How and why to use gamification in an online course

In recent years, the features that keep people glued to video games for hours on end have stopped being exclusive to the entertainment industry. Gamification, as it's called, is now used in everything from healthcare to employee training.

Do you have users who need motivation? Then you can use these elements.

For online courses, it's a powerful tool not only against dropout but also for boosting student engagement. So here's what you need to understand:

• What gamification is in practice
• Gamification in an online course
• Benefits of gamification
• How to get started in your online business

So keep reading to learn it all with help from Cademí's experts.

What gamification is in practice

In short, it's using the methods common in games, but in a different context. If in games the idea is to hook players and challenge them, here the goal is to make complex content easier and more dynamic and engaging.

You've probably experienced gamification already.

Think back to your school days: if, at the end of the day, your teacher put gold stars next to the names of the kids who behaved, in a way they were gamifying the class. After all, points and leaderboards are among the most classic game mechanics.

The same goes for the loyalty programs so common in restaurant apps. You earn points with every purchase and, because of that, you end up choosing to eat at the same place, whether to rack up points or to redeem rewards.

Other gamification elements include:

• Adding storytelling;
• Challenges and rewards;
• Points and leaderboards;
• Modules split by knowledge level;
• Individualized feedback;
• Time limits.

In short, the possibilities are endless. To figure out the best choices, it's important to know your audience and how it will be applied.

Gamification in an online course

Now that you understand what gamification is, let's get to what matters: how to bring it into your online business.

The good news is that education was probably the first field to borrow from games in search of engagement. After all, even if we didn't notice, our teachers were already doing it in the classroom. So these mechanics are already familiar to students and well developed.

As the online course market has grown, their use has grown even more. No online business wants to make sales and then, 7 days later, lose them because students didn't go through the content for lack of motivation.

And that happens a lot. Just to illustrate, the “Mapa do Ensino Superior no Brasil 2024” (Map of Higher Education in Brazil 2024), by Instituto Semesp, found that more than half of students who enroll in college don't finish their degree. Among those who drop out, about 56% are distance-learning students. Even though your digital product isn't a college degree, this behavior tends to repeat itself if you're not careful.

Benefits for learning

Beyond dropout and engagement, there's another point that underscores the importance of gamification: learning.

Gamification offers a self-directed learning dynamic, where your students gain more autonomy and flexibility while also being encouraged to take an active part in lessons by leaving comments, completing tasks, and so on.

The more involved your students are, the more they'll learn. The more they learn, the more satisfied they are. And, as a result, they recommend your online business to other people.

How to get started in your online course

To gamify your digital product, it's important to know not only your audience but also your goals. So look for the answers to these questions:

• Which metric do I want to improve? (number of lessons watched, reviews, student retention, etc.);
• Who is my audience? And what motivates them?
• Which gamification elements can provide that motivation?

With the answers in hand, the next step is to understand what your platform offers. At Cademí, for example, member areas come with two built-in features: points and leaderboards. All the expert has to do is figure out how to use them, whether by offering discounts to the most engaged students or in other ways.

Want to learn more about how to gamify your online course? Schedule a strategy call with Cademí's experts. Click here and find the best time to kick off this successful partnership.