Gamify an E-Learning Course #102

Gamify an E-Learning Course #102:  Challenge | Recap

Gaming elements, such as rewards, points, discovery, and competition, are excellent ways to engage and motivate learners. But the challenge for most course designers is finding practical ways to apply game mechanics without disrupting their existing course design models.

So, how can e-learning designers get started with gamification? What are some practical ways to gamify e-learning courses?

Begin Small and Use Existing Projects

One way to experiment with gamification is by starting small and working with existing projects.

Using existing projects is a great way to engage your stakeholders and learners for feedback on what works and doesn’t work. And because the projects are already built, you don’t have to risk current projects and timelines with ideas that may not work in your organization.

Gamified Video Gallery

Luckily, we have this (safe for work) gamified example of (strip) rock-paper-scissors to illustrate how gaming elements can be applied to static content.

View Zsolt's gamified video interview

I really like how Zsolt Olah began with a static Storyline template and applied elements of motivation and achievement to gamify his video interview.

On the surface, the most visible difference is the locked choices for viewing the video clips. But there's a lot more going on behind the e-learning scenes!

To appreciate all that's going on in Zsolt's example, you'll have to read his blog post where he describes his design and development process. Admittedly, Zsolt pulls out some geeky solutions like advanced triggers, variables, and JavaScript in his example.

For this week's challenge, we're going to focus on practical ways course designers can gamify their e-learning projects.

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to gamify an existing course, demo, or template. Show us the original project, the gamified makeover, and tell us which gamification element(s) you used.

In many cases, you’ll need to work with variables. If you run into any issues or have questions about variables, post in the comments section and we’ll help you out. I don’t want technical issues holding you back from participating this week.

If you’re working in PowerPoint, you can use design comps and wireframes to show how gamified elements could be applied to an existing project.

Last Week’s Challenge

Before you level up for this week’s challenge, take a look at the creative ways your fellow community members use their favorite e-learning character

Atsumi: Everyone's Go-To E-Learning Character: Challenge | Recap

Wishing you a gametastic week, E-Learning Heroes!

New to E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.