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The idea of using games for learning is not new. Games are part of day to day life, entertaining users, but at the same time modelling behaviors. By applying game mechanics and dynamics to tasks and e-learning processes we can increase user engagement with an e-learning application and its specific tasks.
Gamification is the use of game-play mechanics for non-game applications. Any application, task, process or context can theoretically be gamified. Gamification’s main goal is to rise the engagement of users by using game-like techniques such as scoreboards and personalized fast feedback, making people feel more ownership and purpose when engaging with the learning.
Gamification is used in several different contexts such as business and marketing, and mainly in the educational environment.
Gamification does not imply creating a game. It means making learning more fun and engaging, without undermining its credibility. Gamification helps learners gain motivation towards learning, and because of the positive feedback they get pushed forward and become more interested and stimulated to learn. Gamification can constitute a powerful boost to determine them to learn more.
Engagement is the important metric for success in gamification. There are several metrics to analyze engagement which due to technological advancement in analytics can be included into such a web application. These metrics are: page views per visitor, time spent on site, total time per user, frequency of visit, participation and conversions.
At Phi, we are working on integrating gamification in some of our e-learning courses to increase the learner’s motivation and engagement.
By gamifying an e-course we do not wish to replace the face-to-face (also called “classroom”) approach, which is keener on skill acquisition and improvement and, with the virtual one, but offer a combination of the two for a better learning experience.
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