Gamification
Points and ranking in the student area: which actions earn points and how many, how the ranking looks, what removes points and how to adjust them by hand.
Gamification gives students points when they study and take part, and shows a ranking in the student area. For example: completing a lesson is worth 10 points. You set it all up in Settings → Gamification.
The idea in one minute
- An action is something the student does that earns points: completing a lesson, passing an exam, posting a comment.
- Each time the student does an action that is on, Cademí records an entry in the student's points statement, with the reason.
- The ranking adds up the entries of a period and orders the students.
Points are only for ranking. There are no levels, badges or prizes. If you want to reward the top students, give the prize outside the platform.
The most important rule: a scoring change only applies to what happens afterwards. It never recalculates the points students already earned.
The screen has two tabs, Ranking and Scoring. Both belong to the same form. Change what you want and click Save now once.
What students see in the ranking
The Ranking display panel is on the Ranking tab:
- Show ranking shows the points ranking in the student area. Off, students keep earning points, but they don't see the leaderboard.
- Show total participants adds "among N students" to the line with the student's position. The number is the total of students in the account, not only those who have scored.
- Show full name shows each student's full name. Off, it shows the first name and the initial of the last name, such as "Ana S.".
The last two options only appear with Show ranking on.
The student area ranking has three periods:
- Week and Month count only the points earned in that calendar period. They start over when the period turns. This way, a new student has a chance against the veterans.
- Overall counts all points.
The student area shows the top 20. Your team sees up to 100 positions, with filters, in Reports → Ranking. In a tie, the order is alphabetical, by name. Deleted students do not appear.
Which actions earn points
The Scoring tab has two panels:
- Actions that earn points: the Scoring profile fills the whole table with a ready-made strategy.
- Points per action: you adjust each action.
The scoring profiles
| Profile | Strategy | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Balanced | Rewards a bit of everything, but weighs achievements more (exam, completion, certificate) | You are starting out or don't yet know your class's habits |
| Encourage interaction | Comments and questions are worth more than lessons. Every comment scores. Milestones and certificate are off | Lessons get no comments and the community is quiet |
| Encourage completion | Growing rewards along the course. Completing is worth a lot. Questions don't score | Many start and few finish |
Choosing a profile replaces the values in the table. Nothing is stored until you save. Afterwards, you can adjust the values. If a value departs from the profile, the screen shows Custom. Custom is not a profile: it only tells you the table follows none of them.
The values of each profile:
| Action | Balanced | Encourage interaction | Encourage completion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comment sent | 5 (only the first in each lesson) | 20 (every comment) | 5 (only the first in each lesson) |
| Question sent | 5 | 15 | off |
| Course started | off | off | 5 |
| Lesson completed | 10 | 5 | 10 |
| 50% of the course completed | 25 | off | 30 |
| 75% of the course completed | 25 | off | 50 |
| 90% of the course completed | 25 | off | 75 |
| Exam passed | 50 | 20 | 50 |
| Course completed | 100 | 50 | 200 |
| Certificate issued | 50 | off | 100 |
The points for each action
The Points per action table lists the ten actions in three groups: Interaction, Progress and Achievement. The columns are Action, Status, Points and Rule. Each action has a switch and a value of at least 1 point. A value of zero does not exist: to make an action stop scoring, turn the action off.
| Action | When it scores | How many times |
|---|---|---|
| Comment sent | The student sends a comment or a reply, before any moderation | Depends on the Rule: Only the first in each lesson or Every comment |
| Question sent | The student sends a question in a lesson, before it is answered | Once per lesson |
| Course started | The student completes the first lesson of a product (not when they receive access) | Once per product |
| Lesson completed | The lesson goes from not completed to completed | Once per lesson |
| 50%, 75% and 90% of the course completed | Progress in the product passes the milestone | Once per milestone, per product |
| Exam passed | A finished attempt is passed | Once per exam |
| Course completed | Progress in the product reaches 100% | Once per product |
| Certificate issued | A certificate is issued, including by an administrator | Once per product, even if it is issued again |
The "once" limits stop anyone from piling up points by repeating the same thing. These earn no new points:
- unmarking and marking the lesson again;
- resetting progress and passing the milestones again;
- retaking an exam already passed;
- issuing a certificate again.
