Vocational training is often perceived as boring by employees: they often find long formats to be restrictive and not interactive enough. By asking themselves how to boost the image of vocational training, companies have recognized the power of gamification. Studies confirm this: 80% of employees who have attended a training course say they would be more involved if the training was fun and interactive. But how do you combine the game and the quality of training?
What is gamification?
To put it simply, the Gamification (or gamification) is a method that consists of apply the codes and mechanisms attached to the world of video games to sectors for which they were not intended.
Here we are interested in the gamification of vocational training, which consists in making these modules fun, while keeping in mind the formative and diploma purpose of traditional training. “How then?” , you will tell us. Quite simply by using the mechanisms that our geek side so much like. Don't deny: even though you may not have a console or account on League of Legends, you've already played at least one mobile game, and you enjoyed it. Oh yeah.
We are obviously talking about point systems, badges, evolution, evolution, avatars, challenges or rewards, not to mention adapting the content with a touch of “fun”. The technique works with almost all preferred types of pedagogy in business.
History of gamification
To understand where gamification comes from, let's travel back in time, more exactly to the 19th century in the United States. “S&H Green Stamps”, a company specializing in commercial stamp ranges, was a precursor to loyalty programs., encouraging customers to come back.
Continuing chronologically, the 70s saw the rise of social video games with The Sega and Atari brands, drawing an entire generation to the arcades. These new concepts of scores, rankings and awards are then integrated into our societies.
We had to wait for the year 1981 for American Airlines to launch the first-ever loyalty program to encourage the loyalty of its customers.
But it's in the years 1990 that video games have standardized and democratized player reward systems with points, badges, etc...
It is only in 2002, that Nick Pelling Invent the term “gamification” and applies it to ATM user interfaces.
Over the years 2000, gamification has grown in popularity, especially with the “Serious Games” initiative.
Today, gamification is simply pervasive, in the personal, educational and professional sphere. Most applications have adopted these concepts in their use, integrating into our daily lives.
Concrete examples of Gamification
In companies that designed their application around gamification, we decided to choose 2 companies, Duolingo and Nike, to illustrate all this!
Duolingo, the language learning app, is a great example. She uses the gamification to encourage users to return to the application. She uses frequent notifications To arouse user engagement, celebrate their small wins with animations And rewards, and offers rankings And leagues to stimulate competition between players. The application also personalize learning plansand according to the strengths and progress of each user.
Nike Run Club For its part, uses gamification to encourage users in the field of running. She collects data on sports activities, personalizes the user experience, offers Timed challenges and rewards, promotes community and social influence, and celebrates user progress.
Interests of gamification
We did not wait for the invention of Digital Learning and Virtual Reality to realize that interactivity had excellent results on memory. Many years before the invention of video games (they didn't even have a TV), Benjamin Franklin already understood everything: “You're telling me, I'm forgetting. You teach me, I remember. You involve me, I am learning”!
Why? On the one hand, gamified training has the advantage of offering a new experience to learners: a original and fun learning that therefore makes them want to come back and keeps them loyal. On the other hand, as you know from experience, few things are more engaging than games: you want to evolve, to go further, and even to one day be the best trainer. Excuse me, the best player. Learning thus takes place gradually and naturally., and at any age. It's easier to learn while having fun and to remember things when you don't feel pressured to do so.
In fact, When the training becomes interactive, the learner is engaged (or even sometimes awake): we ask him to participate. What's more, it allows him to be aware of his progress and to have A sense of accomplishment thanks to the different grades to be validated and the challenges to be won against other learners. In the case of team games, it also reinforces their sense of belonging and their synergy with colleagues. We can use it for better Succeed in digital onboarding of a new collaborator (who, driven by the desire to prove himself, will do everything to win and win the challenges). Another advantage, and not the least, is that it allows ensure the follow-up of the training and especially its understanding. The trainer can have direct feedback on his impact on employees and therefore refine it to adapt it to possible needs.
The benefits of gamification in business
Gamification has many advantages, whether for businesses or individuals. More and more companies, especially in northern and central European countries, the United States and Canada, are integrating the gamification in their recruitment, sales and marketing processes.
This concept is being studied by the HR community to improve engagement, employee retention, training but not only that. So if we had to summarize these various advantages:
- Increase in motivation: Gamification makes work more enjoyable and engaging, thus stimulating employee motivation.
- Promoting learning and information retention: It makes learning interactive, helping students retain information more effectively.
