Since 2009, the Pullias Center for Higher Education has explored the potential of digital tools to engage students in learning about how to apply to and succeed in college. The Digital Tools team has collaborated with game designers, middle and high school students, and college access and success practitioners to design a series of analog and digital games, digital badges and gamification techniques in order to curate helpful information for students interested in college and incentivize students to take actions conducive to navigating postsecondary education. The team also worked with schools and postsecondary institutions to implement games and assess the real-life impact these tools have on students’ lives, including equity issues related to digital access and literacy. 

Funders include the U.S. Department of Education, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USC’s Office of the Provost, TG, ECMC Foundation, and the Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Foundation.

The project team included Zoë Corwin, Carlos Galán, Suneal Kolluri, Michael Lanford, Tattiya Maruco, Amanda Ochsner, Christine Rocha, Maria Romero-Morales, Antar Tichavakunda and William G. Tierney. With research affiliates Stephen Aguilar, Sean Bouchard, Robert Danielson, Tracy Fullerton, Gigi Ragusa, Elizabeth Swensen, Gale Sinatra and Dan Thalkar.