You Can (and Should) Include Gamification in Your Courses
May 30, 2018
The next time you’re at dinner, in a meeting, or at a store take a second and look around for distractions. How many people are on their phones? How many are actively engaged in a conversation? Is anyone watching TV instead of talking to the people they’re with? How many people are truly connected to what they’re supposed to be doing?
Now think about the last eLearning course you took. How many times did you think of something else? How often did you look at your phone? Were you on Facebook or another social media platform at the same time? Were you browsing the internet? What types of distractions did you encounter?
Compare this experience to a course you thoroughly enjoyed taking. What was different about it? How did it fascinate you? Did it include videos … gaming elements… scenarios, or real-world examples? Was the content written in a manner that you could easily relate to? What things made you want to dive-in and learn? What set your favorite course apart from the rest?
The next time you’re designing/developing a course try to remember the things you enjoyed and find ways to incorporate these concepts in your course. Find ways to not only engage learners but to enchant them. Help learners become so immersed in the course that they aren’t easily distracted.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naïve enough to believe that people won’t still lose focus, get interrupted, etc., but I am suggesting that we should try, we should strive for creating fascination, interest, intrigue, and other elements to develop a learning experience where users want to learn and are less likely to want to watch fainting goat videos (and yes, I’m guilty of this myself!). The real question is how can we do this?
Share your ideas and what makes your favorite course different using one of the following methods:
Tweet us @TLCMediaDesign and use #elearningenchantment in your post.
On our Facebook page, add your ideas and include #elearningenchantment in your comment.
Or, leave a comment and include #elearningenchantment in your post.
Let's help each other brainstorm how we can ENCHANT our students!
3 Comments
[…] Are You Enchanting Your Learners?The next time you’re at dinner, in a meeting, or at a store take a second and look around for distractions. How many people are on their phones? How many are actively engaged in a conversation? Is anyone watching TV instead of talking to the people they’re with? How many people are truly connected to. The post Are You Enchanting Your Learners? MORE >> […]
#elearningenchantment I use scenarios with vivid images and backgrounds that replicate our working environments to help keep my learner’s attention and make it more realistic. The closer to reality you can make a training program, the more likely they will retain what you are teaching.
We totally agree that the use of scenarios and graphic environments that reflect the workplace are great ways to enchant your learners. Thanks for sharing.