There was a time when the concepts of learning and playing were completely opposed. In fact, this is still the case in the minds of many people. What parent has never told their child “first you learn your lessons, then you can go play”? Well, let's be honest: even if we are going to talk about learning through play, we are rather placing ourselves in a vocational training framework. It is difficult to imagine a near future where schoolchildren would go to school singing and would prefer their homework to their toys. On the other hand, adults who really have fun while lacking in skills, not only is it likely but we are not even talking about the future: we are already there!
What is gamification?
La gamification, or gamification if we are looking for a French equivalent, is a concept that is becoming popular in various sectors, in particular that of teaching-learning. It is far from being limited to the contribution of From virtual reality to digital learning. Originating in the world of marketing, gamification refers to the appropriation of various elements of game design in a context other than that of the game. In other words, this trend consists in applying educational mechanisms and techniques in the classroom or in business in order to promote public engagement, This is why it is attracting the attention of training professionals.
Popular for maintaining the involvement of learners or employees, gamification continues to gain momentum in France as elsewhere. In the United States, for example, whether it is a question of environment, health or politics, most fields are on the same page when it comes to integrating game logic into various routine activities. Indeed, the achievement of objectives accelerates considerably as soon as a concept of pleasure or a particular challenge is added.
Let's take a training course on a slightly boring software that a lot of employees must master. (No, not Excel. Another one. It's not fair that the same people always take.) If you can make it a bit fun, there is a greater chance that your employees will complete it.
The principles of gamification
In order to understand the relevance of the Gamification, it is important to refer to Karl Kapp, professor of learning technologies, who explains that This can be subcategorised into structural gamification and content gamification. The first is defined as exploiting fun mechanisms in order to boost interaction without falling into the game. The completion bar indicated on LinkedIn profiles and the point systems in a MOOC are two examples. As for content gamification, it is characterized by the transformation of the content itself in order to make it more attractive, but always without completely modifying it in-game.
No, you will not be able to make your employees believe that they are playing Candy Crush while teaching them how the new accounting software works; but gamification will make your courses a bit (a lot?) nicer and more digestible.
Whatever the sector concerned by gamification, the objective remains the same: to increase the commitment of the people involved by highlighting the fun side of a task or behavior. Gamification has the effect of multiplying human beings's natural proclivities for learning, social status or competition by transforming an ordinary situation into a quest or a game. You just have to see how popular a simple quiz with live results can be.
In addition to better involvement, gamification also increases the loyalty of learners, employees or simply consumers. Thus, using the examples above, they will want to reconnect regularly to an online platform in order to level up or receive rewards, why not by buying a service or a product. Look at the very recent phenomenon of loyalty cards: a bakery 300m to the right of our house, one 300m to the left, but we will always go to the one on the right because after ten stamps, we win a brioche. Or because the bread is better, yeah, okay. But you get the idea.
Gamification in practice
The field of digital marketing is certainly the one that has contributed the most to the rise of gamification, as early as 2010, the objective being to promote a service or a product. In this context, structural gamification makes it possible to build audience loyalty through engagement programs characterized by leaderboards, badges or advergames, these famous banner shooting games.
As far as training is concerned, she uses gamification in order to stimulate the learner in order to better retain his interest in a given subject. Based on the narrative principles of gamification (which can for example be combined with Story learning), trainers have the opportunity to propose activities that leave room for exploration, imagination and discovery according to the level of the learners. To mention just a few examples, treasure hunts or webquests allow them to have fun while gaining knowledge.
Gamification obviously has a place in business where it makes it possible to improve the organization, motivation and productivity of employees. There are also some fairly creative uses of the concept: in San Francisco, the city came up with a radar-based lottery that allowed good drivers to collect fines from bad drivers, which helped to reduce the number of traffic violations.
The fundamental principles on which gamification is based consist in integrating an issue or challenge into an educational, economic or community activity, thus inviting participants to cooperate or putting them in competition to achieve a goal, the latter giving rise to personal gratification, a form of recognition or a reward. A bit like the good points our grandparents received at school, but much, much better!
