‘XP’ (experience points) in e-learning

This article originally appeared in the Dec'22 magazine issue of Electronic Specifier Design – see ES's Magazine Archives for more featured publications.

This article was inspired by Sam Holland’s meeting at International Cyber Expo 2022 with Michael Sheahan, Corporate Account Executive at SoSafe: an e-learning software provider that specialises in cyber security awareness for learners.

One of the aims that I have set out to achieve in this e-learning column is to point out how would-be tiresome training programmes can be made more engaging through intuitive learning management systems and their rewards systems. In fact, in a recent issue of Electronic Specifier Design, I focused on the term ‘gamification’ and how it can achieve ‘edutainment’: that crucial combination of education and entertainment.

In the next sections, I build on this concept of reward systems in gamification by introducing a more specific video game-centric feature: the XP bar.

About the XP bar

The ‘XP bar’ means ‘experience points bar’ and it is a staple part of many adventure games, such as those in the World of Warcraft (WoW) franchises, and all sorts of other role-playing games. The XP bar is essentially a points-based rewards system that works like the progress bar you see when you’re installing software. However, rather than the process being completed once the bar is filled to 100%, the XP bar resets to zero upon completion. This is because the bar only represents one experience level at a time: the player is rewarded by ‘levelling up’ from one skill rating to the next.

The problem, of course, with quantifying experience in video games is that it becomes incredibly addictive, because players will always come back to try to reach that next level. If you’ve ever heard of the horror stories of WoW players becoming so addicted to their games that they have missed meals, consider that a huge part of those cravings can be attributed to the ‘hook’ that comes with XP bars.

Nevertheless, such a gaming mechanic can be turned into a positive if it is repurposed as a gamified e-learning system, because a benefit can come from avoiding an addictive feature in a virtual world in favour of an enticing rewards system in a real-world application.

Bringing experience points to e-learning

Learning management systems (LMSs) are increasingly seeing some variation of an XP ‘levelling up’ application that has been shown to increase users’ understanding and engagement with various corporate training modules. Again, as covered in this e-learning column before, rewards systems are a core part of the gamification process in online training software.

But perhaps more significantly still, the concept of experience points is being used as a means for LMS users, also known as ‘learners’ (whether those learners are general trainees, students, or engineers) to not just level up, but gather ‘badges’. Such badges are digital qualifications that represent a learner’s passing of a test in graphic form. For example, if a learner were to pass an online test in cyber security training, they could earn a badge that is essentially a graphic of a digital shield.

Again, the concept of quantifiable rewards systems is becoming a core part of gamification in e-learning: I predict that there will be a lot more learning management systems that will employ both an XP bar and a series of badges as gamification goes from an up-and-coming phenomenon to a staple part of educational technology. Employing such game mechanics in an online training context will avoid the mindless addictiveness of experience-focused video games and instead utilise such an application to form an enticing ‘hook’ that’s formed of educational point scoring. 

Further reading

For more information on the combination of learning and development and experiences, search online for the term ‘learning experience platform’. You can also read up on the relationship between earning badges and learners’ performance in the 2019 academic study: ‘Evaluation of awarding badges on Student’s engagement in Gamified e-learning systems'.