2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Ten years ago, we chose to implement a badge-based version of a computer architecture course.
We presented a research paper on this approach with the concern that the modality would
result in a flattened grade distribution where most students would receive high grades. Our early
results showed this was not the case, and in retrospect, the concern was not relevant. In this paper,
we provide lessons learned over the 10 years we have taught the course in a badge-based format
providing information on interventions we implemented in an attempt to make the course better
for students.
For the last ten years of running a computer architecture in a badge-based format, we will provide
the current structure of the course including a badge-stream that focuses on security. We will also
present the statistics from the course including student grades, badge completion statistics, and
anecdotal observations from the student reviews including student comments. Overall, we believe
this approach to teaching computer architecture is successful in helping students who want to
learn the topic with a focus on their interests. There also is a clear divide among students who like
the badge-based approach versus those who would prefer a more traditional and
less-student-centered teaching model. The results of this work provide a longitudinal experience
of using badge-based teaching for computer architecture, and we believe the approach is sound
understanding that the limitation of the model is how large it can be scaled to.