A new study from the University of Colorado1 found that college students learn better when taught using play and games rather than by lecturing. Many educators abandon the concept of play once students leave elementary school. However, the study proves that play is a valuable technique at any age.
The study found that those who engaged in courses that integrated play were better able to:
- Acquire skills
- Retain content
- Reduce stress, fear, and anxiety over the course material
- Stay motivated and engaged
- Take risks
- Feel connected to the content
And that is why iGrad’s student financial wellness program incorporates gamification elements.
What is Gamification?
Gamification is a fancy term for adding game-like elements when learning a new skill or information.
The purpose behind gamification is to motivate students to do tasks that may seem difficult or otherwise uninteresting. For example, students may not be interested in learning how to budget but may engage with the budgeting course to beat their roommate on the leaderboard.
And gamification works because it meets the desire to get recognition and to achieve something.
When students participate in the gamification elements of a financial wellness program, they are far more likely to stay engaged, which, in turn, leads to sustainable behavioral changes.
Gamification Elements
Students who continually learn about financial topics are far more likely to achieve financial wellness.
Gamification is the key to encouraging students to continually interact with a financial wellness platform, engage in materials that may not seem exciting, and complete courses rather than quitting halfway through.
That’s why the iGrad platform provides gamification at many levels which reward students based on their participation and activity.
Gamification elements include things like:
- Achievements
- Badges
- Bonuses
- Certificates
- Challenges
- Countdowns
- Leaderboards
- Points
- Unlocking new assignments
When considering gamification, especially when allowing students to trade in points for prizes, be sure to consider what is important to them. Prizes can be gift cards, discount cards, free school memorabilia, desserts, coffee, or even event tickets.
Another tip is to make it easy to share their financial wellness status with their friends through social media apps. Students love to brag about their accomplishments, so make it easy to let them do so.
Gamification Within iGrad
The iGrad platform contains an integrated Rewards API allowing each university to determine what a student needs to do to earn awards. Institutes of higher learning often choose actions like:
- Getting a specific grade on a quiz
- Reading a series of articles on a particular topic
- Being active on the platform for a specified length of time
- Creating personal financial goals
- Completing tasks associated with personal goals
These elements allow you to determine which actions are the most important to your university and reward students for moving the university closer to that goal.
For example, your institution may determine that all students should begin with “Your Money Personality.” This tool helps students understand why they make the choices they make about money and then recommends ways to build better financial habits.
The integrated Rewards API would allow you to offer points for creating a login for the financial wellness program and then points for completing the assessment. It could also create a leaderboard or provide badges when a student completes the recommendations.
The same is true for any component. The completion of a course on understanding student loans could touch on a university goal to reduce student loan defaults, or the completion of a budget could move the university population toward reducing credit card debt.
Finally, iGrad offers the ability to create challenges. Similar to earning points, students winning the challenge could receive gift cards to local establishments, tickets to university sporting events, or university swag.
Adding gamification to your financial wellness platform will encourage students to engage in the program and learn necessary financial skills.
To find out more strategies other schools are using in order to create a successful, system-wide financial literacy initiative, take a look at our best-practices guide.
1 - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210614185602.htm
