Did you try to actually edit the html of your itch page? As far as I know, you can just showcase them with regular html. Put a picture, link, blurb and so on. There is a button to switch the profile to html. And if needed you could ask for css permission.
Switching from collection to being contributor and have games listed this way would only net you the one liner short desription that is still not editable by you for the page to be a blurb. It is just the regular short description. And is even cut off depending on screen size of the player. It is literally one line, two at the most and as wide as the game cover.
Oh, and you should encourage your students to crosslink to your profile. None on your collection do that. And only one mentions that it was a student project. It might be like being taken to school by your mum and being seen by your friends while she wipes the dirt out of your face ;-)