Another element of infrastructure that needs to change in order to upend the dominant system of letter grades and percentage-grading is gradebooks themselves. The most common form of technology in schools today is the learning management system (LMS). These platforms—such as Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle—support functions like distributing class materials, collecting and grading student assignments, and supporting classroom communication. LMSs are both ubiquitous and nearly invisible in schools; they are infrastructure. And LMSs typically have a narrow view of what grades and grading look like. It’s difficult to find an LMS gradebook that doesn’t start with the assumption that 100% is “perfect,” thus making the objective for students to maintain grades that—on average—are as close to 100% as possible. Gradebooks are hopelessly averagarian. In response, students game the system within or across their courses to maintain or maximize their average.

Beyond gameful learning, I argue that the entire college experience can be reshaped to better engage students as learners and to develop into the kinds of resilient problem-solvers the world needs now and in the future. The program I imagine would be inherently multidisciplinary, focused on problems instead of fields of study.