Gamification is a powerful tool to increase engagement in eLearning. It makes the entire learning process more interesting, active and participatory. While it may seem complicated to tackle, there are elements that you can easily add to your eLearning course to create a story-driven experience to excite students. Here are the basic elements you can include to get started:

Protagonist, Antagonist and Journey
The protagonist is a character that is relatable to the learner. The antagonist is the struggle or situation the learner is trying to overcome throughout the course journey. By establishing this basic structure, you can mimic the relationship of the student to the concept they are trying to understand in a way that is engaging.

Power Ups
Think of these as an active rewards system and helpful hints. Power ups are tools or abilities created to help your protagonist solve the puzzle. To the learners, they represent mastery of knowledge, so they can keep track of how they're progressing throughout the course. This is an excellent method to enhance skill-building as well as creating a sense of competition.

Easter Eggs
These help you entice your learners. Easter eggs are interactive items in your content that encourage users to slow down and explore the page and find rewards. They can help prevent users from simply clicking through the information. Think of it this way: Easter eggs help convince your learners to read the whole book instead of just picking up the spark notes.

Implement these three techniques and your eLearning modules will be more effective and engaging by design!