Using game play elements to motivate learning
First Claim
1. A method for utilizing game elements within a productivity application, the method executing on a processor of a computer, comprising:
- tracking features utilized by a user within the productivity application, the productivity application being a word-processing application, a presentation application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, or a programming application;
for each of the tracked features, determining a component score for the user based on a difficulty level of the tracked feature;
accumulating component scores to derive a user score;
determining challenges to provide to the user based at least in part on the tracked features utilized by the user;
wherein the challenges include additional features of the application for the user to learn, the additional features being used by a group of additional users of the productivity application but not used by the user;
displaying a user interface including categories of features within the productivity application, a user'"'"'s progress towards accomplishing the challenges associated with features in each of the categories, and the challenges associated with additional features of the productivity application;
receiving a selection of one of the challenges from the user;
providing the selected challenge to the user;
providing a hint button during the selected challenge that directly links help content that provides one or more steps to complete the selected challenge, wherein the help content is provided to the user upon selection of a hint button during the selected challenge;
repeating the tracking, determining, and accumulating operations with respect to the additional features related to the selected challenge; and
comparing the accumulated user score to a score of at least one user from the group of additional users and providing a display of the comparison to the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Elements of game play, such as usage statistics, scores, levels, challenges, achievements, competition, and the like, are incorporated into a productivity application to assist in motivating users to learn features of the productivity application. A recommendation system is utilized to assist users in determining what features of the application to learn next. Help content that is associated with the productivity application can also be tied to the features that are currently being learned and used by the user such that the linked help content is readily available. Users may compare their scores and compete with other persons that are also participating in the game play learning system.
136 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for utilizing game elements within a productivity application, the method executing on a processor of a computer, comprising:
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tracking features utilized by a user within the productivity application, the productivity application being a word-processing application, a presentation application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, or a programming application; for each of the tracked features, determining a component score for the user based on a difficulty level of the tracked feature; accumulating component scores to derive a user score; determining challenges to provide to the user based at least in part on the tracked features utilized by the user;
wherein the challenges include additional features of the application for the user to learn, the additional features being used by a group of additional users of the productivity application but not used by the user;displaying a user interface including categories of features within the productivity application, a user'"'"'s progress towards accomplishing the challenges associated with features in each of the categories, and the challenges associated with additional features of the productivity application; receiving a selection of one of the challenges from the user; providing the selected challenge to the user; providing a hint button during the selected challenge that directly links help content that provides one or more steps to complete the selected challenge, wherein the help content is provided to the user upon selection of a hint button during the selected challenge; repeating the tracking, determining, and accumulating operations with respect to the additional features related to the selected challenge; and comparing the accumulated user score to a score of at least one user from the group of additional users and providing a display of the comparison to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions for utilizing game elements within a productivity application, the instructions executing on a processor of a computer, comprising:
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tracking features utilized by a user within the productivity application, the productivity application being a word-processing application, a presentation application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, or a programming application; for each of the tracked features, determining a component score for the user based on a difficulty level of the tracked feature; accumulating component scores to derive a user score; determining challenges to provide to the user based at least in part on the tracked features utilized by the user;
wherein the challenges include additional features of the application for the user to learn, the additional features being used by a group of additional users of the productivity application but not used by the user;providing a user interface including categories of features within the productivity application, a user'"'"'s progress towards accomplishing the challenges associated with features in each of the categories, and the challenges associated with additional features of the productivity application; receiving a selection of one of the challenges; directly linking help content that is natively supplied by the application to the selected challenge, such that the linked help content is provided to the user upon selection of a hint button during the selected challenge; repeating the tracking, determining, and accumulating operations with respect to the additional features related to the selected challenge; and comparing the user score to scores of the additional users that are obtained from a social networking site. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for utilizing game elements within a productivity application, comprising:
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a processor and a computer-readable medium; an operating environment stored on the computer-readable medium and executing on the processor; a network connection; a productivity application and a feature manager operating on the processor, the productivity application being a word-processing application, a presentation application, a spreadsheet application, a database application, or a programming application; and
configured to perform tasks, comprising;tracking features utilized by a user within the productivity application; for each of the tracked features, determining a component score for the user based on a difficulty level of the tracked feature; accumulating component scores to derive a user score; determining challenges to provide to the user based on the tracked features utilized by the user;
wherein the challenges include new features of the application to learn and features unavailable within a version of the productivity application being used by the user, the new features being used by a group of additional users of the productivity application but not used by the user;directly linking help content that is natively supplied by the application to each of the challenges, such that the linked help content for one of the recommended challenges is provided to a user without performing a search for the linked help content; providing a user interface including categories of features within the productivity application, a user'"'"'s progress towards accomplishing the challenges associated with features in each of the categories, and the challenges associated with additional features of the productivity application; displaying the user score for the user and scores of the group of additional users, along with a display showing a component score for each of a plurality of components that determine the user score and displaying an indicator that shows how the score for each component compares to a score of the another user for the component; receiving a selection of one of the challenges; and providing a training challenge to allow a user to practice the recommended challenge that is selected. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification