This paper describes research and development around two gameful courses that reimagined their assessment systems to better support student autonomy and promote engagement. We present results from an ongoing classroom-based research study that signals the success of these designs and, in so doing, explore key elements of what we call gameful design: the process of redesigning core elements of a learning environment to better support intrinsic motivation. We describe this process and discuss a set of promising practices for the design of gameful courses. Results from three studies indicate that gameful course design is positively related to students working harder and feeling more in control of their class performance.

Descriptive norm and opinion leader nudges were tested using a randomized control trial. Opinion leader nudges have more impact than normative nudges, albeit marginally. Students with low levels of grade importance responded positively to multiple nudges. The same group of students who received multiple nudges also ended the course with higher grades.

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