Tag Archives: Gamification

Corporate Learning Best Practices, e-Learning, Employee-Training, Game-based learning, Gamification, Micro-learning, Mobile Learning, QuoDeck

7 Gamification Techniques For Corporate Training That Work

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While gamification has been in use for corporate training for several years, there is still a lingering doubt on its impact. In this article, I share 7 gamification techniques for corporate training that work!

What Gamification Techniques For Corporate Training Still Work?

Gamification techniques use elements and principles of gaming to create an engaging learning experience. Some of the associated gains are:

  • Higher learner motivation (to participate and complete).
  • Higher engagement levels.

Gamification techniques can be effectively used to:

  • Have fun and learn.
  • Apply their learning on the job (by providing them practice zones featuring scenarios, similar to what they will handle in real life. Here, the learners can practice and hone their skills in a safe environment).
  • A longer-term implementation of gamification techniques can influence behavioral change.

So, How Can You Make Gamification Techniques Work In Corporate Training?

Let’s take a step back and identify what the expected gains are from any learning strategy.

Your list is likely to read that it should be:

  1. Motivating
  2. Engaging
  3. Relevant and relatable (preferably personalized)
  4. Challenging
  5. Rewarding

It must:

  1. Create sticky learning
  2. Facilitate the application of learning
  3. Provide room for practice and proficiency gain
  4. Provide reinforcement to ensure the “forgetting curve” does not step in
  5. Trigger behavioral change

How You Can Use Gamification Techniques For Corporate Training To Influence Each Aspect

  1. Step 1
    Identify barriers (intrinsic or extrinsic) that might be hindering the required changes and thereby improve the learners’ motivation levels.
  2. Step 2
    Generate interest in learning by providing relevant and personalized learning paths.
  3. Step 3
    Create effective learning experience using scenarios, simulations, and challenges.
  4. Step 4
    Provide feedback for performance improvement that can help learners pause and think or recalibrate their way forward.
  5. Step 5
    Use rewards and recognition to sustain the learners’ momentum and motivation, and ensure that learners walk away with a sense of accomplishment.
  6. Step 6
    Implement repetition and reiteration for successful change in behavior.

What Is the Impact You Will See If You Apply the Right Gamification Technique For Corporate Training?

Through the right gamification technique, you can:

  1. Create a sticky learning experience
  2. Provide reinforcement (to offset the “forgetting curve”)
  3. Ensure the successful application of learning on the job
  4. Influence or trigger the desired behavioral change

How Can This Value Be Delivered?

At EI Design, our gamification practice is nearly 5 years old. During these years, we have created successful corporate trainings that have leveraged on gamification techniques at several levels, including:

  1. Partial gamification (to enhance traditional eLearning courses)
  2. Gamified aids to support ILT
  3. Gamified learning path
  4. Game-based learning
  5. Gamified portals

Our Next Gen gamification techniques build up from the success of the current approaches. For instance,

  • Instead of just having simple badges and leaderboards for each challenge, you can put the learner through a more complex narrative that can truly challenge him or her. The narrative is selected based on the content type, learner profile, and is aligned to the learning goals.
  • Personalization holds the key to the learner’s attention, engagement, and motivation. You can use mobile apps for learning to offer a personalized learning path that is aligned to the learner’s goals. Thereby, it is relevant and more engaging.
  • You can use a combination of learning strategies to gain higher impact. For instance, the usage of immersive techniques like a Virtual Reality (VR)-driven learning path that is gamified will surely multiply the impact and help you meet the learning goals.

7 Next Gen Gamification Techniques For Corporate Training

You can opt for the following 7 Next Gen gamification techniques for corporate training and achieve your mandates successfully:

1. Longer-Term Gamification

Behavioral change requires the use of gamification over a long period of time. You can use this longer-term learning path to have milestones over successive weeks/months/quarters.

2. Periodic Checkpointing Of Learners’ Progress

Alongside, plan for a periodic assessment of learners’ progress (against the required outcomes) that can range from learning acquisition, its application, or a behavioral change.

3. Multiply The Impact

To make the learning journey more engaging, you can add immersive approaches like Virtual Reality or wearable tech in your fold.

4. Leverage On Microlearning-Based Gamification

Give the learners a “bite-sized” gamification experience.

5. Personalized Gamification

Offer personalized learning and gaming paths for learners.

6. Social Media-Based Gamification

Let the learners collaborate with peers or experts and address challenges or solve problems, much the same way they need to in real life.

7. Invest On Niche Gamification Portals

These can be designed to offer customized learning paths and elements of gamification, microlearning, and social learning.

This Seems To Be Too Good To Be True; Is There A Catch?

