Instructional designers often want a means to continuously hone their instructional design skills. However, traditional methods to do this may not be satisfactory. An alternative is gamification. Gamification is the new “secret sauce” that can really draw people into the learning process. One gamified training program is LOOP (Learn On your Own Program), which can be used for instructional designers.

The LOOP Concept

LOOP allows one to master a specific skill and knowledge area by engaging in a series of hands-on activities both individual and team-based. The difference between LOOP and the traditional training program is the nature of the activity, feedback provided and the opportunity to see how the same problem is being solved in different ways by others. In LOOP, every member of the team is expected to perform the same activity irrespective of their experience level.

The LOOP Structure

The structure of the program can be based on the improvement areas identified during the annual review and the core instructional design skills, which are considered absolutely essential to master.

The following areas are identified for an instructional design team:

• Language
• Visualization
• Design Thinking
• Instructional Design Theories
• Tools and Technology
• Project Scoping

The LOOP program has multiple levels. Each level has numerous activities from the identified areas. Some levels focus on a specific area.

Senior members of a team are responsible for designing the activities in their area of expertise. However, it is also possible for them to collaborate with anyone from the team. As the activities in LOOP are application-based, the people who design them are also allowed to participate. Extra points can be awarded to those who design an activity. This is a motivator for them to come up with interesting ideas for the activities, which are referred to as “events” in LOOP.

The LOOP Gamification Elements

LOOP utilizes gamification at two levels. At its core, it employs gamification elements like levels, points and badges to encourage participation, reward performance and sustain motivation. For every event, the players earn points for participation, completion and quality of work. Each event has its pre-defined scoring logic. At times, players score each other’s work as well.

In LOOP, the players are free to play and skip any level. The players of LOOP are referred to as “Loopers” and the leaderboard is called the “Ladder.” Badges are awarded as a cumulative reward for mastery of a specific area on the basis of the score.

A second layer of gamification is applied to the design of the “events” by incorporating game-based elements like challenge, uncertainty and variable outcome. This encourages the players to display competence, apply knowledge and acquire new insights.

LOOP Deployment

LOOP is low tech in design and deployment. All the LOOP related announcements, events and leaderboard notifications are done through email. The content is created in PowerPoint and the scores are calculated in an Excel workbook. Since the learners are expected to finish the task in their own free time, one “event” spans across a period of three to four weeks.

A pilot of LOOP can enable a company to focus on the design and structure of the program and to identify the generic gamification layer that could later be automated through a Learning Management System. Insights from a LOOP deployment can lead to an automated gamification framework.

LOOP’s Scalability

LOOP’s design can be adapted for training any technical team that includes members with varied competency and experience. It is important to identify the appropriate areas of learning and to design activities that are challenging and relevant for a player’s day-to-day tasks. A leaderboard can really create an immense amount of competition among the team members and motivate them to participate in the learning process. The design of the program allows for a great deal of peer and collaborative learning.