by Tanvir Kaur on 19 Aug, 2022
The new school year is just around the corner, and you must be searching for creative ways to engage students in the classroom. Let us help you boost student engagement and motivation with our gamified competitions. Competitions are a great way to improve effort-based learning and attention among students. ChatterHigh’s gamified online learning platform allows students and schools to win prizes through competitions while becoming more informed.
TL; DR
Discover how ChatterHigh's competitions work and learn how to hit the leaderboards by checking out the information listed below.
- Why competitions? Because they boost motivation and engagement among students.
- Chatterhigh offers different types of competitions. They can be based on the Daily Quiz or modules and offered regionally or nationally. Districts can also create their own custom competitions.
- Curious about cost and eligibility? You and your class can participate in competitions for your geographical region at no cost.
- Find out how ChatterHigh's competitions, rankings, and prizes work.
- Learn tips and tricks for how you and your class can hit the leaderboard.
- Share these success stories with your students and get them inspired.
Why Competitions?
Competitions are a great way to increase the level of student engagement in the classroom and improve students’ interest in a specific topic. Students can cultivate a healthy competitive spirit. One of the most effective ways to get students excited about learning is through competitions.
Student engagement and motivation are the backbones of ChatterHigh. That’s why we host a variety of competitions for schools and students that liven up the classroom and students’ learning experience. ChatterHigh has focused on integrating all of the ingredients in its platform to stimulate student involvement.
Types of ChatterHigh Competitions
ChatterHigh hosts a number of competitions throughout the year at both the national and regional levels. Students and schools have the opportunity to win prizes in these competitions. Competitions can be based on the Daily Quiz or specific modules. For instance, in collaboration with Let’s Talk Science, Skills Canada, and Engineers Canada, ChatterHigh hosts the national Let’s Talk Careers Competition. In this competition, students compete for individual student bursaries and school-wide prizes by answering questions in our Daily Quiz.
Districts can create their own competitions based on tailored topics and resources that meet their particular needs. If you would like to create your own competition and spark engagement among students through topics that are relevant to your community, book a call with us.
Competition Costs and Eligibility
“The best things in life are free” - Luther Vandross
And so are our competitions; free of cost!
ChatterHigh competitions are free to participate in, but that's not all — schools can also earn cash prizes which they can use for school initiatives. Students and teachers can participate in the competitions and win prizes for their school. For regional competitions, they are automatically enrolled based on their region. Students and instructors with ChatterHigh accounts are eligible to participate in all national competitions.
How Competitions Work
The first step in participating in a competition is to create your free ChatterHigh account. Visit ChatterHigh.com and click the “Create Account” button in the upper right corner of your screen.
To learn more about setting up an account and bringing career exploration into your classroom, check out our previous blog post “ChatterHigh 101: Get Started with Career Exploration in Your Classroom”. To compete in a competition, simply login to your account during the competition dates and answer quiz questions.
Daily Quiz Competitions
In a Daily Quiz competition, participants can answer a maximum of 10 questions a day and learn about post-secondary education, career exploration, financial literacy and more. ChatterHigh runs both school and student leaderboards.
To keep school competitions fair, ChatterHigh creates divisional leaderboards based on the school population. Participants earn 50 points for researching the answer and 50 points for answering correctly. A school’s ranking is determined by the combination of all the points the school community has earned divided by the school population. Want to know a trick to boost that average? Invite teachers, administrators, parents, and friends to participate in the competition. They won’t be included in the school population but their points will boost the school’s score! In some competitions, top schools will split a cash prize pot. Other times, schools may win a special prize, like gift cards, mentor sessions, a Cisco conferencing kit, Chromebooks, tools etc.
In a student competition, a student’s individual points or correct answers will determine their ranking. Some competitions, such as Let’s Talk Careers, allow students to win individual bursaries.
Module Competitions
Module competitions explore a range of topics such as mental health and well-being, career pathways, health and safety, and more. A module competition differs from a Daily Quiz competition in that participants have the duration of the competition period to answer as many questions as possible within the module(s) that the competition is based on. This allows participants to work at their own pace until the end of the competition. Leaderboard rankings and prizes for module competitions function the same way as in Daily Quiz competitions.
Finally, students can also redeem the points they’ve earned during a competition by entering a draw for a prize or by donating their points to charity. Redeeming their points doesn’t affect their standing on the leaderboard.
Hit the Leaderboard
Live school and student leaderboards show each participating school or student’s standing during the competition. As students research their answers through reputable resources and climb the leaderboard, they increase their awareness of relevant information, such as college and career pathways or financial literacy.
Now that you know what a leaderboard is and how easy it is to start competing in a competition, here are a few tips just for you to hit the leaderboard and increase your chances of winning prizes.
- Start early. Create an account way before the competition begins and familiarize yourself and your students with the platform. You'll feel more confident and be able to complete activities on the platform more easily.
- Get in touch with us. To see how ChatterHigh works, register for a demo with us or feel free to email us if you are having any trouble. You can create an account and start quizzing by following our step-by-step instructions. Bring parents, students, and colleagues on board with a competitive spirit by sharing the resources.
- Try the quiz yourself. Yes, teachers! You can also participate in the competition or answer the Daily Quiz and module questions. The activities you complete on ChatterHigh can help you have informed classroom discussions about career exploration. Each correct answer will contribute to your school's standing in the competition, plus you could win prizes!
Check out more tips to hit the leaderboard here and follow these suggestions to have fun while quizzing and winning prizes.
Success Stories
With all the information you've learned about competitions and their benefits, here are two competition winners giving us inspiration with their exceptional performances and use of their prizes.
Somin’s Success Story
In 2018, Somin Park was recognized as Canada's Most Informed Student and was the first participant to receive a scholarship from a post-secondary institution. In addition to receiving a ChatterHigh voucher worth $1,500, Somin accepted a $1,000 scholarship from the University of Ottawa.
Voicing their experience with Chatterhigh, Somin says:
Read more about Somin’s experience and interest here.
A selfless act by Hope Christian School in Alberta changed a family’s life
As a result of winning the Let's Talk Career Competition, Hope Christian School was able to make a positive impact in the life of one of its students and their family. Abi is a Pakistani refugee who attended Hope Christian School online. In spite of the time difference and uncertainties, Abi was working hard towards a high school diploma at the UN Refugee Camp in Nepal. The school prize money along with some of the student bursary funds that were earned in the competition was put towards supporting Abi and his family in their journey to Canada.
This is what Abi had to say:
“I am very thankful. I already feel that I have a lot of family and friends in Canada. I feel really excited to start my new life in Canada where we can help support ourselves and live in a safe environment and work towards making progress.”
Abi P
Check out this complete selfless act story of Hope Christine School and Abi here.
Conclusion
Competitions are an effective way to motivate students and engage them in learning. Besides developing skills and confidence, they also provide students with the opportunity to gain knowledge. Check out our upcoming and available competitions here or follow us on social media to stay up to date on competitions, leaderboard updates, and announcements.