Gamified Learning Elements That Trigger Learner Motivation

Our brains have been reprogrammed by our interactions with technology. In an online world offering instant gratification, notifications, likes, and wins, it’s a constant battle to keep our attention where it should be.

So how do you hold the attention of busy learners who are easily distracted by work and pleasure? Here’s how: help them keep their focus on the online course by triggering the same dopamine hits they experience on the web and in video games.

Motivate and Engage Learners with Gamified Learning

When you apply the behavioral science principles of gaming to your online course design and delivery, learners are more motivated to study and succeed.

🙇 Why gamified learning activates our brains

Gamified learning stimulates dopamine, a feel-good brain chemical released when rewards are anticipated. The craving for that feeling hooks us and keeps pushing us to pursue our desires and goals, even when the going gets tough.

This inner compulsion activated by gamified learning works better than external motivators, like points or leaderboard rankings. Gamified learning taps into intrinsic motivators, like progress and mastery. Small wins and signs of progress drive us forward.

Gamified learning also leverages quick hits, like instant gratification from immediate feedback. Learners don’t want to wait until the end of the course to see how they’re doing. They want instant validation and useful feedback throughout the program.

Gamers play in the flow state. They lose track of time as they get into the game. Learners want to be similarly engaged. In interactive exercises, they recall and apply what they’ve learned and get immediate feedback on work that’s just hard enough, but not impossible. Aim for activities that keep them engaged and help them level up and move closer to the finish line.

Because we’re social animals, gaming and learning are more motivating when done alongside others. Everyone enjoys being part of a community, where others acknowledge and share their accomplishments.

👩‍💻 Gamified online course elements that trigger dopamine hits

Build features into your online course that leverage dopamine’s role as a motivation molecule.

• Immediate Feedback 

During a game, a player’s progress and score are within view. They constantly get feedback when making smart or unfortunate moves.

🔹 Micro-assessments provide the same type of feedback to learners.

🔹 Quick polls or quizzes every three to five minutes with instant results

🔹 Drag-and-drop exercises
🔹 Interactive scenarios with immediate feedback on the answer’s consequences

Short quizzes serve as knowledge checks. A colorful animation pops up when the learner answers correctly. With each correct answer, a progress bar fills. Their score is tallied in real time.

• Discovery and surprise

If you build hidden content into the course, learners start to anticipate and wonder what’s around the corner.

🔹 Offer bonus materials after the learner completes a module.
🔹 Sprinkle “Easter eggs” throughout the course.
🔹 Announce new extra credit activities.

Offer unexpected rewards, like weekly bonus opportunities, promo credits toward a future course or credit they can pass along, and recognition in the learning community.

Surprise learners with:

🔹 Unannounced guest instructors or VIP appearances
🔹 Special themed weeks
🔹 Seasonal challenges

• Social validation

Appeals to the ego are more motivating than anyone wants to admit. Highlight the most insightful contributions in discussion forums. Ask learners for permission to share their insights on LinkedIn. Show learners how to display digital badges on LinkedIn and other platforms.

• Progress, challenge, and mastery

Because a sense of progress is intrinsically motivating, display module and/or course completion bars.

Give learners a chance to level up. Offer optional “hard mode” challenges or bonus expert-level content.

Provide opportunities for learners to show off their new skills:

🔹 Case study challenges
🔹 Project showcases
🔹 Real-world application with reports back to the group

Encourage learners to share their new knowledge in their workplace. Give them templates for lunch-and-learns and other knowledge-sharing events.

• Story-driven learning

The desire for a hero’s journey is embedded in our psyches.

🔹 Design branching narratives based on the learner’s choices.
🔹 Create learning scenarios featuring relatable characters.
🔹 Build in mystery cases that learners must solve throughout the course with cliffhangers between modules.

• Role-playing activities

Give learners the opportunity to take on the protagonist’s role. Let them practice making decisions in various scenarios. Present simulated real-world challenges and show the consequences resulting from each decision point.

• Success celebrations

Create small wins throughout the course. Each dopamine hit reinforces motivation.

Go over the top with course completion animations. On a more serious note, automatically add a new credentialing designation (abbreviation) to their member or customer record so it shows up wherever their name is displayed.

Tag new digital badge and credential holders in weekly or biweekly announcements on LinkedIn and other social platforms.

👤 How members and customers who didn’t attend your conference benefit from post-conference programs

Members and customers who can’t or won’t travel to in-person conferences like having access to conference content without the expense and hassle of traveling. They also appreciate the chance to earn continuing education credits when it’s convenient for them.

🎓 Gamify your learning portfolio with digital badges

Award digital badges only to learners who’ve successfully completed microcredentialing, certificate, and certification programs. Don’t dilute the branding and value of your digital badges by using them to reward members for non-educational activities. Use digital ribbons or gold stickers instead for membership-related activities.

Design digital badges that reflect your association’s branding. The design for ribbons and stickers can be more playful. But make sure they won’t be confused or associated with your digital badges.

Create variations on digital badge branding that reflect different skill mastery levels: foundational, intermediate, advanced, and expert. Ideally, when industry professionals see a badge, they can tell at a glance what level of competency it represents.

Integrate badges with LinkedIn. Encourage learners to immediately share their badge. Provide templates for those social posts.

Offer stackable microcredentials, which learners earn as they progress through a series of related, focused programs. Learners feel a sense of progress and mastery as they earn one microcredential and badge after another. Create these opportunities by breaking long credentialing programs into more accessible, shorter microcredentialing programs.

Gamified learning aligns with how our brains work. We want to satisfy our curiosity, get instant feedback, make progress, earn rewards, and connect with our tribe. See how TopClass LMS helps associations deliver engaging instructional experiences that spark a learner’s motivation. Contact us to set up a personalized demo of TopClass LMS.