Over the years, I have seen several views (or misconceptions) associated with gamification techniques for corporate training.

I share 5 myths and contrast them with facts to highlight how you can make gamification techniques effectively work for corporate training.

Myths And Facts #1

  • Myth
    Gamification in eLearning doesn’t really help learners learn.
  • Fact
    Gamification is not just about having fun. Much like traditional eLearning, it can be used to meet specific learning outcomes.

As I have highlighted, you can map the learning goals to a gamified approach to gain better engagement. It also creates a far more sticky learning experience. The use of gamification techniques over a period of time will influence learner behavior as well.

Myths And Facts #2

  • Myth
    Gamification cannot drive learner performance.
  • Fact
    Several aspects of learning, including retention, an application on the job, as well as behavioral change can be influenced by gamification.

The Next-Gen gamification techniques for corporate training (highlighted earlier in the article) show you exactly how this can be achieved. 

Myths And Facts #3

  • Myth
    Gamification doesn’t provide real value to learners and businesses.
  • Fact
    Both learners and businesses see value in this approach at several levels.

Learners love it as learning is fun, challenging, and rewarding. L&D teams find value in it on account of its wide application across varied corporate training needs. The correct gamification technique can help them deliver their goals (learning, its application, or behavioral change).

Myths And Facts #4

  • Myth
    Gamification can’t drive learning.
  • Fact
    Gamification can provide an effective approach to drive learning.

This is on account of its inherent features that resonate with learners and help them perform better.

Myths And Facts #5

  • Myth
    Gamification appeals only to Millennials.
  • Fact
    The correct usage of gamification techniques will ensure that it will be well received across the multi-generational workforce.

I hope this article will help you use gamification techniques extensively for your corporate training and my 7 gamification techniques for corporate training will help you make it work well for you.

By Asha Pandey, Chief Learning Strategist at EI Design

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Corporate Learning Best Practices, e-Learning, Employee-Training, Game-based learning, Informal Learning Tips, Learning Management System, Micro-learning, Mobile Learning, Online Learning, Professors, QuoDeck, Serious Games, Teachers, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

Presenting The Current Trends In eLearning

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eLearning is the modern education system which copes with the busy lifestyles of the current generation. It has also a huge impact on our lives. This article discusses the current trends of eLearning including its pros and cons.

The Most Prevailing Trends In eLearning

eLearning is a new era in the learning industry. It provides an individual with the flexibility to learn based on their own time, pace and availability. There are already many number of successful e learning platforms all over the internet like Udemy, Udacity, Teachable etc. or you can even create an e learning
platform from various custom eLearning development companies. The worth of the eLearning market was measured at $2.5 billion in 2013, $7.8 billion in 2016 and, according to numerous predictions, the number will likely grow into $15.72 billion by 2021. These figures show a huge financial contribution to the distance education field, which shows the huge potential of the eLearning market. As the eLearning industry is growing among the new generations, there are many pros and cons. Let’s have a look at those:

Pros

  • Flexibility
    One of the main advantages of eLearning is that it is flexible. It helps us to cope up with our busy schedules by letting us take the courses in small sections whenever we want.
  • Mobility
    It’s something that’s more useful in our busy schedules. In eLearning, we are able to learn from any location, such as a park, a bus, train, etc, instead of a confined classroom.
  • Low Cost
    In eLearning, we don’t require trainers’ fees or equipment, so it becomes more affordable. While the cost of traveling is taken into account, eLearning is a cheaper option.
  • Performance Monitoring
    The performance result after the end of each topic and module are portrayed statistically on a dashboard. It enables learners to self-assess their overall performance and improve themselves. The instructor is able to monitor their performance more easily than in traditional, offline education.

Cons

eLearning can never replace the need for a human instructor. Even if eLearning is useful in many ways, computers are able to complete all tasks due to:

  • Lack Of Focus
    Both learners with poor concentration and those who are poorly motivated may quickly fall behind the online course. Without a fixed time schedule or a routine, it’s difficult for learners to meet specific deadlines or goals.
  • Lack Of Social And Cultural Interaction
    In eLearning, peer-to-peer communication is minimal, which makes it challenging for some of the learners.
  • Learners May Feel Isolated
    Without interaction with the outside world, there is a probability of feeling isolated.

