Gamification in mobile and workplace integrated microlearning

Business analysts and human resource executives consider MicroLearning and Gamification as two of the currently hottest topics in corporate learning and workplace learning. MicroLearning is seen as a solution for the limitations in dedicated learning time of employees, already stressed in their daily work routines. Gamification fosters users engagement and creates higher intrinsic motivation to learn. In this case study, we report and analyze the learning behavior of 175 employees using gamified MicroLearning over the course of seven months. The study setup allows observing behavior with and without the extrinsic motivation of an employee competition. While we observe a large increase in activity compared to groups studied in previous work, we did not see an increase in the amount of average daily learning sessions. However, we could identify a shift in learning times from working hours towards high attention periods in evenings and weekends. Consequently, we regard gamification as a means to raise user engagement, which yet bears challenges for the deployment in corporate environments to shape learning behavior as intended.