Corporate Gamification – Because Adult Learners Like to Have Fun Too!
Just because adults work and train in a corporate environment, does not mean they don’t crave an element of childlike fun to help drive their motivation to engage with assigned online trainings. To effectively design online training deliverables for corporate adults, Instructional Designers must consider both types of learning motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Wang et al. (2023) argue that “learning motivation is one of the key factors influencing students’ engagement in online learning” (p. 27). Learning and development teams can exploit employees’ desire for an engaging learning environment by standardizing the inclusion of fun into every training deliverable. Organizations could achieve this by embracing extrinsically motivating gamification techniques as an enterprise-wide learning motivation strategy. Werbach et al. (2012) state that gamification can be defined as “the use of game elements and game-design techniques in non-game contexts” (p.26). Today’s learning technology development tools make it easy to incorporate these types of learning engagement strategies into training deliverables, due to built-in functionalities that encourage friendly competition among learners, such as using points, badges, and leaderboards. These types of learning technology tools are popular with management teams because they offer measurable scalability, engaging multimedia options, and 24/7 accessibility. The key, however, is to balance gamification’s extrinsically motivating learning strategies together with learning environments designed to support intrinsic motivation. Without a healthy balance of the two, these “engaging” digital points, badges, and leaderboards end up being reduced to nothing more than just extraneous noise.
Which do You Prefer?
0%Points Please!
0%Badges, Badges, Badges!
0%Leaderboard Champs!
0%All the Bells and Whistles!
Balancing Gamification with Elements of Flow Theory
One option that Instructional Designers can consider during their design process is to use the principles of Flow Theory to ensure that their digital learning products support an intrinsically motivated learning environment.
Flow Theory was a concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and refers to an elevated mental state or experience in which one is “completely immersed in an activity, feeling energized, focused, and fully involved” (OpenAI, 2024). According to TED-Ed (2023), finding flow occurs when people find “... purpose, meaning, or enjoyment ...” (00:02:40) in an activity. This aligns well to one of Keller’s (2018) motivational principles which states that “Motivation to learn is promoted when the knowledge to be learned is perceived to be meaningfully related to one’s goals” (p. 80). Wang et al. (2023) suggest that employees with high levels of learning motivation are more likely to allocate time and energy to completing their assigned trainings because they are interested and believe that the training will benefit them by adding new skills to their library of professional accomplishments.
Instructional Designers can leverage Flow Theory as an engagement and motivational strategy by designing the following Flow Theory elements into their online training deliverables (OpenAI, 2024):
Clearly stated learning goals
Measurable learning tasks that are mapped and aligned to learning goals
Visible learner progress
Explicit and immediate feedback
Intentionally scaffolded content that adapts to learner skill level and ability
Opportunities for further learner exploration and autonomy
Shared Learning Experiences Augment the Learning Experience
A powerful way to further augment online training for corporate employees is to incorporate social learning into their online training deliverables. Social learning environments have many benefits, including encouraging adult learners to engage and learn from one another’s perspectives and experiences. This is evidenced through the Social Development Theory (SDT) developed by psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, in 1962. SDT argues that social interaction plays a critical role in the learning and development of children (Yarbrough, 2018). In SDT, Vygotsky argues that “... social exchange is required for learning and social interaction is necessary to function and become fully developed” (Yarbrough, 2018, p. 5), which is just as applicable to adults learning in the corporate workplace as it is to children learning in an elementary school.
In 2022, the Indian Society of Nephrology engaged in a social media experiment in a professional setting to enhance engagement. Their findings provide further evidence to support SDT. According to Sharma et al. (2023), the social experiment realized the following positive benefits:
Knowledge sharing
Networking and professional relationship building
Exposure and recognition
Career growth opportunities by establishing connections to mentors and senior management
These positive outcomes provide strong arguments for intentionally incorporating social elements into online training deliverables for corporate employees. Such design efforts will elevate corporate online training products and the employee learning experience by fostering new social learning communities within an organization.
