Transform Your Training with
Gamification in our ‘New Normal’

Corporate Trainers and Entities; Government; K12 Educators | By: Erin Patrick

Do you prefer a quick webinar? New webinars from C3 SoftWorks!

Virtual training is hard and virtual fatigue is a ‘new normal’ for us now, whether we are delivering information or receiving it. Gamification can be an answer to that challenge and more, while leveraging your content and creating more ways to connect.

You may be asking yourself, what is gamification?

It can be described as the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications. In other words, we’re thinking outside of the box for non-linear requirements. In the context of gamification for serious learning, we apply this concept to content to meet learning outcomes and prompt behavior change. We use games as an engagement tool for content delivery for transformed training and results. Gamification is exciting because it makes the hard stuff in life more fun.

Why is this important?

In a world of remote engagement, we experience burn out in different and new ways, in addition to navigating a pandemic. We find ourselves moving from boardrooms to dining rooms to work, study, eat, play, teach, do homework...the list goes on. The distractions can seem endless and one-sided presentations can quickly get lost in the noise.

Declining focus, engagement, and performance can be factors of the fallout of our ‘new normal’. Adapting to different training technique is not just a good idea now, it’s an imperative.

The History of Gamification

Gamification is actually an old concept. In fact, earning badges goes back as far as 1824 in the war game Kriegsspiel via the Prussian Army. Over time, as technology advanced, so did our utilization of games for educational purposes. In the mid 2000’s, it started to shape into the concept we’re familiar with today with the proliferation of software programs and platform capacities. By 2010, gamification was quite popular and projected to become an intricate part of work and learning. Now, nearly every social platform has built-in games to keep their audiences captivated. We use games to track everything from our finances to our health and certainly our education. But the concept of using fun to transcend work into play has been around for a long time.

Click here for a fantastic infographic by Dr Zac Fitz-Walter on the history of gamification

Language of Gamification - Terms to Know

GAMIFICATION: The use of game elements and game thinking in non-game contexts
SERIOUS GAME: A real game that is built primarily for purpose other than pure entertainment
PLAYER: Also called the user, the target person(s) to use the gamified system GAME
ELEMENTS: These are the features that are taken from the games, such as progress bars, missions, points, etc.
ENGAGEMENT: Active and Intrinsically motivated participation
LOYALTY: Allegiance to something, for example a brand, that goes beyond normal interest.

6 Great Reasons to Gamify

1) It’s fun with a purpose
2) It provides instant feedback
3) It’s a better learning experience
4) It can prompt behavioral changes while motivating your team
5) It’s a comfortable and safe learning environment
6) It can seriously impact your bottom line

Engineer Curiosity Using C3 SoftWorks (Case Study)

1. Not Just a Buzz Word

Energizing dry content can be tough. Engaging your audience without interactivity can also be tough. And when we forget to celebrate and connect with each other, it’s just not that fun anymore. Luckily, we can use games to spark more collaboration and connection. When you have the ability to add all kinds of media to your content, from YouTube videos to quirky GIFs or audio, you are also engaging all age groups.

2. Immediate Feedback

Identifying knowledge gaps in the moment is crucial. Providing instant feedback helps your learners see the road map...and to see what they know or what they should know. Corrective feedback that is appropriate and time relevant helps keep their learning prioritized. Using Games to Assess Trainees

3. Practice Smart

Better knowledge and retention can happen with games. Mobile learning games are an effective tool for a comfortable learning environment, which helps learners practice real-life situations and challenges in a safe space. Games accommodate the need for applying the knowledge that’s been learned, as well as introducing new content in an engaging way. People agree games are a great way to review a topic, but what about using games to deliver your core educational principles? Absolutely! Training with Game-Based Learning (Case Study)

4. Experiential Learning

Games provide a more robust learning experience. The learner can participate, while having fun, and still learn difficult concepts if the level of engagement is high. Games can be used to fulfill most learning needs including induction and onboarding; product sales; customer service and support; soft skills training; awareness creation; and compliance, to name just a few.

“There are many ways to integrate technology into education if you are willing to venture into this type of teaching.”
- Susan Finlayson, SVP, Baltimore and Stacey Brull, Sr. Director, Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore

3 ways to bring technology into any educational environment

5. Motivation

This may be the most obvious, and perhaps most important facet: games motivate and challenge people, which evokes friendly competition. Let’s face it- we all have either experienced (or facilitated!) presentations that were so boring that we would have opted to watch paint dry, instead, if that saved us from staying in it...and those presentations are always with the best of intentions. Or, maybe we just have very dry content that is required for compliance guidelines but so hard to make exciting. Games can encourage learners to progress through the content, inspire action, and eventually, influence more positive behavior.

