Saturday 27 August 2022

Gamification As A Training Tool

Gamification works because it triggers real, powerful human emotions such as happiness, intrigue, and accomplishment.

Gamification As A Training Tool

Educators and training & development professionals should not underestimate the potential of gamification in skill training. For professionals seeking to introduce or expand the use of gamification in their sessions, here are some simple approaches as a starting point to gamify the teaching and learning process.

Albert Einstein himself indicated that games are the most elevated form of investigation. Games promote situated learning and higher-order thinking skills.

Gamification uses positive reinforcement techniques to make learning an enjoyable experience and I have been practicing 'gamification' since the pandemic, to make my online classes more engaging and effective.

I continued with 'gamification' even in my hybrid as well as offline classes for facilitating life skills courses to university students.

On the top, you can see the leaderboard with stars (= points) earned by students for performing assigned tasks and activities during an entire semester.

It was quite exciting to notice how my students experienced an exponential growth in their leadership and teamskills.

Here you can see the feedback by one of my student cohorts post completion of a life skills course 'Leadership and Teamwork'.

It was quite exciting to notice how my students experienced an exponential growth in their leadership and teamskills.

Simply put, gamification is the use of game-design elements and game principals in non-game contexts.

Educators and traininganddevelopment professionals should not underestimate the potential of gamification in skilltraining.

For professionals seeking to introduce or expand the use of gamification in their sessions, here are some simple approaches as a starting point to gamify the teaching and learning process,

🎁 Award points or badges to students for meeting academic objectives.

🥊 Create missions for students using a fun theme.

⛳ Use levels, checkpoints, and other methods of progression.

✨ Maintain a progress bar to record students' advancement in learning.

🎳 Let students set their own goals, then track their own progress in a fun/visual/personal way.

🏆 Create leaderboards to gauge classroom progress and instill a sense of competition.

Remember, gamification works because it triggers real, powerful human emotions such as happiness, intrigue, excitement and accomplishment. 

Play on!

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Gaurav Misra 'Fulbright's gamification based framework 'Star Count System' won him Blackboard Award, 2021 at the Asia Pacific level, for being one of the most innovative teaching methdologies for studentengagement.

Student-feedback says it all.

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