Gamification means integrating game-like features such as storytelling, rewards, points, badges, leader board, etc. into the training. It makes the learning and development interventions more interesting and enticing irrespective of the medium through which the training might have happened.
It is quite interesting to see the way the academic world has imbibed gamified learning. A lot of educational institutions have moved to blended learning techniques where classroom sessions are followed by online gamified learning interactions. The content has been very interestingly designed to test the learner’s knowledge, comprehension, analysis and evaluation level.
It not only tells the learner what the are learning but also how they are learning.
The question is how can these be used in adult learning pr more specifically corporate training.
In our experience of designing content for corporate training we have been able to identify these benefits gamified content can offer to professionals
-
Engagement
Gamified learning is a great to way to engage with not just active learners but passive learners too. Gamified content connects with the learners faster. It also provides a great opportunity to maintain that connect even after the training or a learning session is over. Gamified content enables a learner to step out of a normal work environment and visualize things from a different perspective before deriving their learning and implementing that in their current work environment. This triggers a learner’s ability to think and analyze a scenario which may be otherwise difficult under a lot of pressure. This is what keeps the learner interested in gamified courses.
-
Knowledge retention
Gamified as exhaustive it may be, it is designed in such a way that it doesn’t overwhelm the learner.
Gamified learning can be used not just during the training but even before and after a training session.
It can be used to enhance the interest and curiosity of a learner towards a learning journey that they might be taking. It can also be used to reinforce the learning curriculum from time to time thus resulting in better knowledge retention and higher probability of implementation that impacts overall performance at workplace
-
Higher productivity
With high learner retention, stronger engagement integrated with fun, learners feel more values. When learners feel more valued, they see value in learning and implementing. When implementation of a learning comes from conviction there is higher accountability and commitment towards the results.
Excuses like training hours take away from productive hours would be very rare. The tables are bound to turn to – this training has helped me do my work faster.
-
Learning enjoyable
Gamified content is undeniably fun to go through. This is one of the unique features of gamified learning. It is this feature that perhaps appeals to the learners the most. Often training sessions related to complex or complicated topics can be intense and monotonous. Gamified content in the form of simulation can break this monotony and offer some respite to the learners without taking away the essence or purpose of learning
-
Create appetite for learning more
It is all a ripple effect. If learners are more engaged, they are able to retain more information and are able to see the relevance of a learning curriculum in their day to day work they are bound to come back for more.
With gamified learning you can create different levels of learning and this can be very rewarding for the learners.
Incremental learning is a very efficient way to expedite the learning process. It is also very effective if the topic is very lengthy or exhaustive for the learners With the appetite of the learners going high you don’t have to worry of the learning hours and learning effectiveness any way. Just be ready to be more creative with your learning content because the expectations of your learners are going to increase over a period of time
-
Create a safe environment for learning
Gamified content as fun as it may seem, it never compromises with the purpose of the learning in first place. The purpose of any organization learning curriculum is development leading to better performance.
High standards of performance come from practice, comes from awareness of different situations, it comes from being prepared and gamified content provides jus about that environment for any learner. Learners make mistakes but they also get a chance to redeem it or learn to navigate through their mistakes depending on the way the content has been designed.
Them fact is that gamified content helps you develop a growth mindset. It makes a learner more agile.
-
Building a great learning culture
Every learning content, gamified or not has a purpose and somewhere the purpose is connected with the learners. Everything we do is for the learners. Doesn’t matter how cool the content may be, if it does not resonate with the learners, the need for such content will come down over a period of time and this will overall impact the value of the learning and development in your organization.
Therefore, content needs to be purposeful for the organization as well as for the learners. Your employees may be active learners but if you do not complement their learning needs with quality content you may fail to establish an environment where learners thrive. It is important to nurture the need, interest and expectations of the learners with respect to their performance and development.
Gamified content is a tried and tested approach in keeping learning objectives and performance goal constantly aligned.
You may have just started to establish a learning and development culture in your organization or you may already have a very advanced learning and development culture – if you are able to identify the right opportunities to use gamified learning, you will be able to nurture active learning skills among your employees.
Companies providing gamified eLearning solutions can guide you to leverage the most out of any training intervention.
Gamified eLearning solutions are available in may format and each of them have a different purpose. You can talk to your existing learning content partner incase they provide such services or you can talk to us and we will be happy to share our approach to gamified eLearning solution and their impact on employee performance.
