Gamification in education is not a new fad, or a fleeting phase. If you’ve ever collected stamps on a punch card for free coffee, or cared about a step goal given to you by a fitness counter, then gamification has worked on you. Although it has been around for years, some business leaders are still leery on the positive results a gamified learning program can drive. Here are five truths about gamification that may persuade you to gamify your workplace if you're still on the bubble.
- It's psychological.
People inherently like to earn achievements. They like to reach milestones and collect rewards no matter how arbitrary those rewards are. That’s why video games can be addictive. It doesn’t matter that the coins you collect or the points you score are completely worthless in real life. They mean something to the player.
Gamification is 75% psychology and 25% technology, according to Gabe Zichermann, co-author of Gamification By Design. If you can appeal to your employees’ psyche in a way that makes them want to learn continuously, apply that knowledge to their work, and achieve more, that’s a win for everyone.
Through gamification, employees will have a new found motivation to learn more, compete and ultimately stay more engaged. - It solves an engagement problem.
Only 32% of the American workforce is actually engaged according to Gallup. That means the majority of people who show up to work daily aren't bringing their A-game nor do they have the motivation to help their organization succeed.
Gamification creates individual and group learning goals, and makes them crystal clear. It also lays out the steps needed to reach those goals. When each step in the process matters, and everyone knows what they’re working toward, your people naturally become more engaged. - It improves the user experience.
Employees are all too familiar with the average LMS for training and education. The dinosaur approach of feeding information to your employees with PDFs and long email chains is a thing of the past. The user experience must be taken into consideration for employees to actually have the desire to learn more.
Good gamification in education acts as the hook that entices your users to return day after day. When combined with great user interface and design, a gamified learning platform for enterprise can become as addictive and attractive as a consumer grade social media platform.
- It unifies teams and encourages accountability.
If you think competition will drive your learners apart, you're mistaken. Gamification brings teams together. First, it helps clarify tasks and expectations. It encourages low-performing teams to pick up the pace, and rewards high performing teams for raising the bar.
When individuals on your team have daily insight into how their peers are progressing, it shows them what is possible and motivates them to stay on top. Conversations will form about how a person reached an achievement, and how others can do the same.
- It's becoming the norm.
According to Markets and Markets research group, the gamification market is expected to reach $11.10 Billion by 2020. With numbers like that no one can deny that this method of engagement is far past early adopter stage.
Gamification has solidified itself as the future of corporate learning, workplace engagement and business production. When you gamify, the whole team wins.
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