Even though there are many cons as regards eLearning, there have already been many successful eLearning platforms all over the internet like Udemy, Udacity, Teachable, etc. you can make great use of. Learners engagement is of prime importance to the success of eLearning platforms. These can be effective only if they present something that catches the learner’s attention for more than just study materials, such as:

  1. Group Discussions
    A powerful discussion forum which revolves around the course will probably be the first option that makes eLearning interactive and much more engaging. On the other hand, simply having comment boxes on the article is unpleasant and difficult for the learners.
  2. Interactive Quizzes
    Having questions asked after each session as a module assessment and an overall quiz for topic assessment are always interesting.
  3. Make Iit A Visual Treat For The Eyes
    The use of slideshows and various multimedia gives learners the ability to stay on the task and be easily pulled into the topic.

What The Current Trends Are In eLearning

As in every sector where changes have occurred, eLearning has also undergone some. Therefore it’s high time we discussed what the current trends in eLearning are:

Mobile Learning

For the last few years, adoption of mLearning or mobile learning has been on the rise. It is flexible, the courses provided are responsive; i.e. it can run seamlessly on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The other main advantage of mLearning is that you can learn from wherever you are and whenever you want.

Microlearning

It deals with the short-term learning activity. The course that lasts for 60 minutes can be split into more bite-sized courses. It can be easier and more affordable to produce such courses and as well as to maintain them.

Gamification

It employs gaming elements so as to improve user engagement. It is a technique of transforming learning into a game. In this way, you can create a high impact and immersion.

Interactive Videos

Learning through videos will continue to maintain its own appeal. As a consequence, the way interactive video turn the passivity of regular videos into rich interactive experiences will see a rise and will be utilized for formal training, too, in addition to performance and support.

Social Learning

While there’s a need for formal training that meets specific learning outcomes, there should be an increase in programs for casual or social learning in which students can network, discuss, collaborate, and exchange thoughts on problem-solving.

This article was first published on : eLearning Industry

By Akshay K, Digital Marketing & SEO analyst at Xpertcube

Corporate Learning Best Practices, e-Learning, Employee-Training, Game-based learning, Gamification, Micro-learning, Mobile Learning

10 best practices to implement gamification

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Gamification is not a magic lamp. It won’t solve your problems overnight. But if you plan and use it well, it will serve its purpose.

Here are the 10 best practices which you can use while implementing gamification.

1.Identify the success criteria: Define success i.e. what you intend to achieve through the activity. It is important to know the parameters of a successful outcome. Without having a clear cut desired result, you can’t find out whether the activity was successful or not.

2. Consider alternatives: Always explore the alternatives. DO NOT jump the wagon. Many a times, people ignore simple and effective learning solutions just because they find a new trend catching up. Use gamification only if it makes sense and will add on to the activity. If you think the alternative is much more effective, use that!

3. Creating a tie-in to business needs: Any activity has to tie-in with the business goals. Make sure the gamification also does. Do not use gamification just to make your content interesting. It has no value if it does not push your business forward.

4. Create a story/context: We all love stories! Develop a story around your gamification activity. Tell people the context. Give them a purpose, a reason to interact with your content. Tell them why they are earning points, saving someone or conquering something.

5. Use science to advance learning: Remember the 2 mantras – Spaced Retrieval and Retrieval Practice. Spaced retrieval helps a learner retain access to the memorized information over long periods of time because it promotes a deeper understanding of the learned material. Retrieval practices encourage a learner to recall information rather than simply re-read or re-listen to it.

6. Make scoring and winning transparent: Make scoring easy! The learner should know how his actions are related to the scores. So, he will know exactly what he needs to do in order to be successful. Also, try different scenarios. Make sure you have covered up all the possible issues that could arise when a learner is doing the activity.

7. Keep the rules simple: Really simple! Avoid complexity. Always provide a tutorial so that the learner can learn the rules beforehand and perform better. This will also help you prevent any kind of frustration that a learner might develop due to lack of knowledge of the rules.

8. Keep leaderboards small: No one is really interested in the world rankings unless he’s up there. Keep the leaderboards customizable and personalized. The learner should be able to see his position, his friends’ position along with the top 5 performers.

9. Use levels and badges appropriately: Give the learner a goal and the number of levels he will need to complete before the learning is over. Badges can be tied to either levels or enabling objectives. Badges are also a good way to show off your prowess to your friends and colleagues.

10. Test your game before you release it: It is a good way to find flaws, cheats and shortcuts that you might have overlooked. Human Beings are the most creative and lazy people imaginable as we look for a better/faster way to achieve the same result.

Let us know if you have any more points to add to the list.

By Deepak Gawas, Head- Partnerships at QuoDeck
e-Learning, Gamification, QuoDeck

3 tips for effective gamification in your organization

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Gamification is one of the most effective ways of imparting learning to your employees. Standard gamification features include setting up a game like structure, creating leaderboards, offering rewards, badges & certificates, and making it mobile. The following key tenets are routinely overlooked, when using gamification, leading to suboptimal results.

