New students don’t just need information—they need reasons to interact with their new environment. That’s where gamification can make a difference.
Instead of asking students to sit through another presentation about campus resources, colleges can turn the campus itself into an interactive game board. With the right combination of challenges, students can explore campus, complete missions, compete with their peers, and learn along the way.
What Is Campus Gamification?
Gamification means incorporating game-like elements into an experience that isn’t traditionally a game.
For helping new college students become engrained in your on-campus culture, that might mean adding:
- Points
- Challenges
- Teams
- Leaderboards
- Missions
- Rewards
- Location-based activities
- Competition
The important part is that the game supports your campus goals rather than simply adding competition for its own sake.
Turn Buildings Into Game Locations
Nearly every campus location can become part of the experience.
- A library could become a quiz location.
- A campus landmark could become a photo challenge.
- A student services office could become a QR-code checkpoint.
- A dining hall could become the setting for a team challenge.
- A historic building could unlock a question about the school’s history.
- The physical campus becomes part of the activity.
Create Friendly Competition
Competition can give students an extra reason to participate.
A leaderboard can show which teams are completing the most challenges or earning the most points. You can also create team-based activities that encourage students to work together rather than compete individually.
And competition doesn’t have to be serious. Give students points for creativity, teamwork, exploration, or simply completing silly challenges.
Make Learning More Interactive
Gamification is particularly useful when you have information that students need to learn but may not find especially exciting.
- Instead of giving students a list of campus resources, create challenges around those resources.
- Instead of explaining campus history in a presentation, create historical trivia.
- Instead of telling students about campus traditions, send them out to discover those traditions themselves.
The information becomes part of the experience.
Eventzee Makes Your Campus Interactive
Eventzee gives colleges a platform for creating customized interactive experiences using a variety of challenge types.
GPS challenges can send students to specific locations. Photo and video challenges encourage creativity. Quizzes can test knowledge. QR codes can unlock information at physical locations.
Together, these tools can transform a campus into a giant interactive playground.
A More Engaging Experience
The goal isn’t to turn every moment of onboarding into a competition. It’s to give students more opportunities to do something instead of simply listening.
When students are exploring, collaborating, laughing, and interacting with campus, they’re already beginning to build a relationship with their new school. And that’s exactly what a great orientation should accomplish.
Orientations may be winding down, but these are lessons useful for students of all levels. Eventzee gives colleges the tools to transform any campus event into an interactive experience that gets students exploring, connecting, and engaging from day one. Begin planning for your next campus event, and reach out to the Eventzee team today!