In this article, we’ll be showing you how you can go about creating a winning e-learning gamification strategy in your organization.

What is eLearning gamification?

Certainly, many people believe that they understand fully what gamification is all about. However, that’s not always the case, as most of them always end up getting it wrong. It’s worth noting that the term doesn’t mean introducing an offline game format into e-learning courses.

According to Joe Strawn, the Director of Integrated Marketing at Industrial Strength Marketing, gamification is the process of understanding and integrating game mechanics and design techniques into anything, including your site, content, services, or community, to help boost participation and engagement.

Are there any benefits attached to using eLearning gamification?

Let’s face it! Yes. In fact, there are numerous benefits attached to using gamification as part of your organization’s training strategies. Firstly, gamification is an essential e-learning tool that helps to enhance learners’ engagement.

Also, it helps to bring more fun, creating room for better interactions between learners and the training courses. Furthermore, gamification also helps to boost retention ability, enabling learners to apply the knowledge acquired in the real world.

Want to create a winning eLearning gamification?

1- Identify the success criteria

One of the most important factors to consider while creating effective e-learning gamification is the success criteria. So, it’s essential that you identify the success criteria, with which you’ll measure the impact of the course on your learners.

But how do you do that? Ask yourself whether a 15% improvement in your bottom line is an indication of a successful program.

Apart from that, there are lots of other factors that you can consider, to be sure your e-learning course is performing to your expectations. Just ensure you go for what works best for you.

2- Focus more on your learning objective

When developing your gamified e-learning courses, it’s essential that you put your learning objectives in mind. It’s worth noting that delivering a game that doesn’t help learners to acquire the necessary skill and knowledge, is a pure waste of time and resources.

So, ensure you get the learning objectives right first, you can then build your game mechanics around them.

You can start by asking yourself what skills your learners need to acquire? Apart from that, you can also go ahead and ask yourself whether or not your learners have a particular skill-gap they want to fill?

3- Frame it up with a compelling story

A compelling story is one of the most essential parts of a winning gamified e-learning strategy. Since your learners have to be emotionally invested in the online training experience, then you need to put them on a quest, where they get to earn badges to progress.

So, frame up your gamified e-learning with a compelling story, that helps to offer your employees/learners an immersive experience. You can start with an e-learning storyboard, showing all the details of each scene. Then, go ahead and build your game mechanics around it.

4- Make the challenge neither too complex nor too simple

Another essential factor of a winning e-learning gamification strategy is the presentation of necessary challenges. So, ensure that you offer your employees with games that are neither too complex nor too simple.

If the gamified e-learning is too complex for novice learners or if it’s too simple for employees that are experts, achieving the learning objective will become impossible.

I’ll advise that you start with a simple challenge, then ramp it up gradually, until you achieve the learning goal.

5- Individual competition is key

With the element of competition in your gamified e-learning, your learners tend to get intrinsically motivated to perform well and achieve the available points.

One way to introduce competition is through leaderboards. They help learners to work on their weaknesses and also to display their achievements, motivating them to compete with their colleagues.

It’s worth noting that leaderboards don’t always work in most cases, especially when you have learners that are introverts. In this case, adding badges and certificates as a reward might be a better option to fuel personalized competition.

6- Encourage continuous learning

It’s essential that you look for ways to encourage your employees/learners to keep coming back and improving their scores. By so doing, they get to regularly improve their competence and acquire the right skills. You can do that by regularly introducing new challenges and rewards.

Apart from that, you can also encourage continuous learning by constantly resetting your leaderboards. Just make sure you give your learners concrete reasons to keep coming back for more.