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Or else! Getting commitment devices right in learning design

In her recent book, “How to Change“, Katy Milkman talks about commitment devices – powerful tools which helped me stay productive on many occasions. She points out, however, that these methods are not very popular with people in general. This made me think – are there ways in which learning designers and teachers could use commitment devices to make learners’ experiences more rewarding?

1. What are commitment devices?

I’m sure you get it by now! A commitment device is a sort of a contract in which you resolve to limit your choices, or commit to a less-than-favourable course of action, for the greater good – or face the consequences. They are well-known and widely studied in behavioural science, history, and even mythology (Odysseus, the “complicated” man quoted above, apparently knew their worth).

2. Soft or hard? Pick your device wisely

The examples I gave you above alternate between two modes which a commitment device might take.

The “soft” commitment device relies on people’s need for integrity. What you say and what you do matters here – and, to be precise, it matters that what you say you’ll do is equal to what is actually done.

So if I promised someone to publish a blog post by 5pm, then missing that deadline might make me feel like I let someone down. If I display a pledge to reduce antibiotic prescriptions to my patients, then every time I’m tempted to prescribe them, I might think about my reputation and worry that I’ll lose face if I reach for the antibiotics too often.

The key word here is “might” – for some, this type of device is effective. For others, integrity doesn’t matter quite as much. Maybe their contexts no longer merit such social pressure (if I’m a freelancer working alone, then “saving face” isn’t as powerful as for corporate office workers). Or maybe their motivation needs some special treatment to get started – or perhaps the tasks at hand are especially daunting?

For these people, “hard” commitment devices are a possible solution. Odysseus picked the right tool for the job: if he goes to join the sirens, he dies. No time for reputation tricks here: he literally gets himself tied to the mast. This voluntary limiting of options, alongside serious consequences, is what makes the device “hard”. Other examples might include certain savings accounts, which penalise you for earlier withdrawals – or online services such as Stickk or Beeminder, which make you pay up your money if you fail to keep up with your pledge.

You might have guessed what the problem is here. “Hard” is hard. When I mention Beeminder to folks, invariably, eyebrows get raised. Choosing to part with my sweet cash just because I failed to keep up a Duolingo streak? That’s too harsh for many people’s tastes.

This brings us to the dilemma which learners, teachers, and learning designers may face. If commitment devices are so effective, then how could they be used to help enrich learning experiences?

3. Softening and hardening: find the sweet spot for your learning experience

It is entirely possible that a sweet spot exists within your learning context – an effective balance between the opportunities of hard and soft commitment devices. Finding this sweet spot, and engineering a compromise, could lead to good results. You (or your learners) could benefit from the motivating social pressure of a “soft” approach” – and find ways of tweaking it so it appears more similar to a “hard” solution. Or your contexts could be modified by a version of the “hard” way – one which retains some of the useful limitations and consequences, without appearing too daunting.

For modifications of the “soft” approach, several options are possible. Let us start with a version of the doctors’ “pledge” seen above. It is in many ways similar to a “contract” that many primary school learners sign at the start of a school year – promising to be diligent, respectful, etc.

Is there a way for you to personalise this step? If you are a learner – could you start by drafting your own manifesto, making your own pledge to yourself, and choosing which promises you want to honour? And if you design the learning journey for others – how about letting your learners pick the values, match them with desired benefits – and then share & display their custom pledge with their signature?

For modifying the “hard” approach, it would seem, the options are more limited. The essence of the hard commitment device lies in the real-life limitations, and the real bite of the “or else” part of the deal. But even here, there are opportunities to be explored.

Can you gamify the experience, and translate the “hard” approach to the game? Could the risk be transferred to a learner’s avatar – who loses health points or gold coins, for example, if a learning check-in is missed? (it works for adults too – see below).

If gamification isn’t the best scenario, can you enhance your learning contexts with some simulated real-life risks? If, for example, you are designing a course for future hotel managers, can your ongoing feedback on their performance be placed in the context of an imagined hotel which they’re managing by completing the course? That way, if they miss an assignment or fail a quiz, they can be faced with a real-life consequence of this shortcoming (“Your score on the food safety quiz was 4/10. The health and safety inspector frowns as she exits your kitchen. ‘I’ll need to come back here later,’ she says, ‘after you’ve fixed some things from this list.'”)

4. Commitment devices in learning and productivity design – four real-life examples

“The Path of Moral Leadership” – a course I took online last year – relied on the “soft” commitment devices in a number of interesting ways. The social aspect of the course was emphasised early on. We took part in forum discussions, sharing our work – credit was given only when we shared and also commented on others’ work. Then, we also were encouraged to set up study/interest groups with others on the course. These two interventions, signalled clearly from the start, “locked in” some of the social pressure, and made us more responsible for finishing the course – also to our group mates.

“Share It!“, a Primary English course I worked on while at Macmillan, took a similar “soft” route. The contract which learners were encouraged to sign at the start of the course had the usual study-related elements you would expect – but it also relied heavily on good citizenship values. These values were emphasised throughout the course – every unit had a values focus, set in rich contexts (the Share It! editorial team will need years of therapy to get the “Share It!” songs out of their heads…!). This meant that the pledge could be regularly brought back to the learners’ attention, if desired.

Habitica is not a learning solution per se – but a gamification solution to productivity in general. It’s a browser- and app- based service which helps you turn your habits, daily tasks and to-do lists into a role-playing game. Your character gets stronger and more powerful as you complete your tasks – but they can also get in trouble and lose all their health points if you fail to progress regularly. Habitica is a great example of how the “hard” commitment device can be translated into a less stressful context. Yes, it hurts to lose your Level 20 Warrior who was so valiantly crushing to-dos – but it’s not as serious as the next solution…

Beeminder, as mentioned above, takes real cash from your account if you fail to keep up with the goals you’ve set. Its hidden weapon is its breadth of integrations. Currently, I’m “beeminding” my Duolingo progress, which means that failing to learn Portuguese regularly results in an angry owl and a slight dent in my bank account! There are several ways to integrate Beeminder with other learning programs – such as Clozemaster, Skritter and so son. This is almost as “hard” as it can get.

(Disclaimer: three good things happen if you buy a book through the links in this post. You support independent bookshops through Bookshop.org, you DON’T support Amazon, and I may get a cut through the affiliate link – at no extra cost to you.)

(Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash)

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