Rethinking extra credit: How gamification can reduce grade inflation and strengthen soft skills

Katie Welch

doi:10.3765/plsa.v6i2.5070

Abstract

Gamification, the use of game-based principles to promote learning (Kapp 2012), allows instructors a pathway through which they can maintain curricular rigor while simultaneously fostering strong work habits and soft skill development. In this paper I describe my own experience of gamifying an online linguistics undergraduate course as I sought to combat engagement challenges such as spotty attendance and assignment procrastination. By implementing a gamified bonus level in the course, I was able to reimagine the traditional notion of extra credit in a way that incentivized self-regulation and engagement without creating a high amount of grade inflation in the process. Unlike traditional extra credit which advantages high-performing students, the bonus level sought to provide equity to the lower-performing students at a regional university with a predominant first-generation population.

Highlights

I began reading about the benefits of gamification in educational contexts and decided to gamify my course in 2016
Once I realized the potential of meaningful gamification, I set about creating a game for my students, which I later named the bonus level
The tickets earned through this activity and others like it, such as asking students to notate Scrabble letters I held up at random points throughout weekly recorded videos, were accrued throughout the semester and tracked in a leaderboard. (The tracking of tickets and prizes was done through a combination of Google Forms and Sheets, the latter of which offers an easy-toimplement leaderboard widget.) Some ticket-earning opportunities were announced from the outset, such as submitting an assignment more than 24 hours before the deadline, attending office hours, or collaborating with peers in online discussion boards, whereas other opportunities were revealed as the course progressed

Summary

Introduction

I began reading about the benefits of gamification in educational contexts and decided to gamify my course in 2016. In looking at the student responses, I realized that providing an equitable classroom experience meant offering more flexibility with deadlines and needed to include proactively helping students build the soft skills needed to be successful in an online course— things like logging in to the course often, staying on top of the assignment schedule, engaging with non-graded course material, and attending office hours.

Results

Conclusion