A progress jump that passes several milestones at once awards every milestone passed. For example: from 40% to 80%, the student earns the 50% and the 75% milestones.
Attention: the Every comment rule removes the last protection against spam. Every comment and every reply starts scoring. Use this rule with the account's comment rules (Comments) and with moderation, if the community is large.
Step by step
- Open Settings → Gamification → Ranking.
- Turn on Show ranking.
- Choose whether to show the total participants and the full name.
- Open the Scoring tab.
- Click a Scoring profile to fill the table.
- If you want, adjust each action in Points per action: turn the action on and set the Points.
- In Comment sent, choose the Rule.
- Click Save now.
What removes points
Only an exam correction removes points on its own. If you reopen an attempt or remove a result, the student loses all the points that exam gave. They can earn them again if they pass once more, at the value in force at that moment. The exam's lesson goes back to not completed, but the lesson completion points stay.
These actions do not remove points:
- unmarking a lesson or resetting progress;
- revoking a certificate;
- deleting, hiding or rejecting a comment or a question;
- revoking an enrollment.
A deleted student leaves the ranking. If the student is restored, they come back with the same total.
Manual adjustments
An administrator can add or remove points in the student's profile, under Add Points (Student profile). Use it to:
- fix a mistake;
- compensate students after a settings change;
- reward something the platform does not track, such as a live event or a contest.
Adjustment rules:
- The value can be positive or negative, never zero.
- The reason is required.
- The adjustment shows in the ranking right away.
- Only entries made by hand can be deleted. Points from lessons, exams and certificates cannot.
- An adjustment without a product counts in the overall ranking, but not in a product's ranking. To reward performance in a course, link the adjustment to that course.
Good to know
Changes are not retroactive.
Changing a value, or turning an action on or off, only applies to what happens afterwards. If the lesson goes from 10 to 20 points, past completions stay at 10. If an action was off when the student did it, nothing is awarded for the past. There is no "recalculate everything". To compensate students, use a manual adjustment.
An account that never saved its scoring.
While the table has never been saved, every action is worth 1 point, even if the screen shows the actions off. After the first Save now, only actions that are on score.
The ranking is not live.
In the student area, automatic points enter the ranking by the next day. The page says Updated every 24 hours. Manual adjustments enter right away. The student's own total and statement change right after each action. So "my points went up but my position didn't change" on the same day is normal.
Testing without awarding points.
If you view the area as a test student (the preview), nothing scores. If you sign in as a real student, completing lessons and passing exams gives that student real points.
Privacy.
In an account with privacy concerns (corporate training, minors), turn off the full name or don't show the ranking.
Frequently asked questions
I raised the lesson's value and older students still have fewer points.
That's how it works: the change applies to later completions. If fairness between classes matters, compensate the older students with a manual adjustment.
I deleted an offensive comment and its points stayed.
Deleting, hiding or rejecting a comment does not remove points. To stop point spam, use Only the first in each lesson and the account's comment rules. To take points away from a student, make a negative adjustment in their profile.
A student complained their position didn't change.
The student area ranking is updated every 24 hours. Their statement and total already show the new points. The position changes the next day.
I turned the ranking off. Do students lose their points?
No. With Show ranking off, students keep earning points. They just don't see the leaderboard.
Content protection
Put the student's name on lesson PDFs and on YouTube, Panda Video, VdoCipher and Videofront videos. If the material leaks, you know who passed it on.
Embedded pages
A page of yours inside the student area: the home page, the welcome page shown on first access and the page in lessons, with the student data it receives.