Have you heard of gamification in the classroom? It is a teaching method that aims to make students learn through games. One of the main objectives of this learning method is the development of motivation in students, as it is based on scoring systems that allow you to get rewards if you meet the objectives.
Although it is a model generally used in children’s schools, in view of its success, it is increasingly being implemented in training programs for adults. In fact, according to a study by P&S Market Research, by 2022, the gamification market will reach a volume of more than 20 billion euros worldwide.
If you want to know more about this new learning dynamic, this article will show you the most used tools, some real examples, and, above all, the advantages of implementing gamification in the business process, where training and fun go hand in hand.
What is the concept of learning through gamification?
The term gamification is widely used these days, and its root comes from the word “game.” In this way, gamification means taking the game to areas where it is not common, such as training, human resources, or work performance itself.
The concept of gamification is based on taking advantage of game resources and tools to improve performance and academic results, among other aspects. In this sense, some gamification aspects that can be extended to other sectors are participation, competition, challenges, teamwork, and rewards.
Advantages of developing gamification in your work environment
The growth can see the success of this methodology’s inclusion in various fields, but what are its advantages to those who put it into practice? Here are just some of them:
- Motivation: One of the game’s main characteristics is competitiveness, and it is clear that this is a motivating aspect for anyone.
- Increased performance: when motivation is there, performance increases without question. Just as it was in college, where you followed the main principle of “I will write my essay for me free of any postpones and excuses if there is enough motivation.” We are much more productive when we enjoy and have fun doing something.
- Cooperation: unity is strength, and working together multiplies people’s abilities and skills. Although some of the games carried out in gamified learning processes do not take this factor into account, many practices require the cooperation of their participants to develop.
- Self-improvement: competitiveness also makes one constantly try to surpass oneself.
Greater use of ICT: Information and communication technologies are a fundamental resource for gamification. Undoubtedly, taking advantage of all these innovations in learning is remarkable growth for training. Games don’t have to be digital, but online platforms for sharing information make interaction much easier. The working generation is now familiar with their points and rewards systems, which has helped their expansion.
Best programs that can be used in gamification
Because of the aforementioned advance of technologies and the unstoppable irruption of e-learning as a training resource, more and more tools focused on education are being created each day. Some of them are already being used in educational institutions all over the world with excellent results:
- Edmodo: this is a free platform that allows the creation of private classrooms that can only be accessed by invitation. You can use it to teach a class with real-time content, assessments, and quizzes that can be turned into a game to motivate your workers in training. It is also available in several languages.
- Kahoot: is one of the gamification tools par excellence, which allows creating competitive games in a very intuitive way to encourage learning: from the typical trivia game to reward games. Kahoot has become one of the most widely used online resources for educational purposes.
- Habitica: is the demonstration that gamification in the classroom has no limits. It consists of a role-playing game in which rewards are won or lost for the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of daily obligations. This tool can take gamification to as many areas as you can think of. What tasks do you still have to complete today?
- Quizizz: we mentioned earlier that competitiveness is one of the advantages of this methodology, and Quizizz takes full advantage of this concept. Competitive quizzes can be created in this application and can be developed in numerous formats.
- Socrative: questions with several answer options are once again the protagonist of gamification. In this case, the added value that they can be carried out in real-time seems even more interesting in its Space Race mode, a space race in which participants compete to obtain the best results.
- uLearn Play: again, it is about learning by playing, but in this case, we are talking about gamification in the business world. Increasingly, employees need constant training and are not always motivated to do so, but it all seems more attractive with rivals and rewards.
Examples of gamified training in the business environment
The success of this methodology during its first uses in early childhood education has led to its inclusion as an increasingly recurrent option for adults. Some companies are even starting to obtain great results through gamification. Here are some of them:
- American Express: since the learning of its managers was not very efficient, the company decided to propose a game in which they put into practice the concepts developed in their different training courses. In this game, participants were rewarded with virtual stickers based on their respective learning.
- Aguas de Valencia: in this case, the problem was similar, but instead of the managers, it was the customer service workers who did not fully apply everything they learned in training. The solution? To create a team-based, cooperative and competitive game where virtual cities grew and improved based on the results obtained in tests and quizzes.
So, why should we use gamification anyway?
Nowadays, it is practically impossible to imagine a prolific professional life without constant training. As you have seen, even large companies use sustained learning over time to optimize the performance of their employees.
In this sense, gamification encourages motivation to renew and increase knowledge on an ongoing basis, which is a fundamental boost to progress academically and professionally.
