The History of STREAKS in Khan Academy

Hello! Today, I want to talk about the history of the Streaks feature - which has been around for far longer on Khan Academy than you might think.

A long time ago (I do not know exactly when it was introduced), the Streaks feature on Khan Academy was introduced to help motivate learners by tracking how many DAYS in a row they practiced or learned on the site. When it first launched, users could see their current streak and were encouraged to keep learning daily to build longer streaks.

A standalone feature at the time, streaks remained in place until late 2020, when the KA team decided to remove it. Here is a quoted section from one article:

As part of the ongoing project to rebuild all of Khan Academy in a new coding language, we’ve been investigating areas where we have the ability to simplify the learning experience and free up time for our small team to focus on improving our most critical areas.

When we looked at the Streak feature, we found that over 99% of learners did not use it regularly. It’s also an older part of our site that’s been difficult to keep running smoothly (as the remaining 1% of you might have experienced firsthand…). Finally, we’ve heard from some learners and teachers that, as currently designed, streaks can actually be demotivating - especially when circumstances beyond one’s control, like health or access to a device or Wi-Fi, can be the reason a streak gets broken.

Additionally, the first badges for earning a streak were to be announced on January 4, 2021, the same day that Streaks were removed. The following badges were awarded to people who met their descriptions:

And then, for the first time since Salman Khan founded KA, everyone was better off without streaks for 3 years (and during this period I joined KA).

3 years after Streaks were removed, they were set to be reintroduced (along with the gamification of course mastery). Instead of making progress each DAY, users had to achieve proficiency in at least one skill each WEEK. Here's another quoted section:

Motivation isn't a fixed trait that students either possess or lack; it can grow or shrink depending on one’s environment and strategies. We wanted our new streaks to embody this philosophy to help users create healthy learning habits that align with learning science in a fun and engaging way. 

That being said, we didn’t just want any old streak, we wanted each added week to display meaningful learning. We could have had users renew a streak by watching a video or attempting an exercise, but given the importance of practice and our mastery system, we believe getting one skill to proficient or higher is the ideal indicator that users are on the right track to meaningful progress towards their goals (and we have efficacy research studies to back that up).

We want users to be able to look back on their streak at the end of a school year with a deep sense of pride and accomplishment of their hard work and consistency!

At the same time, seven new badges were issued for earning streaks. Like the badges I mentioned earlier, the current streak badges have a flame on the image.




Questions for you:

1. Which version of the Streaks feature do you prefer?
2. Compare the quoted sections I showed you. Are streaks motivating?
3. How did each version of the Streaks feature support Khan Academy?

Sources:
Update: Streaks are going away on January 4, 2021 – Khan Academy Help Center
Introducing Streaks and Levels! – Khan Academy Help Center
Update: New badges for streaks and levels - including a new Black Hole badge! – Khan Academy Help Center