  • Create an interesting storyline: There is a reason why the best games, apart from having great visuals, have the most interesting storylines. Take your audience through a journey, get them excited to move to the next level.  Design all your courses, assessments, and rewards based on the storyline. If you can add mystery and adventure to the fray, you have a winner!
  • Provide a mix of individual and team competition: Most gamified learning journeys offer only one of the two. As social beings, people love competing in groups and helping each other. However, the need to shine as individuals remains. Design assessments that reward top teams and top performers.
  • Decide the deliverable of the gamification: This cannot be emphasized enough. Do you want your employees to have fun, compete or create buzz? Is learning more important or competition? These need to be considered while gamifying your eLearning course.
By  Venkataraman Ananthakrishnan, Head- Online and Global Business at QuoDeck
Game-based learning, Press, QuoDeck, Serious Games

Interview: Kamalika Bhattacharya, CEO, QuoDeck Technologies

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Tiring of being on the opposite side from what I always considered to be the more exciting side of things – the entrepreneur’s- I founded QuoDeck along with my husband in 2010. Today QuoDeck is one of the top products in this space with over 62,000 learners from 20+ companies using QuoDeck to learn. Globally, it is used by over 500 creators from 40 countries to create game-based mobile learning.

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Game-based learning, Press, QuoDeck, Serious Games

E-learning goes regional for firms

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At HUL, an app created by Mumbai based QuoDeck (previously Ptotem) acts as a ready reckoner for their sales persons. “Basic training for bringing a sales person on board is provided in the app. We have evaluation points and an assessment is done after which a certification is offered,” Sikdar said.

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Game-based learning, Press, QuoDeck, Serious Games

Ptotem’s new game plan for employee learning: QuoDeck 2.0

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The company describes the new QuoDeck 2.0 is the world’s first one-stop software as a service solution that integrates content, game and platform authoring. Content creators can now setup highly engaging games as platforms to teach their learners on their mobile devices or desktops.

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e-Learning

How to make your training unique and memorable

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how to make training effective

Training is an integral part of employee development, but it is often frowned upon. Employees generally tend to find these sessions repetitive and boring. This negativity associated with training can be frustrating for both – the Trainer and the Trainee. So, what can be done to change this and make your employees look forward to your training sessions? Let’s find out!

1. Market Your Training

We live in an age where you need to market everything. Sadly, most trainers do not realize this. Therefore, it is necessary to build excitement around your training campaign so that people wait impatiently for the training day. Send out teaser emails using tools like Mailchimp to create hype around your session. These emails can also act as reminders for registration and RSVPs. You can go a step ahead and make this more interesting by launching a few video trailers before the training. Try Powtoon for this. It’s a wonderful tool which allows you to create marketing videos in a couple of minutes.

2. The First Impression

Start your training with a bang. Do not let your marketing efforts go waste by having a mediocre start to the session. Exploit the beginning of the session by doing something interesting to captivate your audience. It could be an inspirational video, an ice-breaker or a game. Keep trying out different things to sustain the excitement.

3. A Different Approach

Rather than going for the usual and mundane way of conducting training, use personal experiences or a storytelling approach to engage your audience. Building a story around the training topic will generate curiosity in the learner’s mind and personalize the overall experience. Know more: 4 tips to make elearning content better using a story telling approach

4. Gamify The Session

Gamification is a unique and sure-short way of making training sessions productive. It should be designed in such a way that the learning objectives are aligned with the game. Use simple techniques like Leaderboard or Rewards or Bonus points to encourage the learners. This will motivate your employees to perform better. Companies like Deloitte and Cognizant have been successfully implementing gamification for their training and development needs. Know more: 8 reasons to use serious games for training 

5. Make Your Courses Interactive

Since you will be using technology for your session, take care to use the correct interactive elements. Your learners should have fun during the session but ultimately the learning objective should be fulfilled. Integrate elements like push-buttons in assessments and voice-overs during the training. Try out tools like QuoDeck, Articulate Storyline, Powtoon, etc to make your courses interactive. Know more: Key elements of an interactive elearning course

6. Feedback and After-movie

Do not forget to take feedback post the session. Try to find out in what manner the training session helped out and if there are any recommendations for the future. You could even make an after-movie of the training session. After-movie is a trending concept used to market events, seminars, conferences, etc. It is basically a short video capturing moments from the start to the end of the training. You may add a couple of interviews from the audience in the end. It is a great way of showcasing the impact of the training and making people look forward to such sessions.

That’s it! You have any more tips? Do share in the comments below!

Image Source: Kungfu Panda (The Movie)