Welcome! e-Gaming Strategies

1. Welcome!e-Gaming Strategies Marjorie Pomper, Ph.D. Director of Corporate Training

2. Objectives • Recognize how learning can be supported with e-gaming strategies • Apply easy and effective strategies for e-gaming • Identify practical, inexpensive strategies and tools that can help you meet your objectives

3. Think like Addie … Why am I here? Agenda • e-Games and Learning • e-Gaming Strategies for Learning • Examples/Tools • Q & A

4. e-Games and Learning Are gaming strategies all hype? Do games help people learn? Do we need games because we have employees from the “twitch” generation?

5. But, it depends… On what? e-Games and Learning Are gaming strategies all hype? No Do games help people learn? Yes Do we need games because we have employees from the “twitch” generation? It’s a good idea

6. Count the White Shirts Game

7. Organizational Learning Strategy Driven by strategic business objectives Learner-centered Interactive Performance-based Blended Process Aligned Learning Opportunities Desired Business Results Engaged Learning Learners as partners

8. Attracts the learner’s interest and attention Relevant to the learner Motivates learner to achieve goals Requires interaction Applied in context Driven by the learner Flow, Enjoyment, Inspiration Emotional Engagement Engaged Learning

9. Attracts the learner’s interest and attention Relevant to the learner Motivates learner to achieve goals Requires interaction Applied in context Driven by the learner Flow, Enjoyment, Inspiration Emotional Engagement Engaged Learning Characteristics of a good game

10. “If the training organization in every company evaporated into thin air or disappeared through a wormhole to teaching heaven, individuals would continue to learn.”“We are not the reason employees learn; we are here to help them learn more effectively.” Jeff Cross and Tony O’Driscoll Training Mag.com 2006

11. How Gamers Learn • Twitch speed vs. conventional speed • Parallel processing vs. linear processing • Graphics first vs. text first • Random access vs. step by step • Connected vs. stand alone • Do to learn vs. learn to do • Active vs. passive Marc Prensky Digital Game-based Learning

12. Gamer Demographics

13. e-Gaming Defined Provide an interactive experience • Electronically provides visual (and audio) information to one or more players • Takes some input from the players • Processes the input according to a set of programmed game rules • Alters the information provided to the players Operate on one of the following platforms: • Personal computers • Mobile devices, e.g. PDA, Phones, etc. • Video game consoles Literature Review in Games and LearningFuture Lab

14. Characteristics of Good Games • Goal • Challenge • Failure • Reward • Decisions with effects • Characters • Story • Flow Mark Overmars James Paul Gee

15. Learning Theories and Gaming Strategies

16. Action Gaming Strategies • Immediate feedback • Practice to improve performance • Time pressure • Consequences Make Tutorials more engaging: • Timers • Accumulate/loose Points

17. Customers and Solutions Board Game

18. Simulation Gaming Strategies • Motivate learners to discover what they need to know • Create a context that aligns with the work environment • Align consequences with work experience • Incorporate time pressure consistent with work • Offer references and resources

19. Process ProcessSteps Skill, Knowledge, Attitude Skill, Knowledge, Attitude Gaming Strategy Process Simulation Games

20. Process Sales Process Skill, Knowledge, Attitude Sales Skills, Product Knowledge Win the Customer Example Sales Process Simulation Game

21. Win the Customer Process Simulation Game

22. When to Use a Process Simulation Game If learners need to: • Identify process steps • Select process steps in the correct order • Apply knowledge, skills, or attitudes in the context of the process

23. Design Decisions Process Simulation Level Level 1: View Process Level 2: Select steps in linear process Level 3: Select steps and enter information Level 4: Select multiple paths Level 5: Fully simulate process

25. Design Decisions Visual and Audio Assets • Need for motion? • Purpose of voice and sound? • Must-haves for visuals?

26. Design Decisions Interaction Types E-learning basics • Multiple choice • True/False • Matching • Hot spot identification • Drag and Drop

28. Design Decisions Gaming Strategies • Earning/loosing points • Working against the clock • Competing against self or other learners • Decision making and consequences for decisions

32. Design Decisions Interface Design • Clear instructions • Easy to Use • Easy to Learn

34. Design Decisions Reusable • Process framework • Gaming strategy • Templates • Easy-to-change assets

35. Design Decisions References • On-line • Paper-based • Job Aides

37. The Enterprise Game

38. What learning goals might be supported by these strategies? Role-Play Gaming Strategies • Let the learner assume and potentially customize a character (avatar) • Equip the character with skills, attributes, and powers that change with experience • Allow the character to explore and have experiences • Provide a master or mentor • Provide challenges to overcome

40. Game Engines • Authoring systems for games • Range from free ware to expensive, sophisticated systems: • Game Maker • Learning Beans • “Mods” of existing games • Never Winter Nights • Tools for learning by creating games

41. Multi-Player Gaming Strategies • Provide opportunities to meet and collaborate • Present tough problems to solve • Allow players to assume different roles/develop characters • Plan to moderate • Utilize different delivery systems Multi-player Sim Authoring: Fabulisa

42. Have you ever heard of “I Love Bees”? Alternate Realty Games “An obsession-inspiring genre that blends real-life treasure hunting, interactive storytelling, video games and online community... “These games are an intensely complicated series of puzzles involving coded Web sites, real-world clues like the newspaper advertisements, phone calls from game characters and more. That blend of real-world activities and a dramatic storyline has proven irresistible to many.” C-Net

43. Other ideas for off-the-shelf games? Off-the-Shelf Video Games Can these games offer anything to Organizational Learning? • SIMS in Spanish?

44. Learning and Gaming Initiatives • Serious Games www.seriousgames.org • Education Arcade www.educationarcade.com • Future Lab www.futurelab.org

45. Questions, Comments?

46. Thank – you!