We've briefly discussed personalized learning and gamification in previous articles, explaining the value it provides students in the eLearning space. Adding to a general growth mindset and encouraging self-learning is just the beginning.
In this article, we want to dive deeper into a behind-the-scenes look at gamification. We'll take a closer look at the benefits, pitfalls, and science behind gaming for learning purposes.
Benefits of Gamification
For starters, let's check out some of the significant benefits of incorporating gamification into your eLearning space.
Motivation is Increased
It's natural for anyone that enters a game to want to get to the end and complete it. Therefore, in gamified learning, students want to progress through it on their own as their motivation is heightened in this type of learning environment.
To help boost motivation even further, your gamified learning experience can give learners badges at different checkpoints throughout the course. Whether it's a digital sticker or something of value that can be collected for something else at the end, it will help promote course completion.
Friendly Competition is Sparked
Similar to how it’s a natural motion for students to want to finish a game, they will also get involved in friendly competition. Thankfully, this is healthy and helps to drive learners to learn and retain the information presented to them.
While leaderboards are an excellent way to promote friendly competition, it's always worth trying it out first. Some learners might be off-put by these, but there are other methods you can try. Unlockable objects and achievement certificates are great options in environments where a leaderboard might not be appropriate.
Feedback is Provided Instantaneously
Learners can immediately correct errors and learn from them as gamification enables instant feedback. Students can monitor their progress throughout a game when feedback is tied to the course's learning objectives.
Students want to complete games successfully as they are motivated via instant feedback. Aside from monitoring progress, other ideas such as leaderboards can help provide students avenues for feedback. Additionally, a leaderboard can help to promote friendly competition amongst other learners.
Engagement is Maximized
Gamification encourages friendly competition among learners. After completing a game's series of tasks and challenges, learners feel a sense of pride. Retention increases when learners feel emotionally connected to the content.
Engagement is maximized in learners who want to know what comes next in the course. Ultimately, games help to enhance the learning objectives as learners want to achieve the next task. After all, who doesn't like playing a game?
You can turn dull learning content into a fully immersive experience through gamification.
Pitfalls of Gamification
Of course, to understand if gamification is right for your course, it's equally important to look at the pitfalls as well.
Quizzes Still Feel Like Quizzes
No one enjoys taking quizzes. Unfortunately, in education, they are a quintessential aspect of learning, even in eLearning. While games are meant to be fun, gamification can integrate quizzes that don't feel like quizzes.
It's important to remember that, just like any other eLearning course, assessments in gamification also need to link back to the original learning objectives. Beyond that, they must be fun and interactive, requiring creativity and time. Without thoughtful consideration, quizzes will still feel just like traditional quizzes, even gamified versions.
High Costs to Develop
One of the biggest pitfalls to gamification is the cost associated with developing it. In comparing games to traditional instructional design, the former takes much longer to develop. As everyone knows, time is money, which means that gamification will ultimately cost more.
All of the different aspects that make the gamified courses come to life, including sound effects, music, video, stock photos, graphics, and animations, all come at a cost. These additional resources are invaluable in terms of enhancing gameplay but can make it easy to go well over budget.
Science Behind Gamification
When it comes to the science behind gamification, it's essential to look to the laws of learning. Here are just a few examples of these laws that are used in gamification today.
The Law Of Intensity
Short-term memory is often overloaded quickly, making the ability to focus and retain information somewhat limited. Although gamification is engaging and exciting, there is a delicate balance between retention and overloading learners.
Core loop and narrative development use pacing techniques to avoid cognitive overload in gamified courses. This approach allows learners to work through courses at their own pace, presenting information in bite-sized pieces.
The Law Of Reinforcement
In games, we want to reinforce actions and messages that align with the course objectives. In games, whether actions or messages, they are repeated to portray significance and enhance retention.
Understanding that performing an action once is not enough to build habits, courses should seek to repeat actions, or core loops, to help reinforce these behaviors.
The Law Of Effect
Every aspect of the game should be emotive in one way or another, from the control method to the graphics, goals, characters, and design. The goal is for learners to feel anything, positive or negative, about the world and its characters.
The Law Of Autonomy: Choice, Ownership, Empathy
One of the primary aspects of gamification that sets it in a league of its own is choice. Learners are at the epicenter of the experience, making their own decisions each step of the way. Developers need to understand that the learners' choices must come with their own consequences and implications.
Naturally, learners become more engaged when they are actively making choices. These choices build empathy, sparking emotion which undeniably builds retention over time.
Final Thoughts
When taking a behind-the-scenes look at gamification, you're ultimately trying to decide if it is the right option for your course. What's important to remember is to weigh the cost-benefit analysis when it comes to the gamification of your course. While you may face higher costs upfront, what is the tangible value in higher retention and engagement in learners?