Gamification In e-Learning And Education: A Detailed Guide

Updated on August 22, 2022

In recent years, Gamification has massively grown in popularity as an unbeatable tool for marketers in many industries. But what exactly does the term mean and how does it apply to e-Learning and education? In the following paragraphs, we’ll go through everything from definition and benefits to some real-world examples and tips on Gamification in e-Learning and Education environments.

Gamification is the process of introducing game-like elements to encourage participation and boost engagement in learning activities. It makes learning much more fun, immersive, and easy to understand.

Schools and businesses all over the world have adopted Gamification and one of the main reasons behind it is that students learn better when they are given a goal, a strategy, and specific targets to focus on.

There are many benefits to applying Gamification in a learning environment, and below, we’ve listed some of the most efficient ones:

• Students feel in control of the learning process
• A happier, more enjoyable learning environment
• Increased engagement, loyalty, and concentration levels among learners
• Less pressure in terms of going through the pain of experiencing failure, since students can try again and get better as they progress
• People are known to feel more confident and at ease in gaming environments, so they become more engaged with the process and become less afraid of making mistakes
• Learning becomes trackable thanks to progress indicators
• Learners may stumble on a newfound motivation for learning
• Learners can have fun by taking on different identities through customizable characters and avatars

The benefits of Gamification are undeniable and the industry can only go upward from here. However, it might not be the right solution for every problem. In some areas, where people are dealing with pressing and serious issues, such as law, for example, it may seem a little off to add gaming elements as it may distract from the problems at hand.

It is crucial to treat every business sector or topic as unique and set the main goals and learning objectives before you opt for Gamification as a solution.

The most efficient educational programs are created with specific users in mind, so if you’re not certain that Gamification is not the best solution for you, you may want to look for options.

Gamification in e-Learning doesn’t mean that all the elements of learning are turned into some sort of game. It’s more about taking the elements that make a game truly immersive and applying them to educational experiences. To do this with full efficiency, you first need to understand the importance of the following elements:

1. Narrative

At the core of every successful product, service, or learning experience lies a compelling story. Captivate your students/learners with a compelling story as they move through every section of the learning process. This is a fail-proof way to truly immerse people and keep them engaged at every stage of their journey. The experience can also be amplified and made much more enjoyable by adding characters and avatars to represent students or employees.

2. Visuals

Visually pleasing elements have the power to get people’s attention and make them feel much more engaged with their learning. And when it comes to eye candy, bright colors and graphics provide the most visually-pleasing learning experience.

3. Onboarding Missions

The onboarding process for employees often comes with tons of information about the company, which can be too much for newcomers to handle all at once. Instead of bombarding them with courses to complete and materials to read through, try including all the necessary information into fun onboarding missions for people to complete.

For example, in their first few days in the company, new people can be given a mission of completing an e-Learning course on company basics. On their second mission, they could be encouraged to get to know key company personnel. You can add an element of fun to the process by giving people little rewards for their accomplishments along the way.

4. Challenges

Give learners small challenges to complete and reward them for their effort, and then increase the difficulty level as their knowledge grows. In addition to helping them become more immersed in the process, this also increases their motivation to keep going and use their previously learned knowledge to solve complex obstacles.

5. Tournaments & Competitions

We all enjoy a friendly competition. By giving learners the option to compete against each other or as a team against others, you can massively increase their drive for learning. Also, introduce leaderboards/scoreboards so they can keep track of their achievements and do their best to earn a spot among the top performers.

6. Performance Prizes

Keeping your users engaged and motivated by using prizes such as badges, vouchers or unlockable levels can do wonders for their development.

7. Progress Discussion

Talking to your learners/students about their performance is an amazing way to keep their drive up as it allows them to track their progress as they advance through each level of the game.

Next, we’ll take a look at examples of Gamification in e-Learning and Education that present different ways to apply immersive gaming elements to boost the employee/student learning experience.

1. Duolingo

Duolingo is a language learning app and it is a great example of how to use Gamification in education. The app applies some powerful Gamification techniques to keep learners hooked and excited. These include levels, streaks, special badges, and scoreboards.

And while countless apps utilize some of these techniques, Duolingo uses all of them to keep users engaged. Their game is also very brightly lit, with vivid colors, which adds a special warming effect to the learning experience.

2. Google Read-Along App

Google’s Read-Along app is a perfect example of Gamification in education done right. It uses techniques such as point collection and badges to provide a more engaging reading experience for fresh learners who are in the first stages of their book-reading journeys. The app can be used in schools to help teach young kids and motivate them to grow their literacy skills.

3. Classcraft

Classcraft is a learning program that gamifies education to motivate learners. It allows users to create avatars with different abilities. One of the most instrumental aspects of the platform is collaboration. For best results, learners are invited to work as a team to reach their goals. Classcraft has its in-game currency, and prizes can be given to learners for positive behavior.

Users can also use points they’ve earned to unlock special items for avatar customization or to unlock virtual pets that can be trained. The platform is available for both home and classroom environments, which makes it accessible to more people.

4. Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a powerful learning platform used mainly by teachers in the classroom to provide a better learning experience through the use of gaming elements. It has a “ghost mode” through which students can immerse themselves in fun challenges to beat their scores, and it has scoreboards to keep track of all the action. Learners can also create different quizzes and games and share them with others who might want to play them online at their leisure.

5. Minecraft

Even though Minecraft is known simply as a video game, it has now also become a highly useful educational tool in the form of Minecraft Education Edition, which was created with students and teachers in mind. It allows learners and educators to work in sync, and it’s a great example of using gaming elements to make kids feel more comfortable with the materials presented.

Students can also unleash their creative spirit as well as make their first steps as young professionals. The Minecraft Education Edition is great for teaching kids how to code, and it even offers gamified learning for indigenous and traditional topics.

6. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an educational platform that offers free of charge online learning. It uses gamified solutions to help measure the students’ progress and achievements and allows them to unleash their competitive spirits through points, badges, scoreboards, and other exciting stuff.

7. Quizlet

Quizlet is one of the newest software that uses gaming elements to provide accessible and highly addictive quizzes for learning materials. Its users are reportedly learning much faster and with more immersive elements than those using the usual methods with flashcards, etc.

Gamification is an extremely potent solution to motivate and engage students of all ages. In our technologically advanced world, we can only expect to see a massive increase in game-like elements used in both the education and business sectors.

You’ve now learned the basics of Gamification in e-Learning and Education. We hope that this will be a good starting point for you to learn, grow, and eventually apply Gamification solutions to your own business or classroom.

Happy learning and best of luck!

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