When it comes to motivating employees and students, two common denominators guarantee it—reward and recognition. A digital learning technique has taken advantage of these motivators and integrated them in an approach called gamification. Gamification has created immersive learning experiences that led to enhanced learner retention and high-level results.
Because gamification is such a flexible eLearning concept, there are many methods in which it can be applied to different industries.
#1 Game-based Learning
In contrast to gamification where elements of a game are incorporated in conventional learning activities, the entire learning path for game-based learning is designed and completely transformed into a game. For example, gamification may use point systems, badges, and leaderboards to sustain motivation in a learning environment whereas, in game-based learning, students may compete in a virtual stock-trading contest for an Economics course or role-play in mock negotiations over a labour dispute for a Political Science course.
#2 Gamified Learning Path
The gamified learning path approach shares similar goals to game-based learning and that is to enhance learner engagement and retention through the use of game elements in learning activities. What sets them apart is that this approach specifically designs the learning path to have challenges that aggregate to the learners gaining proficiency at different levels. This is applied in the learning context through badges, leaderboards, and scores.
#3 Microlearning-based Gamification
Microlearning-based gamification is the ideal technique to use to successfully address concerns of dwindling attention spans in a learning environment. Instead of explaining an entire course for three hours straight, microlearning-based gamification feeds the eLearning content to the learners in “bite sizes”. You can design short games or quests with specific learning outcomes for each one to sustain the learners’ focus and interest during the lesson.
#4 Personalised Gamification
Personalised gamification is a highly learner-centric eLearning approach that makes learning sessions more relevant to the learners as it customises digital learning to meet a specific learner’s goals. Because of this, personalised gamification techniques can achieve higher learner engagement with added benefits such as a personalised learning path, personalised learner performance indicators, and real-time personalised feedback based on learner behavior.
#5 Partial Gamification
Contrary to a complete gamification approach where the entire eLearning experience is infused with multiple gamification mechanics throughout the whole learning path, partial gamification incorporates game elements into specific sections of a learning experience such as the introduction, review, or application of a topic. This is ideal for organisations and clients who don’t want to recreate their entire learning content and just want to add game elements to “break the ice” during a lesson.
Partial gamification can be done by dividing the course into sections or modules where one of them can be presented in a game-based activity while the rest of the content will be discussed in traditional or formal eLearning formats.
In conclusion, eLearning is appealing to students because of its flexibility, comfort, personalised learning, and growth opportunities. However, the development process can be complex, time-consuming and resource-intensive, but the effort is definitely worth the results it will bring.
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