The Task: I wanted to find ways to make extra credit more meaningful for students, specifically to complement the learning outcomes instead of being an afterthought and to reward good habits such as attendance, preparation, and working ahead.
The Process: I attended a campus lecture that a Theater professor gave about gamification in education. This piqued my interest and got me brainstorming ideas but it wasn’t until I earned a badge for logging a beer in the app, Untapped, that I found my answer. While I was familiar at a general level with achievement systems and badges, I spent some time researching them as the inspiration and model for my extra credit system.
The Goal, Strategy, & Tactics: Like achievements in video games, each achievement I generated had a name, a badge (see below; most created with https://badge.design), a description, a completion logic, and a reward. Some of the achievements required completing a prior level before earning subsequent levels. I posted this information on the first day of the class to help students plan which (if any) achievements they wanted to earn, while I would also add some secret achievements throughout the semester. This example illustrates some of my basic graphic design skills (I created all badges myself), my creativity in meeting audiences where they are, and how I try to foster engagement in fun ways.
The Outcome: Student response to this system has been almost universally positive, in part because it allows those students who want to achieve the opportunity to do so while those who aren’t interested can safely ignore them. Numerous other faculty at Wabash College have since implemented a similar system and I presented on this model at the National Communication Association convention in 2022 on a panel addressing classroom gamification. Materials about this achievements extra credit system are available on my Gumroad profile page.
