“Learning is not just for school, but for life”. Have you heard this statement before and would you agree? I would think so. But still what we do in most cases when we learn, or especially when we want to get certified: we attend a static exam, which queries only what our brain recalls at this particular moment. More specifically, such type of exams does not take account of the fact that research has identified people typically lose up to 80% of what they have learned in just a few weeks.
But the good news is just around the corner: my team has just piloted a concept that can replace this by using a fun, social gamification strategy which brings proficiency levels up to the required standard. As this concept is scientifically proven to extend knowledge retention by up to two years, this creates much greater confidence in the certification process. We call it “Certification through Gamification”.
The proof of concept, which we piloted with 55 volunteers across many organizations within Nokia´s Service Business Unit and others has just recently been concluded.
“It is another way to learn, more fun!” – “the question bank… actually its related to my day to day work. And by answering these question on daily I complete refreshed my knowledge” – “easy to master, very professional design, multiple options to complete (emails, mobile app)”
These were some of the comments we received as feedback. And since this concept had a massive gamification component there were also awarded winners: Sergio R. with the highest performance score, Serban Ba. and Rui C. for the best team coaching activities and Mojmir P. as the most active discussion forum contributor. Great achievement!
The underlying Software-as-a-Service platform for spaced repetition, micro-learning, and gamification is provided by Qstream, a Boston-based spin-off from Harvard Medical School. Qstream´s co-founder was conducting clinical research into the neuroscience of behavior change.
This knowledge is now to the benefit of Nokia as we want to take the next step into a broader application of this method, going beyond “Certification through Gamification” into a more effective way of learning and learning retention.