- Productivity improvement: Gamification encourages employees to complete tasks more efficiently, which in turn leads to better productivity.
- Increased customer satisfaction: Gamification can build customer loyalty and increase customer satisfaction with a product or service.
- Improving health outcomes: A point that is often forgotten, but gamification can encourage healthier habits, such as exercising regularly or eating healthier, which has a significant impact on the well-being of teams.
- Promoting social interaction: Gamification creates a sense of community and encourages social interaction between employees. Hybrid work and remote work have gone through this...
- Increased sense of accomplishment: It offers a sense of progress, rewarding those who are struggling to reach their goals. The progress curve is all the more beautiful!
Set up gamifying training
Knowing that the gamification aspect is the key to effective training is one thing, but applying it effectively is not necessarily obvious. Put In place, a system of rewards by badges and points is the basics of gamification.. In what framework should students be rewarded? By involving them in quizzes, mini games or challenges. For example, getting a minimum number of points, answering all questions without making any mistakes, or even getting a better high score than Team Rocket. Marketing team. Um.
So, they are active in their training and can observe their evolution through statistics and obtaining their rewards!
The Social Learning is also a solution that can be gamifying and very engaging for learners. Knowledge sharing can be done through short videos or by communicating live via a video call, chat... Thus, Beedeez Tips make it possible to make individual know-how available to all other learners. All while putting your own quizzes into its content.
It is also in Setting up treasure hunt-style treasure hunts or by giving quests that the social aspect of gamification makes perfect sense. Via QR codes, you can motivate your employees to get to know each other and to discover new concepts together. Thus, the use of a solution Mobile Learning takes on its full meaning and allows an infinite number of possibilities.
It should not be forgotten that by making the teaching method and its graphics more attractive and fun, we change the “severe” and boring vision of the image of training. As a result, the rate of participation and engagement is increased over the long term. Note: create funny animals and tell people “catch them all”, they do it without arguing. Put the same people in a classroom with a list of mathematical theorems and tell them “learn them all,” they balk at the task.
Gamification has proven its worth and continues to expand its community: more than 40% major companies had already adopted it in 2016. As well as an unknown but insufficiently high percentage of math teachers.
Tips for implementing gamification in business
If you are considering adopting gamification in business to boost team cohesion and skills development, here are some valuable tips that you can implement in your training programs and team events:
- Understand the dynamics and mechanics of the game.
- Use game mechanics without disrupting business operations.
- Suggest challenges and reward employees afterwards.
- Use points as base rewards based on the progress of each collaborator.
- View employee rankings, like on Kahoot for example
- Show the performance of an employee compared to their previous performances to value their involvement.
- Use levels to better specify the progress.
You now have all the keys to gamify your next team building or team meeting!
Gamification: Innovative formats for the engagement of your employees
Do you remember scratch games? These little pieces of cardboard that we took so much pleasure in rubbing with a coin to reveal what was hidden under this thin golden layer, even before the GameBoy was invented (and then it was cheaper).
What report? Always looking for new original interactions for the learner, we invite you to (re) discover scratch cards! A feature that you will find in the content creation section. The principle is to reveal hidden content that is 100% winning. If you were sure of winning the jackpot by playing a lottery ticket, you wouldn't hesitate, right? So, on your fingers... ready? Scratch!
(Beedeez wants to point out that you always gain, but only knowledge. For castles in Spain, contact Française des Jeux).
More than thirty activities and six different learning modes allow for unique learner experiences for each capsule :
- battles for those who like to challenge each other;
- the Story learning for those who like the comic book format;
- games with lives for gamers;
- and so many other activities that can be combined endlessly.
Scratch cards, which expand learning opportunities, focus attention while creating a time for discovery. Under the action of the learner, they reveal a very concise image or text. This principle of revelation has a very powerful effect on memory. when it is used wisely: discovering a “before and after”, revealing product information during a launch, giving an answer to an open question... Its possibilities are wide! Moreover, in case you are interested, Pokémon scratch cards have existed since 1997 (to those who don't understand why we start talking about Pokémon: you missed something in your childhood).
This great diversity of formats makes it possible to choose the most suitable one according to the content or the subject. Because yes, the modular aspect, which makes it possible to adapt to any type of training, is one of the great strengths of the Beedeez authoring tool. From onboarding, to business training, through transversal subjects... All subjects are good for stimulating the curiosity of your learners!
Just like all topics are good to catch the attention of our readers.
