How gamification in online training enhances your learning experience

The online learning industry is progressing leaps and bounds since the addition of new-age features like microlearning, AI, AR/VR, personalised learning, mobile-based learning, and user-generated content. Gamification is another popular feature used by learning and development teams to make the courses interesting and engaging. The term defines the inclusion of game-like features in online training and educational programs. Organisations use different gamification techniques to fulfil specific goals and create an immersive learning environment for the learners.

As an online learner, completing online training might be difficult for you at times due to uninteresting subject matter, lack of engagement and motivation, time-management issues, monotonous teaching format, or issues understanding the instructor.

However, training including gamification elements keep you hooked, build motivation, build competitiveness among peers, boost memory, encourage you to perform better, spend more time on learning, and meet deadlines. Some of such gamification elements include —

1. Incentives: encourage you to continue learning -

Online training usually features non-monetary incentives that are delivered to you based on your learning activity. Completion of every module, quiz, test, assignment, or projects, in a given time period, adds to your incentives. Once you achieve a milestone, say you complete your first training module at the fastest pace among other students in your batch, college, or city, your incentive is your rank highlighting at the top.

You also get the option of sharing your rank in your professional network or on your social media handles. This helps boost your visibility and recognition, among employers and fellow learners, as a professional who is determined, constantly learning, and developing her skill-sets.

While learning, you probably might not notice the existence of such incentives that encourage you at every step to learn a little more. Incentives help you cope with the monotony of learning or leaving the training midway. It ensures that you complete the training and make the best use of the resources that you have spent on enrolling in the training.

2. Reward points: help build a peer network and ensure healthy competition -

The essence of learning with peers is at times lost during online training. Gamification elements such as reward points for referring your friends and extra points at each step, help build a strong peer network and initiate discussions and conversations.

While you and your referred friend both learn and grow together and get reward points for unlocking modules, watching the training videos in sequence, or submitting assignments, you might also get the chance to redeem your reward points. Let’s say, after completion of training, if you have earned 150 reward points, the points could be converted to a cash value (like 2 points= 1) and you could either get a discount or your next training or an instant cashback.

There are times when you might just skip a topic considering it unimportant to complete the training faster. However, reward points ensure that you attend every video tutorial to achieve your aim of learning a new skill. Reward points also help in building a great peer network where you communicate, learn from each other, develop a deep understanding of the subject, build judgement and critiquing ability, develop critical thinking, compete and cooperate, and attain ownership and responsibility.

3. Leaderboard and badges: keep you on track and motivate you to put maximum efforts -

Amidst your busy schedule, there is a possibility that you might skip learning for a few days or weeks which will hinder your progress. To complete online training, it is important to take complete ownership as there is no one to regulate or instruct you. Leaderboards and badges give you direct insight into your learning habits.

To climb up on the leaderboard, you get a personalised schedule, study plan, target, or notification, that alerts you to increase or maintain your learning pace. In addition to this, with every achievement such as completing a quiz on the first attempt, being the first to submit the assignments in your batch, and sharing your leaderboard rank, you also get badges. You can receive basic badges, achievement badges, or award badges based on your activity.

While leaderboards allow you to track the rank of your peers and work hard accordingly to rank among the top 5, badges add up titles to your ranking where you could either be called a ‘warrior, power-packed performer, login master, or quiz king’ and so on. These gamification elements help you learn at a constant pace every day instead of lagging behind in the earlier weeks and completing the training in haste later. You put more efforts every day while learning and give your best to perform better and rank higher than your peers.

Courtesy: Internshala Trainings, an online training platform.

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