Each term, you teach an online General Chemistry class to first-year students. Every Tuesday afternoon, 300 learners log in to listen to your lecture. Most of them will stay dark rectangles on a screen for you. Are they following along? Are they even present? And will they complete their assignments between classes? Often, you have no idea who is thriving or struggling in your class until midterms.
Motivation is the key to success. If your learners are motivated to watch that video on chemical equilibrium between classes and read your supplemental PDFs on molecular geometry throughout the term, they will have a better learning experience overall. But how can you create motivation without relying on the threat of a bad grade?
Level Up XP helps turn difficult, isolated tasks into a learning experience that feels more engaging and rewarding. The gamification product is designed for Moodle courses and helps instructors make online learning more engaging by adding features such as points, levels, leaderboards, and progress bars.
By making progress visible and learning feel more interactive, Level Up XP gives students more reasons to stay motivated to learn. More than 12 million learners worldwide study with Level Up XP.
To understand why motivation matters, it helps to look at what motivation actually is and how it can be used to create better learning experiences.
What is Motivation?
At its most basic level, motivation is defined “as the energising of behaviour in pursuit of a goal”. Motivation is what allows us to start, sustain, and direct our actions, even when those actions are difficult, uncomfortable, or unrewarding.
Motivation can be inspired by something outside ourselves, such as approval from others. It can also come from within, driven by curiosity, values, or the joy of learning.
But as everyone who has tried a 30‑day fitness challenge only to give up and retreat to the couch after day five knows, motivation is not a given. Often, it is not enough to just be motivated to do something. We need systems that translate motivation into action.
This is especially true when it comes to the connection between motivation and learning.
The Connection Between Learning and Being Motivated
Students who feel motivated are more likely to engage with learning material, complete assignments on time, and push through challenges when things become difficult.
Motivation also shapes the quality of learning itself. A motivated student is more likely to ask questions, think critically, and take ownership of their learning. Over time, motivation and engagement can lead to better understanding, stronger performance, and greater confidence.
Roughly 50% of a student's grade is shaped by their engagement and motivation.
International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 2024
Relationship between student engagement and academic performance
Instructors know that students need motivation to succeed, and grades are often used as the main way to create it. The idea is simple: if students know they will be evaluated, they will work harder, stay focused, and take learning seriously. After all, who likes to fail a test?
For that reason, grades have been around forever. As early as the 1400s, the University of Louvain in modern-day Belgium introduced a four-tier grading scale to assess its students. For hundreds of years, grades were treated as measures of learning and tools for motivating students. However, more recent research has questioned how useful grades truly are.
Why Grades Are Problematic
Do grades motivate students to give their best, or can they be harmful? A study of over 2,000 learners at Western University, Canada, showed that assessing learning through grades can:
Undermine intrinsic motivation and curiosity
Since grades can have a real effect on graduate school admissions or future careers, students might feel pressured to focus on grades and not on the joy of learning something new.
Have a negative impact on a student’s mental health and stress level
Students might suffer from exam anxiety. Chasing a perfect grade can increase their stress and negatively affect learning.
Discourage critical thinking
Students might parrot their graders in hopes of receiving a better grade rather than challenging or questioning the material.
Educators may use grades because they see them as an objective measure of learning. However, because grading can feel inconsistent or subjective, students do not always view it as fair. 73% of students in the aforementioned study had challenged at least one of their grades during their time at university, and 27% had negotiated their grades with their instructors.
Motivation Beyond Grades
Level Up XP provides instructors with a system to foster motivation and learning through gamification. Rather than relying on grades alone, it helps students see their progress, earn recognition for their efforts, and stay engaged between assignments. It also shifts the course away from a single endpoint, such as an exam, and toward an ongoing learning journey.
How Level Up XP Creates A Motivating Learning Environment
Level Up XP fosters student motivation in three ways:
1. Clear Expectations
Level Up XP gives students a transparent path through their course. With points, levels, progress bars, and notifications, learners can see exactly what activity counts and what comes next. Instructors can let students know how many points they need to pass each level of the course and what they need to do to earn those points.
Moreover, the point system makes expectations meaningful by showing learners which activities matter most. For example, watching a short explainer video might be worth 5 points, contributing to an online discussion 15 points, and attending an in-person lab 50 points.
A study by UC Davis found that clear expectations matter because students tend to perform better when they know what is expected of them and how to meet those expectations.
Students can see that some tasks are foundational, while others require deeper engagement or more time. That makes the course feel more structured and easier to navigate. This system is also motivating because students are more likely to focus on the activities that matter most. Instead of treating every task as equally vague, they can make better decisions about where to put their energy.
2. Visible Progress
Level Up XP shows learning as it happens. When a student logs in to a course designed with Level Up XP, the first thing they see is their position on a leaderboard. That immediate visibility can make students feel more aware of their progress and more motivated to keep going. It can also create a sense of friendly competition, which gives students an extra reason to stay engaged.
One systematic review covering 22 studies found that leaderboards improve students’ motivation and engagement, especially in higher education.
Level Up XP goes beyond leaderboards. Throughout the course, students can track their progress through levels, gain badges, and compare their progress with others. A learner who has completed several tasks in a row can immediately see that effort reflected in their points and levels.
3. Rewarding Continuous Effort
Level Up XP lets instructors assign points for activities that support learning, such as exercises, participation, discussions, and other behaviours beyond exams. That means students are recognised for steady work, not just their test performance.
For example, someone who keeps up with weekly readings or completes optional practice activities can feel acknowledged, even if they failed one or two quizzes or were absent for a period. That kind of recognition can be especially motivating in courses where grades arrive too late to shape day-to-day effort.
A study found that students who were rewarded for effort rather than just outcomes later chose more challenging tasks, even without any further reward.
If “failure” doesn’t mean a bad grade, students can take more risks and challenge themselves. This can lead to a shift from aiming to get an answer on a test right to embracing growth. By aligning XP with progress, not outcomes, educators cultivate curiosity and a willingness to take academic risks.
Moreover, Level Up XP is designed to make learning feel like an ongoing journey, where learners progress and grow over time. With features like teasers, conditional content, and level progression, students always have a reason to keep learning.
Rewarding effort and consistency can shape how students approach learning, encouraging them to stay engaged and take on harder work over time.
Level Up XP and Grades: A Match Made in Heaven
So should educators leave grades behind and rely on other motivating factors such as gamification, social support, and individualised learning?
No. The mix is the key to success. A study of medical students in the United States found that most surveyed students were both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, meaning that both the desire to learn and the grading system contributed to their learning success.
Grades can be useful when they inform students about where they are and what they need to improve, rather than simply acting as a threat or final judgment. Together with gamification elements that motivate learners throughout the course, they can ensure that students achieve good grades while also enjoying the learning journey.
Motivation should not be treated as something that simply exists or disappears. It needs support. Students benefit from clear goals, meaningful feedback, encouragement, and learning environments that value both growth and performance. Level Up XP helps instructors to easily and seamlessly create these learning environments in their Moodle courses.
Motivated to try out Level Up XP in your course design? Check out our best practices guide to using gamification elements in education.
Or learn about all Level Up XP features to see how you can transform your learners into motivated overachievers.