Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay
Author:@aestranger
Reading time: 9 minutes
The world has been shunted forward and has had to embrace all things online in a very short amount of time. This advent has allowed for online learning to come to the forefront and for a lot of traditional educational institutions and models to be revisited and re-examined as to their viability in this new world order.
Currently, a lot of eLearning still follows the old methods of traditional learning. There’s too much rote repetition in what learners are doing. The process follows them learning theory, in a somewhat passive mono-directional fashion, and they are tested. If they fail they start from the beginning again and if they succeed they get to start from the beginning again but at a different level and/or with a different topic. And then the system goes into a ‘rinse & repeat’ mode: theory, test, theory, test, and so on.
eLearning especially requires much more interaction and engagement. Face-to-face learning has the benefit of the tutor to be there with the learner and to engage them on an interpersonal level. But this isn’t possible with eLearning, at least not always if the experience isn’t live. Therefore something more needs to be to eLearning to achieve the same levels of engagement.
Gameful Design and the gamification of eLearning, through the use of LMS’s and the like, should, therefore, be the highest priority for anyone wishing to provide any kind of education; traditional, corporate or otherwise. Not utilising this tool diminishes the value of the experience you provide and lowers the value that your learners will receive from the experience.
In this piece, I’d thus like to go through some quick introductory level concepts around how gamification can be used to improve eLearning and learning in general.
For those interested the TL;DR is:
For those unfamiliar with what gamification is and the gameful design process, I thought it would be useful to quickly name and cover some of the main definitions around gamification. All the definitions given are from experts in the field and each covers an aspect of what gamification is and can be used for.
Looking at each of these definitions we can start to see that the aim of gamification in eLearning and when implementing it in an LMS is to make the experience firstly ‘learner-centred’. This is so that secondly it engages the learner through the use of specific game mechanics and elements. And thirdly that it allows the learner to solve a real-life problem that thereby improves their learning.
Implementing gamification into a learning process isn’t such a daunting task. Learning already inherently has a base gamified aspect to it. Learners gain knowledge and experience, go through challenges and at the end must test all this knowledge to get to the next year. Just like in a game where players practices skills and abilities to progress further and gain levels.
All that gamification is doing is building upon this and altering some characteristics so that they are more game-like in their experience and leverage the possibilities of gamification:
So what aspects does a gamified experience need for it to be engaging? I’ve named six below, but there are a few more and they are not always things that you can add like a mechanic. It requires time and effort to ensure that they are properly placed in the learning experience.
As a penultimate piece, I’d like to give you a few pointers and steps on what you should do and keep an eye out for if or when you wish to gamify your eLearning experience for your learners. If you wish to learn more, there are a wide range of books available on the topic, many that go in-depth into an implementation methodology.
First all, ensure that the learning experience has a holistic learning journey and narrative. This is the most important aspect, as the gamification of the learning will be that much more effective if all parts are interconnected and feed into each other. Having aspects of the learning that have no meaning beyond doing them for the purpose of doing them will break the experience. Having a strong story that binds everything into a cohesive concept is what will be the defining engagement for many learners.
Second, have a strong long-term objective for your learners. Many learners will naturally come in with an idea of what they want to learn, but be transparent about what they will walk away with at the end of the experience. Make it clear to them, and if possible allow them to have input on what the end goal is and how they can achieve it. In other words, engage them in the journey.
Thirdly, know what the win and fail conditions are for your learners within the experience. Let them know how they can achieve the win or fail to achieve it and have clear and comprehensive rules and limitations around these conditions. Learners will only truly be creative in their problem solving if they know where the boundaries are and what will cause them to fail and/or win.
Next, the game mechanics and elements you will use within your experience will be informed by the rules and end states that you have determined. There are hundreds of elements and mechanics to choose from, but when choosing them, make sure that there is a clear purpose for them and that they are not there without rhyme or reason. For example, the mainstay of many a gamified experience; PBL’s. These are fine as long as the learner gains value from them and their purpose is tied to the activity that the learner engaged in.
And finally, metrics and measuring. You need to be able to measure the engagement, success and fails of your learner to improve the experience. Make sure you have some kind of measuring system in place, this will also allow you to where the pain points are for your learners. On top of this, it will help you in continuing a long-term strategy for the learning experience that you have made.
Gamification can be a very powerful tool to increase engagement, but be aware to not fall into a few of the following traps.
Everything is this piece is geared to the idea of online learning, but all of these concepts can be used for in-person learning as well. The methodology and processes for creating gamified experiences do not change from online to offline. Simply the tools that you use to facilitate the gamified experience does. In the end, all you are ensuring is that your learners walk away having learned something of value that helps improve their lives, either professionally or for purely personal satisfaction.
I hope that this piece has given you some food for thought and helped improve your own methods or at least offered a different viewpoint to consider.
Do check out the other posts on æStranger.com, and do leave a comment or contact us if you have some ideas of your own that you wish to discuss or if you would like to see other topics discussed.
Please do Share if you found it helpful and if you know of someone who would it find it helpful as well.
About
æStranger officially started in 2018, but has been around in some form for a few years. It is a platform to promote a mission to engage people through adventure and storytelling, to better learn and understand from each other.
For more information please go to our About page.
Copyright 2022 © All Rights Reserved – æStranger
Before you go and grab your copy of Press Start, would you like your free White Paper on how to better engage your audience and other bonuses?
Before you go and grab your copy of Press Start, would you like your free White Paper on how to better engage your audience and other bonuses?