Ask a question to a room of 80 and the same three hands go up. Run a quiz on speed and the same handful of people win. Neither tells you much about what the rest of the class understands, and over a semester both teach the quieter students that the class isn't really for them.
When we designed participation in Ludoran, we started from a simple rule: taking part should be possible, and worth it, for everyone in the room. Here's how that plays out.
Everyone answers, not just the first hand
Most activities in Ludoran are answered by the whole class at once on their own devices: polls, word clouds, scales, short answers, quizzes. The lecturer sees the spread of answers rather than the confidence of one person. Word clouds group matching answers together, so a quiet student's word counts as much as anyone's.
Results can stay hidden until the vote closes, so nobody just follows the crowd.
Fair turns when one person is chosen
Sometimes a lecturer does want to put one person or group on the spot. Ludoran's picker draws from the people who are actually in the room, and everyone gets a turn before anyone goes twice. It's random, but not unfair: no one gets picked three times while their neighbour never does.
Ways in that don't need a microphone
Not everyone wants to speak up in front of a lecture theatre, and that's fine.
- Questions ahead of time. Students can write questions before an "open questions" step and upvote each other's. When the lecturer gets there, the questions the class most wants answered are waiting.
- Anonymous options. Quizzes can run with anonymous names or nicknames. Students can quietly tag a step they want to come back to; those tags reach the lecturer as counts, not names.
- Messages to the lecturer. A student can message the lecturer instead of putting their hand up.
Credit for turning up and taking part
Points in a class measure performance in that class: quiz answers, accuracy, peer votes. Ludo, the companion character each student has, works differently. Its coins come from things everyone can do: coming to class, taking part (an answer, a tick or a vote), and a capped share of class points. A quiet student who comes every week and joins in earns as much as anyone from the first two.
Different ways to stand out
At the end of a class, Ludoran wraps up with the class MVP and an MVP for each activity. We think recognition should rotate, so the design we're working towards lets different kinds of students win: top score, most improved (compared with their own last class), best helper (voted by peers or endorsed by staff), and comeback (strong today after slipping in recent weeks). Not all of those categories are built yet, and we'll say so on the site until they are.
The principle behind scoreboards is the same: show the top of the board, never project anyone's low rank, and let each student see their own position privately on their phone. Lecturers can switch scoreboards off.
Every class is a fresh start
Recognition at the end of a class is about that class. A bad week doesn't sink a student for the rest of semester, and someone who had a slow start can still have a great Tuesday.
Choices for lecturers, choices for students
None of this suits every class. Lecturers can turn scoreboards and animations off. Students can set Ludo to sit still or hide it entirely. Reduced-motion settings on the device are respected.
Inclusion isn't a single feature. It's a lot of small defaults that add up to a room where joining in feels normal for everyone. Read more on the features page.