A COMPARISON OF MOTIVATION OF AN EARLY ALERT SYSTEM IN K-12 AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The effects of early alert systems on student motivation in K-12 and higher education are examined throughout this paper. The two early alert systems studied are Starfish™, which is designed to inform students of academic progress, connect students with appropriate campus resources, and support student success and retention and ClassDojo, which is an immediate behavioral management system and skill tracking tool designed for use with elementary grade students. Early alert systems are used to make students aware of their current progress or standing and encourage them to alter their actions to be more successful. This paper investigated the behavioral actions of students after receiving the notifications from each early alert system. Data was gathered and studied to determine the behavior modifications, if any, after the use of the systems. Based on this study, it was determined that the same motivation strategies do not work for all students. Some students went to tutoring based on notifications from teachers, while some did not. Likewise, some students changed to more appropriate behavior based on their ClassDojo points, while others did not.