Gamifying an Introductory Course – the Process and My Experience So Far!

When I reflect on my own undergraduate experience, especially my first year, I remember massive lectures and feeling anxious. Many first-year students are navigating enormous life changes, and the transition to university is associated with stress, shock, and sometimes withdrawal from courses or university (Coertjens et al., 2017; Janiga & Costenbader, 2002; Stone, 2010). I teach the introductory course in Health Promotion and see students navigating transitions, like that from high school to the post-secondary environment for example. Our students are also challenged to abandon common biomedical definitions of health in favour of more social conceptualizations focused on equity and prevention.

While transition supports have historically been offered exclusively to students requiring some form of accommodation; the role of university teaching to address barriers is becoming better understood with the emergence of perspectives like universal design for learning (UDL) and culturally responsive pedagogy (CAST, 2018; Coertjens et al., 2017; Janiga & Costenbader, 2002; Pirbhai-Illich et al., 2017; Social Equity Working Group Curriculum Committee, 2022). As someone whose teaching philosophy emphasizes enthusiasm, equity, and care for students, I am always looking for creative ways to support them. I’ve found that students feel supported when they have ways to meaningfully engage, and some choice in assessment opportunities that allow for a variety of ways to demonstrate learning. Of course, the value of experiential, active, and problem-based leaning is also well-established (Fink, 2003; Smart & Csapo, 2007; Stirling et al., 2017).

Last winter, I had the privilege of taking a Studio Course in gamification through the Centre for Learning and Teaching. With my introductory course needing refinement due to recent program revisions and accreditation, and the transition back to in-person learning, the gamification course was super timely. With some of my own research focused on play, I loved learning about how play is associated with motivation, creativity, and deep, active learning, even in post-secondary spaces (James & Nerantzi, 2019). Gamification, in this context, offers a way to include play in learning, by incorporating game-based thinking and components to engage students (Kapp, 2012). Gamification in the post-secondary environment has been associated with attaining learning outcomes, positive attitudes toward learning, higher-order thinking, problem-solving, and pro-social behaviour (Kapp, 2012).

It seemed to me that gamification might allow me to better engage and support students, in alignment with aspects of UDL related to relevance, choice, and flexibility. Luckily, the CLT course was also gamified, so I had excellent modeling and examples to get me started. I began my own ‘gamification’ process by converting traditional grades to ‘experience points’ (XP) and re-designed my course with the goal for students to gain enough XP to meet learning outcomes. A central part of gamification is ensuring students have opportunities to gain more XP than are required. The major assignment for my course has historically been a literature review, broken down into small, scaffolded assignments. In the gamified version, we still work toward a literature review; however, most components are optional, with opportunities to gain XP through a search strategy, reference list, and annotated bibliography throughout the term.

Students in my course also have several opportunities to gain XP weekly. They can engage in tutorials (3XP weekly), complete weekly activities (3XP weekly), and make connections to our course-wide case study (1XP weekly). Students also earn badges in Brightspace, and we do a weekly prize draw for students who earn more than 5XP each week. Our department gives me some branded swag for prizes, and as a crafter/sewist I’ve also included a few handmade items. Students can gain extra XP by writing a final case report or attending workshops, such as those offered through the Writing Centre or Student Success Centre.

While this might sound like a lot of opportunity to do excessively well in the course, I have category XP caps to encourage engagement across types of activities; But I also want to note that this is intentional – I want students to be able to do well, to engage in ways that are personally relevant and meaningful, and I believe they should be rewarded for their engagement. The gamification system offers lots of ways to engage, and promotes flexibility, which results in choice and autonomy in learning – plus chances to win some fun swag.

So far, I think it’s going well! After nine weekly modules, the average weekly XP gained is a little more than the goal I’ve suggested of 5/7XP; and each week, an average of 70% of students in the course meet that goal. We’ve also done three of our optional assignments, and nearly everyone has completed each of them, despite their optional nature.

This is more engagement than I anticipated, and while I love to see such commitment, I am also mindful that students might not feel secure enough in their grades or understand the XP system well enough to ‘skip’ assignments. This was exacerbated by our TA strike, which understandably slowed the assessment of weekly activities, leaving students, I’m sure, uncertain about their progress. Another challenge has been navigating the Brightspace gradebook, which isn’t set up to manage XP, especially with category caps. I’ve been fortunate to be well supported by the folks in ATS - we’re all learning together and solving challenges as they arise.

I conducted an anonymous survey to collect feedback on the gamification system after a few weekly modules. Approximately 70% of the students completed the survey and indicated positive feedback regarding their enjoyment (4.4/5), their comprehension of the game and XP (4.0/5), and feelings of autonomy and choice (4.7/5). They also noted gamification helps them be engaged (4.2/5), and that they enjoy earning XP (4.1/5) and, of course, prizes (4.7/5). Some encouraging results overall!

Anecdotally, and through the survey comments, I have received lots of positive feedback, excitement, and enthusiasm. In the future I will continue to work on clarifying the XP system and hope to use gamification to help students connect with one another. Overall, my first impressions have been positive, and I plan to repeat this next year. I look forward to a semester that is hopefully not disrupted by strike, where most of the Brightspace concerns have been addressed, and when there will be fewer gamification ‘firsts’ to navigate.

I also want to acknowledge that I was well supported by my Director to engage in this, and redeveloping the course wasn’t without time and energy. That said, I think it will flow quite smoothly without as much upfront effort in the future and would consider the investment to be well worthwhile - plus, I’ve got to have a little fun, too!

References

CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Coertjens, L., Brahm, T., Trautwein, C., & Lindblom-Ylänne, S. (2017). Students’ transition into higher education from an international perspective. Higher Education, 73(3), 357–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0092-y

Fink, L. D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to designing college courses. John Wiley & Sons.

James, A., & Nerantzi, C. (Eds.). (2019). The Power of Play in Higher Education: Creativity in Tertiary Learning. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95780-7

Janiga, S. J., & Costenbader, V. (2002). The Transition From High School to Postsecondary Education for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Survey of College Service Coordinators. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35(5), 463–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222194020350050601

Kapp, K. M. (2012). The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education (1st ed.). Pfeiffer & Company.

Pirbhai-Illich, F., Pete, S., & Martin, F. (2017). Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-46328-5

Smart, K. L., & Csapo, N. (2007). Learning by Doing: Engaging Students Through Learner-Centered Activities. Business Communication Quarterly, 70(4), 451–457. https://doi.org/10.1177/10805699070700040302

Social Equity Working Group Curriculum Committee, Nova Scotia. (2022). Transforming Practice: Learning Equity, Learning Excellence. Creative Commons.

Stone, D. C. (2010). 22. High to Low Tide: The High School–University Transition. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 3(0), 133–139. https://doi.org/10.22329/celt.v3i0.3252

Dr. Becky Feicht

Instructor, School of Health and Human Performance

Internship Coordinator Health Promotion