How gaming can level up learning and engagement in your organisation

​Cambridge University's recent appointment of a Professor of Play was not only a gift to the nation's headline writers, it also put a smile on the faces of us here at Ludic.

As staunch advocates of bringing play into the workplace, we have found that the gamification of learning materials can be an incredibly powerful way of engaging people and providing them with more rewarding and effective learning experiences.

Your organisation's people may well have "grown up with gaming" and be predisposed to the idea of games in the workplace. Even if that's not the case, they are likely to be experiencing – and embracing – the gamification of their everyday lives on an unprecedented scale, whether it be striving for a goal on a fitness app or earning frequent flyer rewards.

The simple fact is that people like games and are increasingly open to engaging with them outside the traditional realms. This opens up great opportunities for organisations to tap into that playfulness, self-motivation and willingness to engage in new and exciting ways.

Whether they be virtual (online games) or physical (card or board games), the most successful learning experiences are those that not only borrow the language of gaming but also draw heavily on the mechanics of gaming. This includes, for example, awarding points for activities, providing instant and constructive feedback, opportunities for "levelling up" and mastery, scaffolded learning with progressively more challenging tasks, and creating leaderboards. This approach both allows learners to drive their own experiences and encourages experimental learning.

Carefully designed around defined learning objectives, online games can use state-of-the-art immersive graphics and storytelling to create compelling, fun, interactive content that ensures learning material is easy to understand, applied and retained.

This approach to learning can have a great positive impact at the level of the individual. It allows users to take control of their learning. Rather than being an abstract experience, it is contextualised and goal-oriented, which can give users a greater appreciation of the impacts of their decisions. There's also the sense of professional satisfaction that comes from successfully completing levels and tasks or earning "rewards", and the chance to build new relationships through the game.

Clearly, gamification can offer rich opportunities for collaborative problem solving, breathing new life into teams. The social element of gaming – the way in which people share experiences, build bonds and compete through games – can reinforce new behaviours and help take teams to the next level.

Find out more about how Ludic is harnessing the power of gaming to create world-class experiences that inject play back into the workplace and can help your organisation engage its learners in the most rewarding and effective way.