Using Games to Teach

6. Impact the Bottom Line

Better retention? Yes! Higher recall? Yes! Increased Collaboration? You betcha! Data and feedback at your fingertips? Definitely! On account of all of these aspects that touch and effect learners, it can create a significant impact and performance gain for your organization, and your bottom line.

But don’t take our word for it...Try out our new version of Catapult with some New Years Trivia! See if you can burn down the medieval castle with your smarts!

Micro-Learning + Gamification

Bite-sized learning extends itself beautifully in self-paced learning, and here’s why:

1) The more we repeat information, the more likely it is to wind up in our long-term memory. Studies show that short, repetitive learning increases long-term retention over spaced intervals -Bob Pike Group

2) When training is relevant and personalized, it reinforces transfer of learning to the job. According to the Journal of Applied Psychology, learning in bite-sized pieces makes the transfer of learning 17% more efficient. -Bob Pike Group


Just Enough, Just in Time, Just for Me Training by the Bob Pike Group

Bite-sized TIPS for Dynamic Engagement via our Partners at The Bob Pike Group:

* Strive for brevity in your questions and title
* Have a conversational tone
* Make sure your message hits on WIIFM- “What’s In It For Me?”
* Replace text with graphics for more skimmable format

Make it Participant Centered

People learn best when they are active participants in their own learning process. Incorporate plenty of opportunities during training for learners to actively apply and engage with what they’re learning.

Tell Show Do Review

Creativity is Key

People learn in different ways and get bored easily. Using a variety of activities to revisit key concepts will engage a wider range of learning styles and give your audience multiple opportunities to review the information.

3 Tips for Making Your Messages Stick by The Bob Pike Group

Less is More

Using virtual tools to address engagement enables your learners to optimize their learning experience. The 70-20-10 model states that we mostly learn by what we DO and SEE, more than what we READ or HEAR. The model suggests that most of our learning happens through the process of discovery and the ability to solve problems and refine job-related skills while interacting with mentors or influential people. That way, we absorb and retain the information in a holistic way and can accept feedback constructively.

So how does that work in the age of the internet? Is this antiquated thinking with most of our environments switching to a more informal learning process? Perhaps. A newer ratio to consider is our sources of learning called the OSF (on-the-job, social, formal). This varies from organizations and industries, of course, based on the size of the company, the nature of the training (technical vs conceptual, etc) and the resources available. But the idea remains the same, and that is to ground your information with on-the-job experiences, and repetitive opportunities to apply that knowledge. Guess what allows you to reinforce your content with opportunities to practice? That’s right...games can do that.

The 70-20-10 Model for Learning and Development

Benefits of elearning

Many of us were forced to contend with mobile learning out of necessity, instead of preference, due to a global pandemic. We found ourselves working from home, learning from home, and teaching our children from home. With this ‘new normal’, we also started to discover more and more tools to help our learners (and ourselves!) navigate all that information. But this is a proven solution [for engaged learning] that has been around for a while, and most universities and large corporations have learned to scale this to suit their needs with great results. And with our younger generations being raised with technology and their very familiar relationship with it, using these tools has never been easier.

Elearning is good for the planet:

* It cuts over 85% of carbon dioxide emissions
* Studies suggest that elearning can lessen energy consumption by about 90%

Mobile learning improves efficiency:

* Reduces the required time for students to learn the material by 25%-60% compared to traditional learning methods
* Elearning can help students learn about five times more material for each hour of the session
* 96% of students, especially children, say that elearning tools are fun to use and help them learn things on their own

Source: Guide2Research “66 Elearning Statistics: 2019/2020 Data, Analysis & Predictions” (2020, Imed Bouchrika)

Ready to Get in the Game?

Gamification is an engaging content delivery method that can dramatically transform your training program. Game dynamics motivate students, increasing their efforts and developing their knowledge, thanks to practice and repetitive reinforcement.

* Increases student confidence by 20%
* Improves learning retention by 90%
* Improves the conceptual knowledge of the student by 11%
* Increases task completion by 300%

Source: The Federation of American Scientists “A Meta-Analytical Examination of the
Instructional Effectiveness of Computer-Based Simulation Games” (2001, Tracy Sitzman

So, do you feel like a pro yet? PLAY to review! See if you can answer these game-show style questions and test your knowledge with our Quiz Show game!