Wouldn’t it be great if learners flocked to your training modules with the same enthusiasm they greet free donuts in the staff room with? If training employees was no longer viewed as “painful”, but as a privilege?
Every learning and development (L&D) professional dreams of reaching the Holy Grail of corporate training – making training programs that are both impressively instructive and actually fun. But magicking dry, flat compliance material into training courses your learners love takes unique perspective, a practiced hand, and an LMS platform that turns ho-hum online training courses into a social learning hot-spot.
Let’s look at the kind of gamification LMS software offers and how you can use it to build a corporate learning environment that’s equal parts educational and fun.
What is gamification in an LMS?
A learning management system (LMS) is software that helps L&D professionals create, deliver, track, store, organize, report on, and manage online training courses. It’s great because every training function – from drafting your courses to tracking their success – happens within one intuitive software. That means that you, other training managers, your learners, and your instructors access the one dedicated portal and all the material you need is waiting for you.
Users access material depending on the role assigned to them by admins, and learners might have tailored learning journeys created for their specific needs. Clever LMS functionalities enable users to chat with other learners or their instructors in a learning forum and get instant feedback on questions and assignments. L&D professionals can manage administrative tasks (like uploading new users) and keep track of whether every team member has completed the required courses.
When training is complete, you can track and measure your outcomes and successes, and download customizable reports from the LMS.
The right learning management system will also include gamification features, which turn learning into a game. Examples of gamification in an LMS include:
- Profile badges that learners earn for completing courses
- Leaderboards which display learners badges and show which ones are leading the learning pack
- Certificates (downloadable and printable) awarded every time a learner passes another course or level
- Real-life rewards that correspond to learning wins within the LMS, like gift cards or extra PTO for learners with the most badges
How a learning platform (with gamification) affects the learning process
Sales numbers are picking up and employee retention’s at an all-time high. Attrition rates are falling, and your employees report feeling empowered and confident in their roles. Sounds like your corporate training content’s making a difference in your organization!
When you can tout measurable results tied to your learning and development (L&D) efforts, you’re onto a money-making winner for your company. Other organizations will happily pay for the secrets to your sales, employee, and franchise training success. If you can show you’re achieving fantastic results, you’ve got a built-in USP you can use to market your courses.
How companies are incorporating gamification elements in learning programs
Online training is a staple at companies that prioritize continuous learning to increase employee productivity and meet regulatory requirements, and gamification features heavily in many of those training courses.
Onboarding process
Right from the beginning of their career at your company, learners can expect engaging learning experiences via training gamification in the onboarding process.
They make each training course a quest for new recruits to complete and integrate live mentorship into the experience by making meetings with key colleagues part of the learning journey. At the end of the quest, onboarding has been completed and the learner is rewarded with a badge (and possibly a donut).
Compliance training
Compliance training has a lackluster reputation, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Some companies use compliance training as inspiration for some friendly competition between teams or departments to see who’s paying close attention during the courses and which group can complete them fastest.
Pop quizzes at unexpected junctures in the training keep learners on their toes, and each learner is expected to score high on post-training tests.
Responsive customer support
Excellent customer service sets many companies apart from their competitors, but those skills don’t come naturally to every employee. Training materials focused on customer service skills can help, but if the course is presented in a linear way, it can be hard to promote employee engagement.
Some companies have slipped gamification elements into their customer service training by awarding points or badges for the best responses to simulated customer problems. Employees who can keep the (theoretical) customer happy and solve their problem quickly earn special badges, showcasing their people skills and encouraging their peers to adopt their approach.
Examples of gamification in an LMS vendor
At its heart, gamified learning is really just another way of delivering personalized learning experiences. From point systems to training badges (and every donut in between), learning gamification can engage learners, getting them invested in the training content and their own learning outcomes.
LearnRight was designed to include gamification features from the get-go. Here are a few learners love:
Tips for gamification in an LMS
If you’re ready to gamify your training, you’ll need a learning management system that delivers the right features. Look for these features when selecting an LMS:
Gamification features
To gamify learning, you’ll need a few essential features, but not every LMS solution has been designed with gamification in mind. Before you purchase a corporate LMS, ask to see a demo of the specific game mechanics and features it offers.
You’ll want to see leaderboards, certifications, badges, point systems, as well as how they’re tracked, where they’re displayed, and how the gamification features interact between players and teams. Can an instructor reward points as they see fit? If one team member earns an extra badge, how does that affect the whole team?
Make sure the features are robust and that you fully understand how they work. If you run a learning competition that seems unfair or poorly executed, your learners will lose their enthusiasm and engagement will drop.
LMS platform features
The LMS you choose should also lend itself to games with attributes like a user-friendly interface and an easy-to-navigate organizational structure. If learners can’t find their gamified course or can’t figure out how to use it, they won’t interact with the gamification features.
LMS gamification is a great way to unite teams that might be spread across several locations. Look for a cloud-based LMS so every employee – even the remote ones – can easily access and participate in the courses from afar, both on desktop and mobile devices.
Finally, look for tools that allow you to track and measure training effectiveness. Gamification is a means to an end, and that “end” is a more productive, more educated workforce that’s better prepared for their roles. Your LMS should be purpose-built for training measurement, with customizable reports and a handy dashboard that shows you how your training modules are faring at a glance.
Looking for the right LMS? Hint – it’s LearnRight!
What’s the single best way to implement gamification and boost engagement in your training? Book a demo of LearnRight! We’ve got the key features you need to create and deliver online courses, track learner progress, solicit user feedback, and ensure every learner stays engaged and excited to learn.
Not ready to schedule a demo? Take a look at our pricing models or explore the features that make LearnRight the strongest choice for engaging your learners and encouraging business growth.
