I ♥ Stickers
by Lisa Forbes
Sometimes simply playing games in a higher education class is all it takes to increase engagement. But sometimes you might need to provide a little incentive to get students actually invested in games and play. If you can spark engagement (from either games/play itself or incentives to increase appeal of the games) then you increase the chance students will be more engaged and interested in the overall content.
Therefore, a part of my approach to playing games in the classroom is having prizes for competitions. I went on Amazon and found packs of 50 or 100 stickers for under 10 dollars so they’re not all that expensive but they’re really cool stickers that students are actually excited to win. The pictures of this blog are an example of some of the stickers I have.
After a winner or winning group of a game has been determined, I spread out all of the stickers on a table to let them choose. The amount of excitement my adult students have for these stickers is so awesome to me. Sometimes they have a hard time choosing just one. Anyway, when we were forced to transition to virtual learning due to COVID-19, I decided that I would keep playing games and keep giving sticker prizes but I gave the students an option if they won a sticker: I could mail their sticker to them or they could wait until we are back in-person and on campus to pick it up. My students have said they really love the fact that they can still win these stickers and get them via snail mail even during a virtual class.
I am aware that incentives are an external reward which aligns more with extrinsic motivation but I think if the reward is small enough and it’s not the only way you try to fiddle with students’ engagement and motivation, in my opinion, it can be an awesome tool to increase the excitement and fun in your classroom.
Small stickers are just one idea of incentives, the types of incentives could be endless! What are some you have used or might consider using?