Elements of Gamified Design

A points-based system can be a powerful motivator for learners – provided it has significance beyond the training. As employees complete training modules, quizzes, or real-world tasks, they earn points they can redeem for tangible rewards such as gift cards or even opportunities for professional development. If that is not possible in your context or budget, you can tie points into a leaderboard mechanism as an alternative way to recognize learners’ achievement.

By displaying top performers or teams, a sense of friendly rivalry can be brought into the learning environment. In team-play especially this can motivate employees to improve their skills. But leaderboards should be designed in such a way that employees who do not score well do not feel excluded. Try making tiered leaderboards that classify performance and club together similarly placed employees/learners.

Learners get a clear sense of advancement from visual representations of progress, such as bars or levels. This strategy works well because it breaks down large learning objectives into smaller, more manageable goals. But remember to include positive feedback related to the learner’s progress in the course content itself, because even when we know feedback is canned or autogenerated by a computer, it motivates us to continue –to click Next rather than Exit.

Scenario-based learning and storytelling are interlinked. By creating a simulated environment that replicates real-world challenges that employees may have to face, designers can create immersive learning experiences. Courses with branching scenarios, where learners’ choices impact the story’s outcome, reinforce decision-making skills.

Awarding digital badges for completing specific tasks or reaching the next level in a course is a popular gamification technique.. Ensure employees can display these virtual accolades on internal profiles or even professional networks like LinkedIn, adding a social aspect to the learning process. The perceived value of badges can be increased by aligning them with industry-recognized skills.

Social learning allows learners to share knowledge, discuss topics, and work together on challenges. It can enhance learner engagement and promote a culture of continuous learning. Pitched as a “quest,” team-based challenges or hackathons that require collaboration to solve complex problems are a wonderful way to build camaraderie – and may lead to answers for customer challenges.

Time-sensitive challenges or quests that require learners to find answers to problems within a fixed time can add a sense of excitement and urgency to the learning process. Be wary here, though: learners with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, dexterity impairments, and cognitive limitations may need more time to interact with your content and be stressed rather than motivated by a countdown clock.

Here are two examples of leading companies, which have successfully implemented gamification into their learning solutions.

Deloitte, one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, implemented gamification in its online leadership training program Deloitte Leadership Academy. It introduced elements such as badges, leaderboards, and status symbols to increase engagement.
Results:

Based on an experimental study, Brull, Finlayson, Kostelec, Macdonald, and Krenzischeck (2017) argue that learners use and retain more knowledge when they are trained in a gamified learning experience rather than in a training experience that only focuses on appropriate didactics or on online learning groups without gamified elements. We cited the example of McDonald’s Till Training Game in the previous paragraph, two significant outcomes of the game-based training were:

• A reduction of 7.9 s for each till-service.
• In the UK the average check increased by 15 p.
• Overall revenue increased by GBP 23 million.

Gamification of learning, which was restricted to software and learning tech has now found widespread acceptance in other industries like retail, manufacturing, healthcare, automobile engineering, etc. One key statistic that augurs well for the growth of gamified learning is that 55% of Americans would love to work for a company that uses gamification to increase productivity (Saatchi & Saatchi, 2011).