Gamification and Game-Based Learning Certificate:
Enhance Motivation, Engagement and Learning Outcomes

A series of 4 sessions starting May 5, 2026

Register Early! Course size is limited.

 

Certificate Overview

In today’s dynamic learning landscape, it is challenging to create engaging, effective, and measurable learning experiences for adult education and corporate training. This interactive certificate helps you achieve your business objectives by exploring the practical application of gamification and game-based learning. Both offer proven, cost-effective strategies to increase motivation, drive participation, and achieve meaningful behavioral change in training environments. We will explore the differences between gamification and game-based learning, experience core design methods, build prototypes, and conduct structured playtests. You'll work on your own ILT, vILT, eLearning, or hybrid project and discover how to design for engagement, motivation, comprehension, and measurable behavior change.

By the end of the certificate, you will learn how to gamify your adult learning programs, step-by-step. You’ll leave with the confidence and skills to hit the ground running using unique and valuable job aids as well as multiple examples which bring out the best in your team and help you achieve business objectives.

Bonus Items

You will receive a full set of tools and templates, including the Gamification and Game-Based Learning Design Document, the Pirate Tales Treasure Map, the Deliberate Fun Game Design Card Deck, learner persona templates, story and narrative frameworks, game mechanic reference sheets, the Story Board Starter Shortcut, and playtest instruments to guide your design work.

Course Details

Pre-Certificate or Interim Assignments
There will be two hours of interim assignments between each session to help you prepare, refine your work, and move your project forward.

Prerequisites
You must have completed development or delivery of at least one instructor-led, e-learning, or blended training solution. No coding skills are required.

Who Should Attend
This program is for those who design, develop, write, or deliver adult education, corporate training, or HR compliance programs across instructor-led, e-learning, virtual, or blended formats. No coding skills are required.

Course Objectives

By the end of this certificate you will:

• Learn the principles that distinguish gamification from game-based learning and select the best approach for your project.
• Identify your business objectives and define the player behaviors you want to influence.
• Craft learner personas that reveal real motivations, pain points, and engagement triggers.
• Apply core game design concepts such as goals, rules, challenge, feedback, and iteration.
• Develop narrative elements, backstory, and world-building techniques to enrich your design.
• Match mechanics to motivators to encourage player action and sustain engagement.
• Rapidly prototype learning games and gamified systems using simple materials or templates.
• Conduct structured playtests to evaluate flow, clarity, and engagement.
• Refine your design using a “fail fast, adjust often” mindset.
• Organize and document your final design for deployment.

Course Materials

You will receive a full set of tools and templates, including the Gamification Design Document, the Pirate Tales Treasure Map, the Deliberate Fun Game Design Card Deck, learner persona templates, story and narrative frameworks, game mechanic reference sheets, the Story Board Starter Shortcut, and playtest instruments to guide your design work.

Sessions

This course is for learning professionals who want to create and deliver programs that truly engage and produce results. Whether you are a training manager, instructional designer, facilitator, eLearning developer, HR professional, or manager who trains, this program equips you to design experiences that matter. No coding skills are required.

Instructional Approach

• Live, online sessions with Gamification Master Craftsmen
• Group discussions and chats
• Videos, white papers, and other tools
• Guild challenges
• Individual project work for immediate application

Session 1:     Foundations of Gamification and Game-Based Learning

During this session you will:

• Explore the essential differences between gamification and game-based learning
• Experience short game activities that reveal how motivation, interaction, and feedback drive behavior
• Identify the project you will develop throughout the certificate
• Draft measurable business and learning objectives
• Begin building your learner persona and story world

Session 2:     Design and Playtest a Learning Game

During this session you will:

• Work through the game design cycle by adapting a base game to fit new learning content
• Sketch the look and feel of your game
• Define the rules and flow
• Test early ideas
• Observe player reactions

This hands-on session teaches you how goals, constraints, challenge, and feedback create meaningful learning.

Session 3:     Apply Gamification Design to Your Own Project

Using the Sententia codified 5-quest Pirate Tales model during this session you will:

• Map the player journey for your real-world project
• Refine your learner persona
• Strengthen your objectives
• Create a compelling narrative
• Select mechanics that match your audience’s motivations
• Build the early structure of your gamified system and prepare it for testing

Session 4:     Playtest, Refine, and Finalize Your Design

During this session you will:

• Run a structured playtest of your prototype
• Identify what works, what doesn’t, and why
• Adjust mechanics, pacing, visuals, narrative, and reward systems to strengthen engagement

The session concludes with a guided walk-through of your final design and the steps needed for deployment.

      

Instructors

Monica Cornetti
Sententia Gamification
Monica works with individuals and organizations who want to learn how to think playfully to achieve meaningful results. Recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in Gamification, she is known for her expertise in gamification strategy and design across ILT, vILT, eLearning, and hybrid formats. When she is not busy transforming dry and dull training, she can be found “researching” gameplay with her grandchildren.

Jonathan Peters
Sententia Gamification
Jonathan is the Chief Motivation Officer at Sententia. He has spent more than a decade studying motivation and persuasion and applies this experience to creating engaging learning solutions. He is the co-author of Deliberate Fun, author of multiple books, and a ghostwriter of 62 titles. 

Course Dates

Course Rates

Early-Bird Registration 30+ days prior to course start date: $845

Registration within 30 days of course start date: $995

Train as a Team and Save!
For information on group discounts, visit fees & discounts.

Course Equipment

IMPORTANT - You'll participate in online and collaborative activities in a number of ways, each designed to provide a unique means to interact and learn from experts and colleagues. All course delivery software operates at Internet connection speeds of 56.6 kbps or better, on PC, Mac and Unix platforms. Programs will use teleconferencing or VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol.) The login instructions emailed to you approximately one week prior to the start of the course will outline platform use as well as any headset requirements or suggestions. Each registrant must provide their own laptop or desktop computer in order to fully participate in the course as mobile applications such as Zoom and Adobe Connect have limited feature functionality that may prohibit you from fully experiencing class activities. Please test your login information a minimum of 48 hours in advance on your course start date on the computer you will be using for the course.
 

ATD Initial Eligibility and Recertification

Training Magazine Certificates have been pre-approved by the ATD Certification Institute to offer educational programs that can be used towards initial eligibility and recertification of the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD) and Associate Professional in Talent Development (APTD) credentials.  For questions on initial eligibility and recertification, visit ATD Certification Institute. 

This program has been approved for a maximum of 12 points.