"The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort."

- Colin Powell

Over time, incentive strategies that involve classes competing with one another or even a class competing to improve internally have proven to be quite effective at increasing mentee online engagement.  In this article, we will explore the use of the Mentees and Mentors dashboard to support a data driven incentive program.

Inter-Class Competitions

Often, a sense of community exists within a class - or one can be created - which can be leveraged to increase engagement through healthy competition between classes within a cohort. 

The caseload above is performing very well, but let's assume the case manager responsible for these pairs has identified that in order to further increase online engagement, efforts would be well spent on increasing mentee participation.  A couple of examples of inter-class competitions aimed at increasing engagement might look like:

• The class that increases their percentage the most by the end of the month, within the context of their current engagement level, wins a pizza party.  This strategy puts all classes, regardless of their current engagement level, on an equal playing field.  Whether the class is currently at 50% or 75%, it doesn't matter since winning the competition is based on growth.
• If classes are similarly engaged, perhaps the competition spans the marking period and the class that has the highest percentage of mentee online engagement wins a picnic after school. (Bonus: If mentors are invited, this can also serve as a make-up event!)

Showing classes their progress is easy and can be done with few simple clicks, as shown in the example below.

Intra-Class Competitions

Sometimes, pitting classes against one another is not the best approach.  Perhaps, due to scheduling, one class is filled with AP level students whereas another is filled with ELL students.  In cases like this, an inter-class competition would be rather loaded.

However, the same incentive strategies can be leveraged within a class - simply geared toward internal growth as opposed to growth in comparison to other classes.

Feel free to reach out to [email protected] with any questions or requests for support in navigating or leveraging this interface in your work! 

Have you tried this strategy or deployed a similar effort? If so, please consider leaving a comment below outlining your experience!