Beginner level
No prior experience required
Designing for Social and Peer-Driven Motivation
Flexible schedule
1 week, 6 to 8 hours per week
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*Proof of full-time student enrollment required. Acceptable forms of ID include a letter from your university’s registrar office or an unofficial transcript. Email your documents to learnlab-help@lists.andrew.cmu.edu.
What you will learn
- Explain how peer interaction, visibility, and belonging influence learner motivation.
- Design social features and activities that support participation and persistence.
- Identify risks associated with social comparison and competitive motivation strategies.
- Create inclusive peer-driven motivation systems that support diverse learners.
Course description
Motivation is shaped not only by individual goals but also by social context, peer norms, and the sense of belonging learners feel in a course. Social and peer-driven strategies can strengthen persistence and engagement when they are designed thoughtfully and inclusively.
In this course, you will learn how to design for social and peer-driven motivation in learning environments. You will examine how community, visibility, peer interaction, and social comparison affect motivation, and how to create designs that encourage participation without alienating or discouraging learners.
Syllabus
Module 1: Designing for Social and Peer-Driven Motivation
- Design platform features that support learner motivation through social belonging, peer support, and community engagement.
- Implement inclusive social motivation systems that accommodate diverse learner preferences, privacy needs, and comfort levels with public comparison.
- Evaluate the motivational impact of social comparison features and design strategies to balance engagement with emotional well-being.
Meet the instructor
Dr. Amy Ogan
Amy Ogan is the Director of the Learning Science for Innovators program and a Professor in Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, with a courtesy appointment at CMU-Africa. Her research sits at the intersection of human-computer interaction, learning science, and educational technology, with a focus on designing learning experiences that are more engaging and effective. She has conducted field research on the deployment of educational technology across five continents. She has been named a Jacobs Foundation CRISP Fellow, World Economic Forum Young Scientist, and Rising Star in EECS by MIT. She has received the McCandless Chair, the Moran Professorship in Learning Science, the 2024 SIGCHI Societal Impact Award, and numerous best paper awards. Before Carnegie Mellon, she was a visiting researcher at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her research is supported by the Mastercard Foundation, National Science Foundation, Google, McDonnell Foundation, and Jacobs Foundation.
Where to go next
Sustaining Motivation Through Identity, Reflection, and Resilience
Design for lasting motivation by supporting identity, reflection, belonging, ownership, and resilience over time.
Optimizing Collaborative Learning in Online Courses
Design and improve collaborative learning experiences online by using effective group structures, peer learning strategies, and cooperative learning approaches.
Social-Emotional Learning for Learning Designers
Design learning experiences that support social-emotional competencies and create conditions for stronger learner growth and connection.