Gamification Of eLearning Assessments: An Epic Formula
I just completed an eLearning course on compliance training. While I loved the use of an Instructional Design strategy that made the compliance training engaging and interesting, I wasn’t looking forward to taking the assessment. That was partly due to my inherent fear of assessments. But then, I was in for a pleasant surprise, as the assessment was gamified. Instead of dreading the assessment, I was now looking forward to taking the assessment. There are many learners out there who echo similar sentiments, and providing friendly-competition in the form of a gamified assessment might help. This article shares the benefits of using gamification as an assessment tool in online training.
Takes The Stress Out Of Assessments
Learners do not want to go through boring assessments that do nothing to enhance the learning experience.
For one of our clients who wanted an onboarding training program, we implemented the gamification of the eLearning assessment. We did this through a maze game, where a new hire has to find his way across the campus to attend his first project meeting. The learner taking the training gets to help a character in the gamified assessment navigate through the maze. This added an element of interest in the assessment.
Learners are motivated to score well, as only then can they help the character in the gamified assessment reach his destination.
Improves Learner Engagement
The purpose of assessments in eLearning is not to overwhelm learners. Assessments are primarily used to gauge the learners’ understanding of the content covered in the course. Training managers can use the results of the assessment to check whether the eLearning course has met the training objectives. Overwhelming learners with complex assessments is the last thing you want in your online training program. By using gamification for eLearning assessments, learners can enjoy a relaxed learning experience. This, in turn, improves learner engagement and contributes to learning retention.
Impresses The Millennials
According to the Pew Research Center [1], Millennials are the largest generation in the U.S labor force. Gamification of eLearning assessments is sure to impress the Millennials. In another eLearning course for new hires, a majority of them being Millennials, the elements of gaming were used in the assessment.
New hires loved the challenge of guiding a character to progress from one level to the other. Each level was represented by a building, and the learner had to attempt questions that were posted on entering each building. New hires also loved the storytelling strategy that was used in the gamified assessment. The prospect of assisting the character who was a new hire in the organization helped learners relate to the story.
Provides Effective Feedback
Gamification of eLearning assessments can help deliver effective feedback in formative as well as summative assessments. When learners have difficulty completing a particular level of the gamified assessment, it can point to difficulties in that particular content.
It is essential to gather the assessment results of learners taking an eLearning course. By applying learning analytics in online assessments, it has become possible for training managers to identify improvement areas for learners and also evaluate if the assessment is aligned with the learning objectives.
Delivers High Impact Learning
The best part of the gamification of eLearning assessments is that learners are constantly challenged. Learners score points, progress in the game, receive feedback and do not feel pressurized. It’s a game, after all! Here’s how a gamified assessment delivers high impact learning:
- Gets learners hooked to the training
- Drills down the learning objectives
- Stimulates recall of prior knowledge (For example, knowledge gained in one particular module of the training needs to be recalled to cross one level)
- Provides learning guidance (The learner is required to use his knowledge gained from the course to get a good score)
By gamifying the eLearning assessment in the online onboarding training, we ensured that new hires reaped the maximum benefit from the course. The bar was set to a high score of 80%. New hires who were unable to meet the scoring requirements were allowed reattempts.
If you have not tried gamification of eLearning courses yet, maybe you should begin by gamifying eLearning assessments in your online training programs.
