Trying something new: Gamifying the course

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I had thought about this since December, but didn't really work on it until the last minute. Yes, I am an extreme procrastinator. It helps me relate to my students!

On January 7, as I was preparing the syllabus for the course management system, I decided to pull the trigger and gamify my course. It makes sense as the course is made up of projects that students need to complete, so having them earn a badge after each project is a good idea.

I planned to give them digital badges, but the students were very excited about the idea of actual badges. Today I have been creating the badges in Canva, which really is a great program and easy to use. I got some advice from a friend who makes stickers and I just ordered them! They are supposed to arrive by Friday, and I am excited.

While they have more than 6 projects, I decided to combine the first few assignments into one badge, called the Digital Citizen badge. Hopefully, you notice that the circle around the outside is two colors. This darker color represents that they are just getting started on their journey.

One of the major projects is a Desmos Art Project, which is a contest each year in my class. I used an image that I captured from last year's contest winner as the image for the badge. As you can see, they are further along in the semester so they are getting more digitally-savvy and the darker color on the circle is more filled in.
I have to admit that I actually enjoyed making the badges as it is good for the creative side of my brain, and I am super happy with how they turned out. Again, you can do lots of cool things in Canva. The last badge that they will get this semester is below. Again, notice the detail that the darker color almost goes all of the way around. However, I don't think that any of us will ever be so "tech-ready" that our circle is complete because technology is changing all of the time.
I am looking forward to a great semester with my six students in the course. They will start blogging next week so watch for their blogs. 






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