/16/tracking-student-data-graduation-000868/
- Plak, S., van Klaveren, C., & Cornelisz, I. (2023). Raising student engagement using digital nudges tailored to students' motivation and perceived ability levels. British Journal of Educational Technology, 54(2), 554–580.
- Williamson, B. (2017). Learning in the ‘Platform Society’: Disassembling an Educational Data Assemblage. Research in Education, 98 (1), 59–82.
- Veretilnykova, M., & Dogruel, L. (2021). Nudging Children and Adolescents toward Online Privacy: An Ethical Perspective. Journal of Media Ethics, 36(3), 128–140.
- Sunstein, C. R. (2015). The Ethics of Nudging. Yale Journal on Regulation, 32, 413–450. https://openyls.law.yale.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.13051/8225/15_32YaleJonReg413_2015_.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
About the Author
Dr. Lauren Braithwaite
Dr. Lauren Braithwaite is a Social and Behaviour Change Design and Partnerships consultant working in the international development sector. Lauren has worked with education programmes in Afghanistan, Australia, Mexico, and Rwanda, and from 2017–2019 she was Artistic Director of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra. Lauren earned her PhD in Education and MSc in Musicology from the University of Oxford, and her BA in Music from the University of Cambridge. When she’s not putting pen to paper, Lauren enjoys running marathons and spending time with her two dogs.
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