Conclusion
Instructional Designers who understand gamification techniques, Flow Theory, and the critical role that social learning plays in adult learning will create superior learning products that are able to tap into learners’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, thus amplifying their learning engagement in the process.
References
Keller, J.M and Deimann, M. (2018). Motivation, Volition, and Performance. In R. A.
Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology
(4th ed.) (pp. 78-84). New York, NY: Pearson.
Learning LAB LMS LXP. (2023, May 25). Why Peer-To-Peer Learning is the Future of
Education?. YouTube [VIDEO]. https://youtu.be/KbET1ebLuGE?si=QIKAIzyMseYbZ_dd
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 architecture) [Large language model]. Retrieved from
RBNC. (2020, February 5). 7 Steps to Design Gamification in Training. YouTube [VIDEO].
Sharma, S., Khanna, U., Trivedi, M., & Prasad, N. (2023). Meet-and-Greet Program for
Residents: A Novel Strategy to Encourage Future Nephrologists. Indian Journal of
Nephrology, 33(6), 480–481. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.4103/ijn.ijn_79_23
TED-Ed. (2023, July 27). How to enter flow state. YouTube [VIDEO].
Wang, T., Manta, O., Zhang, Y. (2023). The Relationship Between Learning Motivation
and Online Learning Performance: The Mediating Role of Academic Self-Efficacy and
Flow Experience. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET),
18(23), pp. 27–38. https://login.oclc.fullsail.edu/loginurl=https://search.
Werbach, K. & Hunter, D. (2012). For the win: how game thinking can revolutionize your
business. Wharton Digital Press.
Yarbrough, J. R. (2018). Adapting Adult Learning Theory to Support Innovative,
Advanced, Online Learning -- WVMD Model. Research in Higher Education Journal, 35.
Blog-02Micah PetellatFull Sail UniversityIDT502: Strategies for Learner EngagementDr. Reo McBride7.13.24 Level Up:
Adults still like to learn through fun and engaging methods, but our learning styles have become more suppressed overtime due to the conforming to previous paradigms. To that I mean when it would’ve been considered strange or even wrong to write with ones left hand. New studies and more in-depth understanding of how games and play can greatly influence cognitive function is being used outside of the jungle gym and now in corporate training and graduate level classroom setting. It’s not the same type of play when we’re focusing on what part of the mind we intend to engage. Receiving an award or a badge based on…
Mary Beth Perrow in her blog post Level Up! Explored how Instructional Designers can use gamification, Flow Theory, and social learning to create products that improve learner engagement (Perrow, 2024). With the aid of videos, Perrow breaks down how each incorporates learning strategies that can successfully engage a learner. We’ll explore now how elements of this blog illustrate the learning engagement principles of motivation and volition outlined by Keller and Deimann.
Knowledge Gap
A company requires training to give needed information to their staff to improve productivity. While employee X knows the information given will be beneficial, she dreads going to another boring meeting with topics presented in the same tired way. This brings out an important point made by Keller…
Motivation to learn is promoted when learners believe they can succeed in mastering the learning task:
Your insight in the corporate world of training was spot on, the higher up forget that we enjoy some fun also. We sit in those meetings stone faced because we know its a task that we will never master because we are not giving a chance to master it. However, if gamifiction was introduced as a way learn and practice these new task then employees would feel more impowered to learn. Self efficacy is concept that learners can use to help plan and implement behaviors /tasks that will result in successful goal accomplighment (Keller, 2018). By being able to plan learners will make tim…
Your insights into corporate gamification and its integration into adult learning environments offer valuable considerations for instructional designers. Recognizing the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as highlighted by Wang et al. (2023), underscores the need for a balanced approach in incorporating gamification elements. While gamification tools like points, badges, and leaderboards can enhance engagement, avoiding over-reliance on these extrinsic motivators is crucial to prevent them from becoming distractions. Incorporating principles from Flow Theory, such as clearly stated learning goals and visible learner progress, can help create intrinsically motivating learning experiences that align with learners' goals and interests, as suggested by Keller (2018) and Wang et al. (2023).
Furthermore, your focus on social learning as a means…