7 Smart Ways To Improve Learning With Gamification (Part 3/3)
Erika Tuason
Business Director
Welcome the third instalment of our weekly 3-part series, 7 Smart Ways To Improve Learning With Gamification! This week, we’ll be sharing our final 2 tips that you could use to gamify learning to become more engaging and fun: the importance of repetition in learning, and how to improve the problem of focus. If you’ve missed out on our earlier tips, don’t fret! Keep up to speed here with our first and second posts respectively.
Tip number 6: Focus
Focus on the content, design, process, and pedagogy. Technology is just an enabler here. Gamification channels focus by automating important functions of the learning agenda. For e.g. A self-serve gamification platform like Gametize lets you manage the game flow, point system, levels, and rewards for the benefit of user engagement. It also manages the platform technology for learners to act upon (quizzes, passcodes, taking photos), freeing up your time and expertise to focus on delivering quality learning content.
The user analytics and metrics provided allow you to narrow down and focus on what problem areas you’d like to improve on specifically. The issue of engagement in learning, for instance, is linked to the problem of knowledge acquisition. Gamification can work to solve either of these issues, but starting small with what area you’d exactly like to improve would be of great benefit to you in the long run.
Tip number 7: Repetition
“Practice makes perfect”. The wisdom underlying this adage is that repetition allows learners to apply or test what they’ve learnt, gain feedback on their performance, and re-apply their newfound knowledge.
The intrinsic human need for self-improvement will encourage the learner to measure proficiency and iterated improvement by completing the same quiz, questions and practical tasks. Here, repeated tasks can be made less monotonous by exercising some creative license with wordplay, or a simple change in context. Another way is to introduce varied feedback, e.g. in the form of badges, to reward the user for repeating the same activity.
Voila, and bearing in mind I just advocated for "repetition", here is a quick recap of all seven deadly tips to make a killing with engagement in learning with gamification!
Applying gamification is not the same as making a game
The former fulfills the problem of engagement without distracting the learner from his/her true learning objectives.
Give timely feedback
This lets learners know where they are in their learning journey, and the next steps they should take moving forward.
Empower your learners
Their involvement in their own learning process ensures that learning becomes proactive.
Capitalize on social dynamics
…to add weight to a learner’s personal achievements
User experience trumps everything
Always keep the motivations of the learner in mind.
Focus
…your energy on creating a comprehensive and effective learning program for your class or audience, through use of technology.
Encourage repetition
…to reinforce learning by encouraging your learners to constantly reapply their knowledge, and gain feedback.
If there’s only one lesson that you can take away from this series, gamification is a strategy to bring fun, engagement and clever design back into otherwise tedious activities in life, not a means to escape from them. At the heart of the matter, you’d want create a truly meaningful learning experience for your audience or class, one that expands beyond the classroom and into the larger experience of learning. Cheerios, and have fun making fun!
This post was contributed by Erika Tuason, Business Director @ Gametize
Edited by Keith Ng
Edited by Keith Ng
The 7 Smart Ways to Improve Learning with Gamification Series
This blog post is the third and final installation of our weekly 3-part series, 7 Smart Ways To Improve Learning With Gamification. We’ve based this series on our whitepaper, Corporate Learning: Making it work with Gamification. If you’d like to receive a copy of our white paper, please go to http://gametize.com/game/secretlibrary.