7 Practicable E-learning Gamification Examples

Gamification is a modern, scientifically proven way of creating engagement using the elements of gameplay. As such, gamification is currently applied in industries like healthcare, e-commerce, the food industry, and retail. In e-learning, though, its transformative effect is the most evident: because distance learning and hybrid learning are here to stay, educators need actionable means of engaging students and helping them focus on learning content and assignments.

The use of gamification in e-learning brings tangible results and increases students' motivation and concentration, helping them socialize and become less self-conscious, and, ultimately, boosting their learning progress.

In this article, we will explore some of the real-life e-learning gamification examples and discuss their positive effect on e-learning outcomes. Read on to learn more!

Core Gamification Principles and Mechanics.

Before we proceed, we’d like to briefly remind you about some of the core gamification elements applied in e-learning.??

Achievement tracking

Seeing how they perform helps learners strive for better results and feel more satisfied with their progress. You may use badges, progression bars, and leaderboards. Finally, make sure to hand out course completion certificates to reward students’ stamina and consistency.?

Rewards

You may also reward players for particular achievements with gifts, bonuses, collectibles, course currency, or score points. The rewards should be tied to achievements or distributed at a number of intervals. Learners should feel they are being recognized for their skills, progress, and persistence.

Competition

You may introduce an element of competition by showing learners how they progress, compared to other students in their class or course. For competitive-spirited learners, this may act as an incentive to perform better.

Personalization

A personalized approach is a big trend in e-learning. You may leverage it by using customizable avatars, names, or nicknames, and using chatbots to introduce interactive conversations.

Surely, e-learning applies more gamification elements, including timing, storytelling, and micro-interactions. Listing all of them, though, falls beyond the scope of this article. In the next section, we are going to explore how VARTEQ leverages gamification to boost e-learning engagement levels.

7 Successful Gamification Use Cases by VARTEQ

At VARTEQ we know from experience how to integrate gamification mechanics into an e-learning service. Launched by VARTEQ in 2021, Prosvita is a comprehensive e-learning platform helping both learners and educators interact online. The platform enables teachers to provide students remote access to their courses and offers a set of software tools for collaborative online learning. Parents can log in and track their kids’ progress through the platform. Prosvita also enables teachers to hold online assessments and tests and is equipped with a set of robust analytic tools for insights into the education process.

At VARTEQ we have enhanced Prosvita with e-learning gamification elements, to infuse the learning experience with fun and excitement. Below are some of the most vivid use cases of how we use gamification elements to contribute to better learning outcomes.?

Case 1:? Adding basic gamification dynamics

It’s no secret that keeping students engaged and minimizing churn rates is one of the biggest challenges of hybrid and online learning that gamification helps to overcome.? Normally, our gamification roadmap includes:

- Setting clear goals or benchmarks

- Knowing who our users are

- Weaving a simple storyline through a program

- Including a mobile version

- Using progress indicators

- Offering instant gratification for new users

- Giving users challenges

- Leaderboards

?- Providing users with spontaneous rewards, etc.

By adding some of these basic gameplay mechanics such as points and leaderboards, we have increased students’ retention rates by 40%!

Case 2: Adding fun characters users can engage with.

Adding animated characters is a means of providing users with micro-interactions they can engage in. In the first version of Prosvita, we have introduced Foxy, a character designed to offer students tips, help, and advice. After running a survey, we found out that most of the students found tips and instructions annoying, so we removed Foxy from the platform interface.

As it turned out, the students missed him, so we brought him back - this time, as a button they could play with. Interestingly, we started getting feedback from parents, saying they also wanted Foxy on their profiles. Initially aimed at children, Foxy is now a popular platform mascot adored by users of all age categories.

Case 3: Mini-Games

Adding the mini-games section to the platform allowed users to develop necessary skills without leaving the platform environment. The indicator of active usage time grew by 15%. Most importantly, users now received a mechanism for advancing their skills.?

Case 4: Avatars for Adults

As said above, personalization is one of the core gameplay elements that account for better engagement. Our experience suggests that adults would eagerly engage in gameplay and participate in public ratings if “hidden” behind an avatar.

Normally, an adult person wouldn’t want to associate their name with an online game, but after we introduced avatars, we spotted a considerable increase in parents’ engagement.

Case 5: Points

The first version of Prosvita allowed users to win score points for certain actions. The scoring mechanism was fully functional, however, we deployed the version without any instructions whatsoever.

Interestingly, not knowing what the rules are, acted as an incentive for users to try to figure them out by themselves. This boosted users’ engagement to an extent that prompted us to turn it into a fun feature of the platform.

Thus, the obscurity of rules became one of the factors that motivate users to engage in more interactions with the platform.

Case 6: Tasks and Quests

The next challenge we faced was to get our users to spend more time communicating via our platform’s built-in messenger rather than WhatsApp and Zoom. We applied the mechanics of weekly tasks and quests so that most users switched to our built-in chat platform for communication and work during the training process.

Case 7: Gifts and Collaborative Viralities

Viral mechanics provided for the organic growth of users without additional investment into marketing. For example, introducing the platform currency called ‘coins’ not only helped us boost engagement levels but also increase the number of active platform users.

When our users started accumulating coins, we noticed that their value started decreasing. So we added the gifts mechanics allowing buying gifts either with coins or by completing tasks. Hence we gained a 35% increase in returning users.

After introducing virtual gifts, we detected an increase in user engagement by 20%. Users wanted to accumulate more gifts and give them to their friends, which maximized their interest and involvement. Some users were even willing to pay physical currency for virtual gifts if they could not ‘earn’ them on the platform.?

Final Thoughts

Users love to learn when learning comes in combination with challenges, competition, progress, and achievement. They also enjoy collaboration and love surprises and collectibles. Adding these elements to an e-learning process will help increase students’ overall engagement by at least 40%.

On top of that, gamification dynamics help educators reduce marketing expenses since users start experiencing genuine interest in activities offered by an e-learning platform.

Thinking about infusing your e-learning process with fun and excitement? Contact us now for a free consultation!