Design Features of a Career Guidance Platform to Promote Intrinsically Motivated Use

Many career guidance platforms are information portals that have a strong text-based approach and are used in higher grades later in the career guidance process. As part of a research project (JOLanDA) aimed at improving the career orientation of young people, we are developing a gamified platform to support younger pupils (12 years and older) in career orientation also outside of school. In this paper, we report on a moderated usability test (n = 14) with junior experts (students) to gain initial insights on how to improve the platform, as well as results from school workshops (n = 197, grade 7-9) within three field phases. Due to the playful approach, narrative structure (interactive digital storytelling), and a novel interaction concept (scroll-activated animations), the platform seems to attract great interest and has the potential to foster intrinsic user motivation. Based on the results, we provide design recommendations for online learning environments.