The Point Management System is an exciting user engagement tool that is evolving in the social web landscape, which also connects extremely well with E-Learning.
How does it work? The Point Management System is based on a reward mechanism that assigns points each time a user performs an action within an E-Learning platform.
For example, if a user accesses the Platform, they earn one point; if they comment on a post, they gain 2 points, and if they create a post, they can gain 3 points.
Rewarding Systems
Many Companies, especially the largest ones, have internal rewarding systems that are extremely complex and connected to career paths and programs based on opportunities of professional development and training; international mobility, talent management for the high potential pool of talents and, last but not least, remuneration packages with incentive schemes based on performance, objectives and related benefits. It is understood that these systems are highly complex.
However, there are simpler starting points. For example, a scoring system, linked to the actual participation in an E-Learning training initiative within a Company, can be easily put into practice in order to experience the competitive mechanisms that are common characteristics of Gamification.
Gamification and Learning Communities
The keyword here is Gamification, which literally means importing the details of a game (levels, prizes) into the workplace. Gamification is implemented in order to create more interest, attention and interaction, or to engage learners to solve various problems.
In general, many studies in this field have shown that the mechanism of a game increases the involvement of users while stimulating their active attendance. Having participants actively involved, and not mere passive recipients of content, is one of the most important issues of distance learning methodologies.
The standard solution is based on a pattern of activities, such as creating a community of learners and practices on the web, coupled with the mechanisms of training programs. In this perspective, the Gamification does not replace the learning community as a solution to achieve excellent training milestones; rather, Gamification enhances it symbiotically.
Recognition of a Status
It is indeed, by exploiting different driving forces, that we can achieve a higher level of user involvement: such as the recognition of ‘status’, within an E-Learning context, users can earn points and be recognized by the assignment of different ranks, and positions.
Not only does setting up gaming system relate to the objective standpoint of a result achieved in training modules, it can also those related to users active roles in a wider set of initiatives (such as their ability to cast a vote, to give an opinion, or to answer and ask questions).
Small actions, those that at first sight seem insignificant, are the activities that are most often rewarded by this kind of mechanism. While competition can be motivating, it is typically not the exclusive source of user engagement. Instead, the active and interactive participatory influence often motivates users when compared to the darker side of competition.
Awards visuals: badges and rewards
This kind of status is clearly visible to other users and immediately indicates the profile of a participant. There are points, badges and pins that constantly transform a users profile.
The badge, in particular, is a virtual object psychologically rich with implications: a virtual boon, a digital artifact with a clear visual representation that must be earned on the field! A badge for the E-Learning can also be directly connected to a points system.
In an educational and communicative environment like the E-Learning domain, achieving a status means obtaining a reward that is in harmony with the environment; or that is aligned with the overall objectives and initiative of an online training course.
Once a user reaches a status it could unlock functions of a tutor or a mentor, the user could receive an in “management” group, or have permission to open a blog, a forum, etc.
Towards the Total Engagement
Let’s remember that we can also leverage a Point Management System to handle not only the status of an individual, but of a group of people, where E-Learning initiatives can potentially include mechanisms of collaboration and information sharing among users.
The Point Management System is an excellent initiative that can be exported to the digital world, in order to create engagement and active interaction in training and communication, or it can be converted into a tangible real-world reward system.
Ultimately, the effectiveness and importance of this system is so poignant that opinion leaders and experts working in diverse industries address it as a new concept: The Total Engagement Experience. Moreover, it is enlightening to notice how a fun and rewarding game can quickly transform a bored worker into a highly motivated employee!
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Valentina Piccioli, Docebo’s E-Learning Analyst, helped and supported many of the Docebo’s customers about E-Learning and Cloud-based Solutions deployment, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to build integrated Learning Environments.