What can Duolingo teach you About Creating an Addictive Course? -

Duolingo has created an elearning experience that's rewarding and effective. Learn how you can apply the best aspects of its software to your course.

About 433 days back, I created an account for myself on Duolingo to the very first time. I'm sure of the exact amount, because that's how long my streak has been. Since that time I've mostly spent my time on their mobile app, and I've tried the courses offered in Spanish, Russian, German, and Korean.

And indeed they are! Duolingo isn't without its flaws However, it offers a learning experience that offers an easier way of exploring a language than any of its competitors (that I've tried). Most importantly, the experience it provides has lessons for educators in other specialties as well. If you're in the market for a more engaging elearning experiences, Duolingo provides a compelling method.

Below are five observations that I've made which can be applied to almost any elearning course.

1. Make use of all kinds of games As much as you can.

Gamification occurs when the learning goals are linked to specific functions or triggers in ways that reward learners or inspire competition. Duolingo is notable , not just because it uses gamification effectively and effectively, but also for using gamification in a variety of ways. These I've found are:

• streaks. Not wanting to be able to lose my streak is the primary reason for me to stay in the application. No joke.
• Points. Duolingo lets learners create a daily goal for points as well as tie points to various other elements of gaming.
• leaderboards. I don't compete for a top spot every week however, whenever I participate, I find the challenge exciting.
• Leagues. Early on, my determination to be in the top league helped me maintain my streak. This kept me returning until I was in the Diamond league, and now each time I fall from the diamond league, the desire to return to the high motivates me to play once more.
• badges. I had to reach the diamond league in order to get the badge of diamond league. In order to earn it, I must win the diamond league in order to earn this badge. The next step is to win an award in all areas in a course so that I will earn that Conqueror badge. Do you see how this never stops?
• Crowns. Earning crowns provides satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. I enjoy checking boxes off.
• Challenges that are timed. Timed challenges add another level of difficulty however they also increase memory speed. In spoken language it is essential to create phrases that follow the correct grammar structure under time pressure. This is a fantastic illustration of how gaming can also serve real life learning goals.

supports many of these gamification options natively, and others can be achieved through modifications or by adding additional features. In the case of learners, they are able to earn points through quizzes, points can be tied to leaderboards or you can put an amount of time for the exams, and badges could be awarded when the learner takes a specific action.

2. Don't be afraid to forgive mistakes.

I'd have ended my streak of 433 days around Day 100 if it weren't for Duolingo's streak freezes. At first this felt as if I was cheating however, the truth is that sometimes life happens. If I had been unable to keep a streak for 100 days into due to a problem that came up at work or because of a personal loss, the end of that streak would be quite demoralizing. So much that I might actually quit the application.

Duolingo will also keep the record of any mistakes you make to help you practice those sentences again for extra XP. Also, there's always an opportunity to improve when you're using Duolingo. Mistakes aren't permanent, they're just an area that needs some more time. And if life gets impeding your learning for a little bit, there's no need to punish you for it.

3. It is important to prioritize flexibility, mobility and mobility.

The lessons on Duoliongo rarely take more than five minutes. That means that there's always enough time for completing an activity, and if the content itself is engaging and engaging, there's usually a good reason to do more than one.

However, because the content is so short and so portable, there are instances when I've been trying to finish a class in public spaces where it might not be acceptable to repeat words of phrases out loud. Duolingo can help by providing choices that read "I can't listen right now," or "I can't use my voice at the moment." This lets learners remain engaged in their studies regardless of whether they're in a noisy or congested space.

4. Engage with a range of abilities using a range of learning methods.

In the beginning, when I began using Duolingo, their lessons mostly consisted of translating sentences back and forth using or without a word bank. At times, I was asked to hear a phrase before writing down the information I heard. Or I would be asked to read a sentence out loud to assess my ability to pronounce. The questions generally followed the same basic format.

Since then, Duolingo has expanded question formats and provided new kinds of exercises for learning. Their most popular courses include the "stories" section, which also helps improve your reading comprehension. They also have recordings to help develop listening comprehension. The regular classes now have longer audioquests in which learners must pay attention for a long time and reply to a query about what they've heard.

These diverse question kinds cover three of the four primary aspects of learning languages that are writing, reading speaking and listening. Only speaking, which would likely require a one-on-1 conversation with a instructor, isn't covered.

Most importantly, the range of different types of content creates an exciting and enjoyable experience. A year ago, I quickly grew tired of reading phrases back and forth. As I age, I am bored of my normal classes, I can switch it around with different types of material.

The same can be done with different types of content, or with a variety of different types of questions when creating your test questions. It includes many different types of questions like one-choice, multiple-choice (true false) as well as fill-in the-blank, sorting, matching, as well as essay.

5. Always strive to be innovative.

If there's one aspect I've never failed to be impressed by with the Duolingo application, it's the fact that in the time I've been using it, its features have only grown. Every month they upgrade their features in order to improve the learning experience. They've added challenging new tasks, created an array of characters to enhance their story, expanded their badges, developed additional question formats, and launched monthly and daily points challenges having their own unique reward for gamification.

For me, as a user, get the impression that the way I'm using the app is creating an positive feedback loop which enhances my experience of the app as time goes on. This is a very enthralling experience.

However, many teachers don't have the resources to put into a refined app like Duolingo. On a more modest scale, you can pay close attention to your students when they provide feedbackand constantly consider ways to enhance the experience that learners get from the course. If you're never bored, you won't be taken off-guard by the competition.

It takes time and care to design an enjoyable e-learning process, however the return is enormous.

Duolingo has its fans and its detractors. For my part, I find it frustrating because it seems that the Spanish learning process is getting more and more lengthy as the Russian courses aren't as well-developed. Certain languages, like Korean do not have enough support for learning and writing with the alphabet. I am concerned that some languages have been added in haste, and more as a show rather than an actual education experience.

It can't be disregarded that Duolingo is more invested in providing a superior experience for its learners than any other course I've experienced, and does this with an intense focus on UX, UI, and the data of its users. This focus hasn't just lead to a more addictive app--but it actually assists learners reach their goals of learning.

After a year of Duo's Spanish course, during which I've devoted myself to reaching the very top of my ability, I'm only at Checkpoint 2. The other day, I was having a brief chat in Spanish with a couple friends--one of whom had completed Duo's Spanish course, one of them is a ESL teacher of primarily spanish-speaking students. One of my teachers asked me about our plans to start the day, and I shared the food items I had in my refrigerator and offered to make breakfast.

It's not a huge win it's not a huge one, but nothing is more satisfying than an accomplishment that makes you want to continue.