The impact of gamification on learning
One of the most popular techniques for increasing the level of engagement consists of gamification, a concept theorized by Werbach and Hunter (2012), which applies the typical approach of games to nongame contexts. The aim is to redesign the educational experience to make it more participatory and memorable.
More recent studies on gamification have shown it to be an effective strategy not only to facilitate employee training, but also to implement increase business productivity and foster talent attraction.
The integration of methodologies based on active listening, such as Design Thinking, and the application of gamification techniques have the ability to transform executive training into an engaging experience, capable of stimulating the active involvement of participants, not only facilitating the learning of skills, but also encouraging personal contributions to the lesson. With this goal in mind, we were engaged by REbuild to reshape and maximize the training experience of a two-day in-person workshop.
A new way to train construction professionals
REbuild Italia is a community focused on innovation and sustainability in the construction industry, which organizes the annual REbuild trade fair in Riva del Garda. Dedicated to sustainable innovation in the built environment, this event brings together all the players in the various fields of the construction industry for two days of meetings, conferences, and networking opportunities, providing a forum for debate, discussion, storytelling, and listening. REbuild welcomes companies and industrial manufacturers of materials, institutions, universities, trade associations, consultants, designers, and the entire world of real estate and finance in the sector.
At the latest edition on May 6-7, 2025, with the theme Connect minds, enable innovation. Sharing intelligence to enable innovation , we were involved in the design phase of the workshop experience, working closely with the REbuild organizing team and the teachers involved in the training.
The project stems from REbuild's desire to improve itself, to increase the perceived quality of the event by participants, enhancing, through greater direct involvement of participants, the community dimension created in the more than 10 years of the fair.
The approach taken: starting from listening to adopt the formats recognized as most suitable
Transforming lectures for an audience of 60 participants on the world of real estate and energy efficiency into participatory and interactive workshops may seem like a challenging task, especially if you are not in the industry. Yet the possibilities offered by design thinking allow precisely this: tackling a problem methodically without getting lost in the specifics of the context, but rather analyzing and exploring it through those who know it in order to arrive at innovative solutions, only after listening carefully.
After listening to the narrative of past editions, we analyzed participants' satisfaction questionnaires and conducted qualitative interviews with lecturers and organizers, and constructed 3 user personas around which to build the new event training experience.
In parallel, we analyzed and identified in the literature about ten effective workshop formats and activities relevant to the project objectives, with examples from Oxford and IDEO, and mapped the formats along two lines:
- the level of participant engagement, ranging from medium to medium-high, which measures the degree of interactivity
- the focus of the lesson, from theoretical to practical, according to the needs expressed by the teachers.
This approach allowed us to identify 4 different training experiences to propose to teachers, so that we could adapt the slide kit and integrate elements of interaction and activities into the lesson.
The result was a high level of engagement, which allowed participants to interact and contribute their own proposals to the writing of a manifesto about the event.
Of course, gamification and Design Thinking are not the only approaches available to make executive training models more engaging.
Learning-by-doing approaches, communities of practice, and hybrid innovation and training projects are proving effective in their ability to generate transformation, compared to passive content training. The most effective models today are active, project-based, and impact-oriented, placing people at the center as protagonists of their own learning.
***
Bibliography
Knowles, M. S. (1984). Andragogy in Action: Applying Modern Principles of Adult Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Werbach, K., & Hunter, D. (2012). For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business. Philadelphia: Wharton Digital Press.
Vorecol. (2024). The Impact of Gamification in LMS on Learning Outcomes for Remote Students. Vorecol Blog, November 1, 2024.
