Engage Students Using Awards in Brightspace

Originally presented for CAT+FD on 2 September 2026 by Ms. Janice Florent and Dr. Jason Todd

Gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior. Research has shown that using gamification in education can increase student motivation.¹

The use of game thinking and game elements such as challenges, feedback, levels, and rewards in non-game contexts can motivate and engage learners. A well-designed gamified course can grab and keep students’ attention, improve students’ knowledge retention, and improve students’ overall success in the course.

In this workshop we will explore how you can use gamification in Brightspace to increase student motivation and engagement in your courses. You will learn how to use the Awards Tool and how to selectively release content to students using Release Conditions.

This workshop, the sixth in our #LEX Advanced series, builds on the skills you learned in the #LearnEverywhereXULA course and will help you to design a course that will engage and motivate your learners.

¹Ansar, M., George, G. (2023). Gamification in Education and Its Impact on Student Motivation—A Critical Review. In: Chaurasia, M.A., Juang, CF. (eds) Emerging IT/ICT and AI Technologies Affecting Society. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 478. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2940-3_11

Workshop Recording

• Coming Soon

Resources

Slide Deck

• Coming Soon

Gamification in Education

• Motivating Students to Learn: Transforming Courses Using a Gameful Approach
• Gameful Pedagogy
• The Usefulness of Digital Badges in Higher Education
• Using Badges in the Classroom to Motivate Learning

Awards Tool

• About Awards
• Create and Manage Awards