Spice Up Corporate Training with Elearning Gamification

Designing Digitally

02/12/2018

Spice Up Corporate TraningwithElearningGamification

For many years, corporations have tried to train employees with methods that were less than exciting and engaging. For their part, the workforce, in general, has viewed training as something they must get through, like it or not.  

Recent years have shown that there is a way to engage employees and motivate them to actually be active participants in their own learning. Elearning gamification has effectively transformed mundane corporate education into activities that are interesting and even fun.

Giving new life

Elearning gamification is the key to making learning enjoyable, but enjoyment isn’t enough on its own. To really breathe new life into traditional methods, the content has to be relevant and practical for the job that the workers are doing.

Here are some ways to encourage deeper understanding with gamification:

  • Divide the content into smaller units. Breaking the learning up into smaller parts accomplishes a couple things. It makes the entirety of the content less daunting and it more easily allows for gamification. Once the information has been divided up, rewards like badges can be attached to each section. As learners finish each part they earn a new badge.
  • Level it! Turn those smaller units that were formed into levels that can only be reached when a certain number of badges have been earned. Learners shouldn’t have any access to the content until they earn it by completing previous levels.
  • Publicize scores. Being able to have a visual that shows an employee how they are progressing can motivate them to keep working and encourage them to try to better their scores.
  • “Share” rewards. Give employees who do well a little boost by publishing their achievements on the company’s social media sites and inter-office communications. Everybody likes recognition for a job well done.
  • Use deadlines. Set time parameters for completing levels. Workers who miss deadlines may lose their ranking or status on leaderboards. Employees are learning to work within time limits, but they’re doing so in a fun way!
  • Encourage cooperation. Design some of the activities to be accomplished in groups. Working as a team will always be beneficial to a business.
  • Add in surprises. Every once in awhile, reward learners with a prize of some sort when they complete a certain level or unit. This adds some excitement to the process and also gives the learners something to look forward to.
  • Capitalize on avoidance. While it may seem harsh, taking badges or achievements away from those who don’t meet goals can teach a valuable lesson. It also lends more meaning to the rewards.
  • Use narrative. Sometimes adding characters and a story to elearning gamification can give the activity the spark it needs to be truly captivating to the user.
  • Promote healthy competition. Most people thrive to some degree on their innate competitive nature. Competing against peers can kick-up the level of motivation for many.

Incorporating these components into a corporate training program can really change the way employees engage and the way they do their jobs. Contact the Designing Digitally team to get started on the next training project for your company!