Are you struggling to make your online training effective?
Your course completion rates are plummeting and you don’t know how to fix that?
There is a simple solution to your problem—LMS gamification.
Adding game mechanics to your learning management system will help you make the learning experience more exciting while significantly enhancing user engagement and retention.
No wonder gamification features have gained so much traction lately and 61% of employees in the US train with gamification at work (TalentLMS). What’s more, 89% of individuals are willing to spend more time in an app if it contains game elements (Gartner).
In one of our previous articles, we discussed gamification in e-learning and the multiple benefits it brings. This time we would like to focus on gamification in LMS. As a company that specializes in LMS development services, AnyforSoft will help you gamify your learning management system and make your online training courses more effective.
In the following paragraphs, you will learn:
- What LMS gamification is;
- What benefits you can gain by introducing gamified features to your software;
- What gamification elements you should add to your system.
Ready to kick your learning platform up a notch? Then keep reading!
What is LMS gamification?
Learning management system gamification refers to the process of adding game-based elements to an LMS platform. These elements include:
- achievement badges;
- leaderboards;
- point systems;
- progress indicators;
- mini-games;
- quizzes, and so on.
The goal behind gamifying an LMS is to make its learning content more engaging, fun, and therefore effective. When introduced properly, gamification techniques significantly enhance the learning experience and improve user engagement.
For example, by adding leadership boards, you will introduce healthy competition to your online training courses, motivating learners to study harder to outperform their fellows. You can also leverage awarding badges to provide learners with a sense of achievement and incentivize hard work. We’ll discuss it in more detail later. As for now, let’s talk about the benefits of a gamified LMS.
Benefits of gamification in LMS
Why are so many organizations implementing gamification strategies into their training programs? Is it because an LMS with gamification is more effective than one without?
The short answer is yes. And to learn why gamified learning management systems work better, we should explore the benefits of gamification.
#1 Effective employee training and online learning
A learning platform that utilizes game-like mechanics offers more effective training compared to solutions without gamification. And it is not just an assumption but a fact proven by research. Employees and learners who study in gamified environments perform better on tests than those studying more conservatively. So using a carefully thought-out gamification strategy will help you increase the effectiveness of your corporate training or reach other learning objectives.
#2 Enhanced learner engagement
It’s often hard to engage learners, especially when they have to deal with complex subjects. The process of learning something is often associated with boredom, dullness, and repetitiveness. However, with gamification elements and mechanics, you will be able to turn even the most boring activity into something engaging and fun. According to Medium, gamification increases employee engagement by over 48% so never underestimate the power of a gamified learning management system.
#3 Better knowledge retention
Gamification LMS software often leverages repetition and reinforcement techniques so that learners can better retain the information. For example, you could use flashcards to help your employees memorize specific terms (which is great for compliance training).
A learning app Quizlet uses such gamification techniques. It allows users to flip through the flashcards to learn terms and their definitions. The app also offers a learning game in which learners match term cards with explanation cards against the clock. Upon the end of the game, Quizlet displays a leaderboard with the students that matched the cards the fastest. That adds a competitive spirit to the learning process and motivates learners to repeat the game until they receive a higher position on the leaderboard. Naturally, it leads to better knowledge retention.
#4 Easier learning
Even the most complex subjects can be made easier if you add gamification elements to your learning content. With game-like features, the learning process becomes less intimidating and more fun.
For instance, you could turn a course into an adventure quest with a unique narrative structure, objectives, levels, interactive challenges, leaderboards, and other elements. That way, you’ll transform a traditional course into a dynamic, immersive experience. Your learners will be motivated not only by the desire to gain knowledge but also by the excitement of progressing through an engaging digital adventure. And when you’re having fun in the learning process, it is much easier to learn new information. Don’t you agree?
#5 Higher course completion rates
If completion rates on your platform are low, this is another reason to gamify LMS courses. Gamified training courses are more likely to be completed because leadership boards, progress indicators, and other gamification elements show learners how far they’ve progressed in their learning path. And when they see this, they’re more motivated to keep going and not abandon their education.
Now that you know the benefits of gamified LMSs, let’s discuss what elements you should add to your system.
Must-have elements of game design for your LMS
To gamify your learning management system, consider adding the following elements.
Achievement badges
To provide users with a sense of achievement and motivate them to keep learning, you can introduce achievement badges to your learning platform. For example, one of the top gamification LMSs TalentLMS offers activity badges and learning badges to incentivize users to stay active and complete courses:
Activity badges are given for logging in. The more often a user logs in to the platform, the more badges they receive. Learning badges are given for completing courses. The more courses a user completes, the more badges they receive.
You could introduce similar mechanics to your tool to increase employee engagement and retention.
Points
Everyone likes to see numbers go up, from finance guys looking at their portfolios to gamers climbing the leaderboards. Therefore, points are a great tool for increasing learner engagement and motivation. You can assign a certain amount of points to a learning module, and learners will automatically receive those points when they complete this module. The possibilities are endless here—you can give points virtually for any activity in your learning management system, encouraging users to stay active.
The already-mentioned TalentLMS allows course creators and tutors to configure when and how many points are awarded to their users.
Whether you’re planning to opt for a ready-made LMS or invest in custom LMS development, the points feature is a must-have.
Leaderboards
Leaderboards are a great gamification feature based on points, badges, levels, or other data. It serves two purposes.
First, you can use leaderboards to introduce healthy competition to your learning management system, motivating employees to study harder to outperform their colleagues. Also, you could use them to evaluate learners’ progress. For example, if you conduct employee training, leaderboards will help you get an idea of how effective the training process is and who is succeeding in it. That, in turn, will help you make important decisions: you can, say, check the learning results of newcomers and, based on that, choose the best candidate for a certain position.
iSpring Learn is a perfect example of a gamified learning management system that leverages leaderboards.
By the way, we already discussed leaderboards in our article on LMS reporting—make sure to read it if you haven’t already.
Levels
Levels give users a sense of progress and achievement while allowing tutors to track progress. There are numerous ways to use this feature. You can upgrade the user’s level when they receive a certain amount of points, complete a certain amount of courses, or earn a certain amount of badges. You can also design a leaderboard displaying learners with the highest level (no need to focus solely on points).
What’s more, you can use the levels feature to adapt learning paths: for instance, you could restrict access to the hardest courses until learners reach a certain level by completing easier courses. That way, you’ll streamline the learning process, ensuring that users won’t accidentally take a course that is too difficult for them and become demotivated.
TalentLMS, SAP Litmos, and other gamification LMS software solutions leverage this gamification feature to some extent.
Customization
By leveraging LMS customization, you will be able to configure the learning platform in accordance with your preferences. While customization is not a gamification feature by itself, it allows you to change the logic of every game mechanic in your system.
Don’t like that your users receive experience points (XP) simply for passing tests, no matter how well they perform? You can make experience points performance-based. Not fond of the fact that users receive badges just for logging in to your platform and doing nothing? You can change the system so that users get a reward for logging in AND learning for a certain amount of time.
The more customization capabilities your platform will offer, the more accurately you’ll be able to tailor it to your specific needs.
Conclusion
Gamification of a learning management system is a great way to improve training effectiveness, increase learner engagement, ensure better knowledge retention, and achieve higher course completion rates. By leveraging game-like mechanics and elements, you will turn a tedious learning process into a fun and engaging experience, helping users learn new information much easier.
AnyforSoft can help you gamify an off-the-shelf LMS or a custom solution. Having over 12 years of development experience, we have created dozens of solutions for the e-learning industry. Let us help you as well.
Contact us today and tell us about your project.
