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

Duolingo has developed an online learning experience that is rewarding and efficient. This is how you can incorporate the best aspects of its software to your learning.

433 weeks ago I created an account for myself on Duolingo as the first time. I'm aware of the exact date, because that's how long my streak has been. Since that time, I've primarily spent my time on the mobile version of their app and I've tried their courses in Spanish, Russian, German and Korean.

And indeed they are! Duolingo has its faults however, it provides the opportunity to learn and provides a far easier on-ramp to exploring a one than the other competitors (that I've tested). In addition, the learning user experience offers lessons to teachers in different areas as well. If you're interested in delivering the most engaging online learning experiences, Duolingo offers a powerful approach.

Below are five observations that I've made that can apply to virtually any online course.

1. Use many kinds of gamification As much as you can.

Gamification refers to the process of ensuring that learning objectives have a connection to particular actions or triggers in ways that motivate learners or create competition. Duolingo is notable not just for using gamification well, but for deploying gamification in a variety of ways. The ones I've identified are:

• streaks. Not wanting to end my streak is my #1 reason I'm still using the app. No joke.
• Points. Duolingo lets learners establish a daily target for points as well as tie points to other gamification elements.
• leaderboards. I don't compete for a top spot every week, but whenever I do, you can bet I am enthralled by the task.
• Leagues. Early on, my determination to be in the top league made it easier for me to maintain my streak. It kept me coming back until I was in my Diamond league, and now each time I fall out of the diamond league, the desire to be back at the first place motivates me to participate once more.
• Badges. I had to get to the diamond league in order to get the diamond league badge. After that, I needed to win the diamond league in order to earn that badge. The next step is to win the highest grade in each skill within a class so that I be awarded that Conqueror badge. Do you see how this never stops?
• Crowns. Earning crowns provides a satisfying sense of achievement. I enjoy checking boxes off.
• Timing-based challenges. Timed challenges add an additional level of challenge, but the also improve the speed of recall. When speaking it is essential to be able to produce words in the correct syntax under the pressure of time. This is an excellent illustration of how gaming is also a great tool for real-world educational goals.

supports many of these gamification options natively, and others can be achieved through modifications or additional add-ons. As an example, students can earn points from quizzes, points can be linked to a leaderboard or you can put a time limit on exams, and badges could be awarded when a learner completes a certain action.

2. Accept mistakes.

I'd lost my streak of 433 days at Day 100 had it not been because of Duolingo's streak thawing. This initially seemed a little like cheating, however the reality is that Sometimes life can happen. In the event that I lost a streak 100 days later due to a problem arise at work or due to a personal loss, the end of that streak would be quite demoralizing. So much that I might actually quit the application.

Duolingo is also able to keep the record of any mistakes you make to help you review those words again to earn an extra boost in points. Also, there's always an opportunity to improve when you're using Duolingo. Mistakes aren't permanent, they're simply an area that requires a little more practice. And if life gets out of the way of progress for just a bit then there's no reason to punish yourself for it.

3. Prioritize mobility--and flexibility.

Instructions taught in Duoliongo typically last less than 5 minutes. That means that there's always enough time for completing an activity, and if the content itself is engaging there's almost always an incentive to take multiple.

However, because the content is so short and so flexible, there have been times when I've found myself trying to complete a lesson in a public space in which it's not acceptable to repeat words of phrases out loud. Duolingo can help by providing choices that read "I cannot listen at the moment," or "I can't talk right now." This lets learners continue with their learning, even in crowd or in a busy area.

4. Explore a wide range of skills with a variety of learning methods.

When I started using Duolingo's lessons, they mostly included the translation of sentences back and forth either with or without word bank. Sometimes , I would have to listen to a passage and write down the information I heard. Or I was asked to read out a phrase loud so the app could assess my speaking. Mostly, the questions followed some basic forms.

Since then, Duolingo has expanded question format and introduced new types of exercises for learning. Most popular courses on their site include the "stories" section, which includes builds reading comprehension skills. There are also audio lessons to build listening comprehension. Even the regular lessons now include longer audio quests where learners have to listen carefully for long periods of time, and respond to a question regarding what they heard.

Together, these various question type cover three of four major aspects of language learning that are writing, reading listening , and speaking. Speaking, which would likely require a one-on-1 conversation with a instructor, isn't covered.

The most important thing is that the variety of types of content makes for a more interesting and engaging experience. In the past year I began to get tired of switching sentences in and out. Now, when I grow exhausted of the standard lessons I am able to switch up with other kinds of materials.

You can do the same by providing different types of content or by using a range of question types in the creation of your quizzes. includes a number of different question types, including multi-choice, single-choice (true false), fill-in-the-blank, matching, sorting as well as essay.

5. Always keep innovating.

If there's one aspect I've never failed to be amazed by the Duolingo app, it's that over the years I've been using it it's only improved. Every month they are updating their features in order in order to improve the learning experience. They've created challenging new tasks, created the characters they've introduced to enhance their story, expanded their badges, created additional formats for questions, they've also launched daily and monthly point challenges, each having their own unique reward for gamification.

Being a user, I feel that the way I'm using the application is creating an positive feedback loop which enhances my experience of the application as time goes on. That's a pretty heady feeling.

Naturally, the majority of teachers do not have the funds to put into a refined app like Duolingo. But at a smaller size, you'll be able to keep an eye on your students when they provide feedbackand constantly look for ways to improve the learner experience of your course. If you're never bored so that you don't get caught by competitors.

It takes time and care to create an engaging elearning experience, but the payoff is huge.

Duolingo is a popular choice with its admirers as well as its critics. Myself I am frustrated because the Spanish learning process is getting more and more lengthy and the Russian course remains underdeveloped. Some languages, such as Korean, don't have nearly sufficient support to learn and writing using the alphabet. In addition, I am concerned that some languages have been added sloppily--more to show off than actually a learning process.

However, it can't be said that Duolingo has put more effort into providing a superior experience for its learners over any other educational course I've seen, and has done so through an obsession with UX, UI, and user data. The focus on data and UX has not only led to a better-loved app, but it actually assists learners reach their goals of learning.

After one year of Duo's Spanish course, in which I've devoted myself to reaching the very top of my area, I'm just barely at Checkpoint 2. But the other day, I had a conversation in Spanish with two friends. One of whom was a student in Duo's Spanish course and the other of whom is a ESL teacher of primarily speaking Spanish students. My teacher friend asked about our plans in the morning. I shared the food items that I have in my fridge and offered to make breakfast.

It's not a huge win, but there's nothing like a win that makes you want to continue.