MOTIVATING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ LEARNING THROUGH BONUS POINT SYSTEM

Unlike secondary level students, it depends a lot on self-discipline for tertiary students to engage in the learning of their undergraduate courses. Very often, these students will put their attention in the courses only before deadlines of assignments and exams. Due to lack of consistent practices, the desired learning outcome may not be achieved. In this presentation, the author will share his experience in introducing a bonus point system in his math class. This experiment made use of the concept of “gamification” to motivate students’ learning by rewarding them with bonus points for taking part in various class activities throughout the semester. The main objective is to study the effectiveness of using this innovative approach to engage students. All the activities attempted by students were recorded. These give valuable and interesting information about the students’ participation as well as their learning pattern in these activities. Survey was also conducted to find out students’ perception on the system. Generally students were receptive to the idea. They participated actively in those events that will earn them points. On the other hand, there were also students who responded to the system negatively. More details of the results will be shared during the presentation.