Let me begin by asking you the golden question:

Why do you want to gamify you e-learning modules?

One of the prime reasons gamification is getting popular with e-learning at organizations is that the learners find it quite exciting compared to the usual e-learning modules which leads to higher engagement and probably higher retention, recall and application (whew!)

Now, let’s consider a situation wherein a gamified e-learning module needs to be repeated every year to the same audience (e.g. Compliance courses like AML or Workplace Safety). How can you make it interesting and engaging while the learners and content remain the same and your chances of getting additional budgets to upgrade it annually are almost nil?

The answer lies in how you design its lifecycle.

While the content remains same across iterations, the “game experience” needs to be designed with a focus on random events that change the user experience with every instance.
So, If a player goes through it once and repeats it again immediately, the theme should be exciting, experience different and the learning content-same!
Hence by designing it appropriately to this context, the gamified e-learning solution will have a longer life compared to an improperly designed solution, which may end up giving the same results and experience repeatedly- leading to boredom and resistance to learning.
To visualize this with an example, let’s revisit our good friend Jack from my preceding blog post

Click the URL below if you missed reading it

https://playxlpro.com/gamified-e-learning-what-next/

In this example, the theme jack chooses needs to connect best with the learning context i.e. “values” of the organization and the gameplay needs to be designed in a manner to reset to a random order every time a player begins. Lets explore few random themes to help Jack design his gamified learning solution.

1. If the theme is based on “treasure hunt”, the randomness can be brought in by giving the options to choose a team from a set of “avatars” who bring specific skills.

2. On the contrary if the theme is based on an action packed event- like a Formula one car race, the learner can roll a dice to get a spot on the starting line-up (he will not always get the pole position!).

3. Further more, if the theme is based on a city where the learner meets various people and takes actions, he can be given the option to click the places and people he wishes to visit as per his choice every time.

If you noticed,
In the first example the choice is based on predetermined knowledge and helps in taking a strategic approach.
The second example is based on pure probability
The third example has controlled randomness associated with it.

While it is clear that the element of lifecyle is important while designing a gamified e-learning solution, how does one choose a theme “appropriately”?

That – is a topic for a new series of posts altogether and I shall share my thoughts in the forthcoming posts soon.

Happy Reading!