How are XP points calculated?

This article delves into the philosophy of XP points, explaining their significance, the psychology behind them, how they are calculated, and their impact on learner engagement and progress.

THE PHILOSPHY OF XP POINTS

XP points are intended to motivate users to learn on a frequent basis. This means gathering new knowledge as well as refreshing and improving knowledge. 

In the modern world of digital learning, motivation and engagement play a crucial role in ensuring that learners stay committed to their educational journey. Traditional learning methods often struggle with keeping students engaged, but gamification elements - such as Experience Points - address that issue.

Traditional education often has a definitive endpoint—such as completing a course or earning a degree. However, XP systems encourage a mindset of lifelong learning by continuously rewarding progress. Unlike grades, which are fixed and evaluative, XP points reflect ongoing growth and improvement.

By maintaining an XP-based progression system, learners are motivated to keep engaging with educational content even after achieving initial milestones. This creates a culture where learning is not just a requirement but a continuous pursuit of knowledge and self-improvement.

In summary, XP points serve as a dynamic system to track progress, reward effort, and inspire continuous learning.

THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND XP POINTS

The effectiveness of XP points is rooted in behavioral psychology, particularly in the principles of motivation and reinforcement. There are three key psychological factors that make XP points an effective tool for learning:

• Intrinsic Motivation: XP points provide immediate feedback, helping learners see their progress in real-time. This creates a sense of accomplishment and encourages them to keep going.
• Extrinsic Motivation: XP points come with rewards such as badges and leaderboards. These external motivators create a sense of competition and achievement, driving learners to stay engaged.
• The Dopamine Effect: Small, incremental rewards—like gaining XP points—activate the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine. This makes learning more enjoyable and habit-forming.

HOW THE POINTS ARE CALCULATED

XP points are setup based on this philosophy of continuous learning and personal development. Therefore points are attributed as follows:

1. Highest amount: users test themselves on the knowledge they obtained
2. High amount: they obtain good scores on questions & tests, definitely on first attempts
3. Medium amount: they perform a new action, such as viewing a course or watching a video
4. Low amount: they refresh existing knowledge by viewing content multiple times or redoing tests

This means e.g.:

• when users do a course with a test perfectly on the first attempt, they will receive more points than when you redo the same test perfectly.
• when they complete a course, they will gain much more XP than watching a video, as the course includes much more actions. This also applies if they redo the course versus rewatching a video.

BUT WHAT IF....?

What if you have the impression that users are falsely obtained a high number of XP, like just rushing through content to get the highest number? 

According to the way it is calculated, users that are actually doing it right, should still be in the higher XP range than those who don't. If not, there might be some other underlying issues that need to be addressed:

• Lack of content for all types of users: if some users just have much more content to consume, they can easily exceed others. However, without sufficient content, users won't be able to continuously learn and grow anyway. The actual issue is not the XP points, it is the amount and frequency of content.
• Social learning mentality: instead of driving competition purely on numbers, drive on competitive knowledge. Give your top 3 performers a stage to explain or showcase their acquired skill to peers that don't have this skill yet. Moreover, no-one will be trying to cheat the system if they know that this is the award.
• Personal coaching: Sometimes there might be an exceptional smartypants, who finds a way to obtain more XP than their peers, but not in the right way. If someone spends his time solely on chasing the XP number, this needs to be addressed anyhow. You don't want this quantity over quality mentality to slip into their daily operations. It is a drive and motivation though, it just needs to be channeled for the right things.

Know that we address each of those issues with more specific solutions in our platform. Please contact your Customer Success Manager if you'd like to discuss any of those.