Too often in education we focus on the poor behaviour of learners and absence. Forgetting sometimes to reward those students who do attend every session and do follow the rules.

We probably do similar things with the VLE, admonishing learners who haven’t done online activities or joined in discussions.

By rewarding those learners who do make use of the VLE, for using the VLE to support their learning, etc… then you are sending a message to the group; that learners who work hard, obey the rules will be rewarded.

So how can you reward learners?

• Sometimes it can be randomly from all those learners who filled in the feedback survey.
• Sometimes it can be fun, see how many times a student has accessed content on the VLE over a week – there will always be one who spends all week clicking links…
• Hide and seek, see who can find a particular link or reference in all the resources on the VLE.
• Most useful learner in a discussion.

So what should be the rewards?

Well, it would be nice if it was an iPod touch! Of course we don’t all have the money or budget to do that. However what about the following:

Assignment extension voucher – one extra week for submitting an assignment.

• Coffee voucher for college cafe
• Lunch voucher for college dining room
• Chocolate bar
• Fruit (if you have a healthy eating strategy)
• Vouchers for local stores (see if they will donate them)
• Certificates

Of course rewards for learners needn’t be exclusively for those that use the VLE, they could be any learning activity.

Case study from the Excellence Gateway that inspired this post.