Engagement Games: Understanding and Applying Gamification to eLearning

Gamification is one of the most misunderstood AND most important concepts when it comes to building eLearning experiences that engage and inspire participation.

Most people think gamification means turning your course into a game, giving out badges, points and other meaningless artifacts.

That’s not the kind of gamificaction we’re talking about though.

Join us in episode 10 where we talk about real gamification and how to apply it to your course lessons (with or without badges).


Show Notes:

“A course without engagement is not a course at all.” – Dr. Delight (The Great eCourse Adventure)

Here are a few of the concepts we dive into on the show…

1. You are an experience designer. 

Your job is NOT to just feed the student a bunch of information and say, “Now go do that.” You are here to facilitate a transformation and so you must be methodical with your approach. You must be creative with your delivery. You must create mini experiences that help your students learn and apply the lessons so that they may transform and learn.

2. Movies vs Games Analogy.

When we watch a movie, we are simply just an observer, taking in the experience. We can not effect what happens on the screen, all we can do is go along for the ride. When we’re playing a game, we are the main character, we are in control of what happens within the gaming world. What would change in your presentation and delivery if you were to make your students the main character in their eLearning journey with you? (hint: they’d go from passive observers to participants)

3. Alternate Reality Games are Awesome. 

You need to get your student out of their reality bubble and into a new one. Send them off on quests outside of their home. Get them doing real exercises in real life and then make them come back and share their story with the community. The more actions you can take them outside of pressing play and downloading a PDF, the more engaged they will become. (we offer examples in the show on how to do this)

4. Turn your lessons into challenges.

Rather than the predictable, “learn this, download this, do this” routine that we’re all used to. Give your students specific challenges with timelines and instructions. With challenges, you have no boundaries for the kinds of adventures you can send your students on. I encourage you to come up with at least 5 challenges immediately.

5. Encourage sharing.

Rather than walking a solo journey, bring your students together. Encourage them to share their stories, artwork, selfies and videos to document their transformational process, ask questions, receive support and to get the motivation they need to finish what they started. Make your community a centre point in your student’s journey (listen to episode 4 on community building).

We’d love to hear your top takeaways from this episode on Gamification. Also, if you have a topic you’re curious about and would love us to jam on, make a suggestion. We’re all ears!

Leave a Comment: