What are the most effective uses of Gamification in Learning?

Ten years ago, classroom-based business simulations were novel and intriguing. Today, the world has changed. More and more companies now look online for training. Serious games and e-learning have become more mainstream and this is a trend that is becoming increasingly mobile. Keeping up-to-date with technology trends is essential for any business and for ProfitAbility, this is no different.

My role at ProfitAbility has been to create an online platform to digitise existing and creating new business simulations. So, when moving online, what changes? Why not do a straight translation?

The answer, in short, is the User Experience (UX). In the classroom, a large group of participants split into competitive teams and determined to outperform each other generates a huge buzz. Take that away, disperse the teams, and what are you left with? The simulation can still work the same, but the experience is very different. Suddenly you’re on your own - no friends to ask, no Facilitator to guide you or instruct you on what do next. Finding yourself in this situation is very daunting – off-putting even. So how do you maintain the participants’ interest and keep them motivated? How do you make the “actions to complete” obvious to the user and show their progression? The solution is to gamify!

Gamification can massively boost participant and client engagement!
The most effective uses of gamification in learning are:

• Illustrating progress
• Increasing engagement
• Creating challenges
• Instilling a sense of accomplishment

Gamification can make e-learning beautifully intuitive. For example, building in ‘levels’ is not just a great way of showing progress, it also allows you to start with the basics and get more complex as their understanding of the content develops.

By gamifying, you harness the power of what humans inherently love to do – play games.