Points System Page | Participation Settings

December 12, 2025

Points System Page | Participation Settings

Unlocking Student Motivation with Gameful Learning

Instructors everywhere face the same uphill climb: getting students to participate meaningfully—especially in online classes. Despite your best efforts, traditional discussion forums can feel more like boxes to check than places for real learning. What’s the antidote? For many educators, the answer is gameful learning.

What is Gameful Learning?

Gameful learning isn’t about turning your classroom into an arcade. It’s about applying the elements of games—clear goals, meaningful choice, and immediate feedback—to academic environments. Platforms like Yellowdig use points, badges, and accolades to recognize real contributions, making participation feel rewarding, not obligatory.

Why Gameful Elements Spark Engagement

Why do students respond so well to this approach? Because gameful mechanics tap into motivation in ways that rote assignments can’t. When students earn points for thoughtful posts or insightful replies, they're encouraged to dig deeper and share experiences. A little friendly competition doesn’t hurt, either—leaderboards spark engagement and help shy students ease into participation.

Yellowdig’s Approach: More Than Just Points

Yellowdig’s platform is built around the idea that engagement should be authentic, not forced. Points aren’t given for empty “I agree” comments, but for contributions that spark conversation and critical thinking. Students can curate their posts with articles or videos that interest them and receive recognition when others interact with their content. This approach fosters intrinsic motivation—students participate because they want to, not because they have to.

Real Results in Real Classrooms

Instructors using Yellowdig consistently report stronger participation and deeper discussion. One faculty member noted that “seventy-five percent of student questions get answered by their peers,” freeing up their time to tackle more advanced topics. Students say they look forward to checking new posts, sharing resources, and earning recognition for meaningful contributions.

Tips for Making Gameful Learning Work

Set Clear Expectations: Let students know how points are earned and celebrate thoughtful interaction, not just frequency.
Offer Meaningful Feedback: Use accolades and comments to highlight particularly insightful posts.
Encourage Creativity: Remind students they can use links, visuals, or even short videos to make their posts stand out.
Foster Healthy Competition: Leaderboards and weekly challenges can energize participation and keep momentum going.

The Takeaway

Gameful learning turns participation from a chore into an opportunity for discovery and community. With the right design, recognition, and tools, you’ll see students take more ownership of their learning—unlocking not just better engagement, but genuine excitement for the subject.
Ready to see how gameful learning can transform your course? Try out Yellowdig and join a thriving community that believes learning should be as rewarding as it is rigorous.

IN THIS ARTICLE

Points System Basics

If your community has already begun

Points System

Start and End Date

Participation Expectation

Pass Grade to Your Gradebook

Accolades

Points System Basics

To access the Participation Settings page go to the side navigation menu of the community -> Settings -> Point System. Note: Sometimes the side navigation menu isn’t visible on smaller screens, click the button on the upper left of the page to expand the navigation menu(s). The first option on the Points System page is a dropdown menu to enable participation points. It’s recommended to keep participation points on. Points help encourage meaningful interaction and active engagement in your community. The Points System page includes:

Points System

Point Earning Rules

Point Earning Window

Participation Expectation

Pass Grades to Your Gradebook

Accolades

Topics

Screen Shot 2023-07-25 at 4.15.08 PM.png

If your community has already begun

The screenshot below is the view you’ll see if your community has already begun. Certain options are hidden that have the potential to change the past points earning of members of your community. However you can see them by clicking on “Additional Point Settings”. During a community you can safely make changes to Points Earning Rules, you can toggle the Pass Grades to Your Gradebook, and you can view and edit Accolades. If you have any questions feel free to submit a support ticket here or reach out to us at clientsuccess@yellowdig.com

Screen Shot 2023-07-25 at 4.40.42 PM.png

Points System

Weekly Points are recommended for most communities. Freeform is designed for communities that have rolling membership, such as clubs, student groups, special events, and rolling enrollment courses.

Start and End Date

You can change the start and end date for earning points in the community here. Your community members will earn points for thoughtful participation during these dates. Curricular community? Typically choose the full length of your course.

Participation Expectation

We recommend keeping the default points settings since they are based on positive outcomes from thousands of communities in Yellowdig. Alternatively, select “Custom Settings” for an advanced point configuration.

Screen Shot 2023-07-25 at 4.48.30 PM.png

Pass Grade to Your Gradebook

If you’re using a learning management system (Canvas, Blackboard, D2L, etc.) leave this on to pass grades to that system.

Accolades

See all the accolades in your community, add new ones or edit existing. For more information on accolades see this guide on Creating and Using Accolades.

Audience: This help article is for Instructors, Designers, and Administrators. Students or Learners cannot access these settings.

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