Making Gamification Work: Maximizing its Impact on Adult Learning

Gamification is a design technique that is applied to an existing learning activity or curriculum to facilitate achievement of the curriculum goals. The application of gamification is attractive because of its potential ability to improve learner engagement and motivation. If applied properly, gamification can be useful as an educational tool for adults to learn through immersive experiences. In this blog, we explore the condition to ensure gamification is an effective learning tool for adults.

Design Thinking:

Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving and innovation with an emphasis on creativity, empathy, and iterative development. Integrating this concept in gamification is fundamental to creating a personalized, impactful, and purposeful environment for both learners and educators. The interactive learning experience is also essential for information retention. 

Aligning to Learner Needs

In relation to the design thinking approach, the effectiveness of gamification is heavily linked to the needs of the learners. Tailoring the gamification instructional design principles and objectives to meet the learners´ needs and expectation will contribute to: understanding the relevance, retention, engagement, level of motivation and an overall immersive experience for the learners.

Meaningful Integration into Learning Goals

Designing gamified elements requires balance. A big risk in gamification is the fun aspect of the games may suppress the main aim of the objective which is, to learn. Therefore, establishing a balance by emphasizing the pedagogical benefits of gamification is essential to ensure that the learners are educationally benefiting from participating in the games whilst having fun.

Tracking Progress & Feedback

Gamification simply applies the elements of points, competition, leaderboards, and rewards, in non-game contexts such as education. These elements have a psychological effect to learners. Seeing progress and achievement of objectives boosts motivation and enhances self-efficacy.  This feedback system acts as a progress indicator and helps learners to understand their abilities.

Leveraging Technology

Integrating technology in education has revolutionized learning. In this rapidly evolving digital era, technology continues to be a crucial enabler of gamification through educational apps such as Duolingo, Minecraft, SimCity and many others. By incorporating existing technology and developing new learning instruments, student and educators can learn more effectively in a fun and impactful environment. The benefits of this integration ranges from improving learning outcomes to enhancing student engagement and promotion of continuous learning. 

When gamification is aligned with the needs of learners and grounded on design thinking principles, adult learning can be drastically transformed. The role of educators and designers in balancing the fun aspects and the educational intent is important to unlock its full potential and provide learners with an immersive learning experience.

Marshall Benjamin Wanimo