The authors examine two iterations of a high-enrollment university political science course designed around motivational constructs found in video games. The idea of “leveling-up” is used as a driving metaphor to showcase the fact that both the course and the research design are an iterative process driven by improving and understanding student outcomes. Both the courses and the research design employed to understand them have evolved over two academic years. We demonstrate that positive effects on students’ motivation to engage with coursework (and sense of control) remain robust across both iterations. We also employ social network analysis to understand how student networks form around how students learned to make sense of the grading system from each other.
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