A Case Study in the Use of a Gamified Learning Platform to Teach a Course in CRM Implementation

The transition to virtual learning environments resulting from COVID-19 has led to the need for innovation in teaching. Teaching CRM implementation is challenging in a classroom setting due to the complexity of popular CRM platforms and students' unfamiliarity with CRM's business context, and such challenges may be compounded during virtual course delivery. Because of these challenges and in order to minimize disruption from virtual learning, we chose to utilize Salesforce's proprietary online learning environment, Trailhead, as the foundation for content delivery and competency assessment. In this paper, we present the context of Trailhead, its approach to gamification, our rationale for its selection, and our course design and learning objectives. We invite any feedback on this approach, particularly as it surrounds exercises to improve student outcomes, as well as recommendations for assessment and measurement methods to bring the most rigor and usefulness to the final version of this paper.