Using digital badges to enhance nursing students' attendance and motivation

Absenteeism is an emerging issue in nursing education. Most nursing schools adopt a punitive rather than a motivational approach to its mitigation. Digital badges have recently been used to increase motivation in the classroom. This study reports on the effectiveness of digital badges in increasing attendance and motivation among Omani undergraduate nursing students. A descriptive comparative design was used to compare two groups during two consecutive semesters. The control group was subjected to the standard university penalties for unsatisfactory attendance, and the experimental group was rewarded with digital badges for satisfactory attendance. Findings demonstrated that the use of digital badges as a reward system improves undergraduate nursing students' attendance (X2 (1, N = 191) = 6.481, p = 0.011) and increases their motivation and satisfaction. Awarding digital badges is a simple and positive way to combat nursing student absenteeism, increase attendance-related motivation, and showcase regular class attendance.