Gamified Gradebook in Canvas

johnpj
Community Contributor

So, I've been working with some faculty to incorporate gameful learning practices into their Canvas courses and I thought it might be useful if I started sharing some of the techniques (hacks) I've come up with. Here is a quick tip for creating a gamified gradebook in Canvas:

How to create a Gamified Gradebook in Canvas:

  1. Create a "Games" Assignment Group with a 100% weighting
  2. Choose the the gradebook option: "Treat ungraded as Zero" (required for scoring to work)
  3. Create an Assignment with "Paper" submission worth 1000 points(or so); no due date (I'm going to call this Assignment "Max Points")
  4. Create several "game" assignments or "challenges" worth 0 points within the Game Assignment Group; no due date; Tell students how many points the challenges (assignments) are worth in the assignment instructions (be sure to publish all the assignments)
  5. Let students pick (submit) as many game assignments as they want
  6. Grade whatever assignments they pick and score as appropriate

Students accumulate points towards that 1000 point mark by completing assignments of their choosing. Of course you never score Max Points assignments; it just sets the target for 100%

As a variation, you can hide (disable) the Assignment tool form the students and use Modules to conditionally reveal challenges or "bonus levels" (game assignments).