LearnWorlds is fairly limited in terms of true gamification features, but there are still several ways to incentivize your users.
It’s worth incorporating these gamified elements because they encourage engagement and help your users get the best out of your content.
Key Takeaways:
- Use LearnWorlds badges to reward engagement and achievements
- Community challenges and social learning activities motivate learners
- Graded assessments with certificates demonstrate learning
5 Proven Ways to Gamify LearnWorlds
In terms of specific gamification features, LearnWorlds is actually limited in this respect.
However, that’s not to say you can’t gamify the experience. You can, but you just have to think a little more creatively.
1. Use the LearnWorlds Badges
The one true gamification feature that LearnWorlds offers is the ability to award badges to your learners.
There are 16 badges available, and although you can customize the title of each badge, you can’t adjust the conditions that must be met to award them.
For example, the Appreciated badge is awarded to members who receive 30 or more likes from others. So, you can change the title from Appreciated to something else, but you can’t adjust how many likes are required to achieve the badge.
Additionally, badges cannot be revoked, so once a user has achieved a badge, it remains on their profile forever.
2. Run In-Community Challenges
The community feature is a great place to create gamified experiences because it’s an area where people are already engaging.
Running a challenge is one of the best ways to encourage interaction, and you can do this by setting up a community space specifically for this purpose.
For instance, if you have a fitness-based course/community, you might set up a 30-day challenge where users have to complete a certain number of exercises per day.
To facilitate this, ask members to post videos of themselves completing the exercises.
Those who complete the challenge receive a reward, such as access to secret content or a bonus course.
3. Create and Run Social Learning Activities
Social learning activities exist within courses and invite users to discuss, share ideas, and collaborate.
Offer incentives for engagement within these activities. For instance, a user who provides the most helpful advice or ignites discussion might get a reward, or those who contribute feedback may be offered an incentive to do so.
You can also add social activity to any ebooks you have by adding the social feed widget and running similar initiatives.
4. Set Assessments
LearnWorlds has one of the most detailed assessment tools you will find on a platform of its kind.
For question-based assessments, you can have the platform automatically grade them, or you can have video, written, and other assessment types that require manual grading.
Again, offering rewards for high grades will motivate learners to complete your assessments to a high standard.
For a more relaxed alternative, non-graded assessments with incentives for completion will encourage learners to simply take part.
5. Leverage Interactive Video
The interactive video tool is a real winner in terms of increasing engagement.
While it’s not gamification in its true sense, it does encourage audiences to take part and transforms the video from a passive activity into an active one.
The feature allows you to add buttons, questions, and embed codes (like media and widgets) onto the video screen. It’s even possible to display offers and discounts in real time.
The Limitations of LearnWorlds Gamification
As you can see, gamification is possible in LearnWorlds, but it still has its limitations.
I would love to see the introduction of a points system and leaderboards, as this would add a whole new dimension to the experience and enable you to facilitate the giving of rewards and incentives easily.
Since it lacks this, it makes it harder to instill a sense of competition, and the existing gamification elements have to be tracked manually.
If you do want to introduce points, you have to keep on top of what everyone is doing and record activity somewhere outside of LearnWorlds.
Obviously, this is clunky and wide open for error, but it could work if you only have a small number of learners.
There is a workaround for this. It’s possible to use Zapier to integrate LearnWorlds with external gamification apps, but this comes with increased cost and complications.
An app I recommend is Pointagram, which enables points, badges, battles, and leaderboards, as well as a reward structure. This costs $59 per month and could be worth it if you want to feature gamification heavily within your LearnWorlds content.
4 Ways to Reward Participants Using LearnWorlds
If you plan to just stick with LearnWorlds for gamification, there are several decent ways to reward your users for engaging.
Send Certificates
Two types of certificates can be awarded to users:
- Certificate of Completion: These are given when a user completes a course according to specific requirements, such as passing an assessment.
- Certificate of Knowledge: These are given when a user passes a graded exam or assessment.
They serve as an official means to recognize the learner’s achievements and ensure they have reached the desired level of knowledge retention.
Overall, certificates are a fairly formal way to reward users; however, you can use them as a way to provide other rewards.
For instance, when a user has achieved three certificates, you could give them access to a bonus course.
Provide Access to Exclusive Content
Exclusive or bonus content can come in many forms.
It could be extra course lessons or modules or an entirely separate full course. E-books, downloads, and videos are other ways to provide additional learning resources.
My tip is to ensure the extra content is worth pursuing. Therefore, it needs to be seen as desirable and of high value so people strive to get it.
It must also be fully aligned with the initial content and offer a way for users to level up their current knowledge or skills beyond what they’ve already learned, creating a natural next step in their learning path.
VIP Community Spaces
LearnWorlds lets you create private community spaces that are accessible by invitation only.
This means you can set up exclusive areas reserved only for the high achievers within your user base.
What you use these spaces for is up to you, but, again, it must be worth pursuing. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Host expert Q&A sessions with guest speakers or instructors.
- Offer early access to new content and courses.
- Hold mastermind-style discussions where advanced users share their expertise and strategies.
- Add premium resources like templates and toolkits.
- Run VIP challenges or events that help users reach specific goals.
Live Content Upgrades
Most courses tend to be self-paced with pre-recorded content as standard. Therefore, a great incentive is to offer live content as a reward for reaching a specific milestone.
So, you could provide an exclusive live webinar with guest speakers to those who complete a course with a high passing grade. Or, offer a one-to-one coaching session to those who obtain all the achievement badges or gain a pass rate of 100%.
Live content is seen as especially valuable because it gives participants the opportunity to ask questions and gain feedback in real time. So, this should be your top reward for those who have worked super hard to earn it.
4 Reasons Why You Should Gamify LearnWorlds
1. Sets Clear Goals
While it’s true that completing a course is a purpose in itself, it can feel out of reach if the modules are long and drawn out. Adding gamification provides an extra purpose or goal students can work toward as they progress through the course.
Whether it’s earning badges or unlocking rewards, learners can get a sense of achievement even if they are a way off from course completion.
This is important because the completion rates for online courses are staggeringly low (around 5%-15%). So, this type of motivation is required if you want your students to get proper value from what you’ve created.
2. Encourages Engagement
Humans are competitive by nature. We love to strive to be the best and reach the top of the leaderboard.
When done right, gamification pushes students to complete and improve to get top results. When shared goals are in place, students collaborate more effectively, joining forces to outperform other teams.
3. Provides Rewards and Feedback
Speaking of motivation, gamification provides instant gratification through its immediate feedback and rewards system.
Ever shopped on Temu or similar e-commerce apps? If so, you’ll know how effective this is. The gamification elements are designed to keep you hooked with discount rewards, points, and so on.
Of course, the aim of course gamification isn’t to make you spend more; it’s to keep students switched on to learning. But the overall concept is the same and is designed to reinforce the desired behaviors among users.
4. People Like Games!
Learning is supposed to be a fun and enjoyable experience. However, this isn’t always the case, especially if the subject matter is a bit dry or boring.
Not that I’m saying your courses are dry and boring, but some course material, like compliance or workplace safety, isn’t exactly known to be the most stimulating, no matter how you present it.
And even if you are designing fun courses, what’s the harm of injecting even more enjoyment into them?
People love games. They’re compelling and satisfying. They’re also the most downloaded type of mobile app (over 40% of apps downloaded are games), so it’s easy to see how powerful adding gaming elements can be.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which LearnWorlds Plans Include Gamification?
All LearnWorlds plans include gamified elements like badges, social learning, assessments, and the community feature. However, to use the interactive video tool, you need to be subscribed to the Learning Center or Corporate plans.
