Nathan Verrill, co-Founder of Natron Baxter Applied Gaming & Gameful, will present the opening Keynote of LEEF2011. His talk “Fun is not the Enemy of Work”, will introduce learning leaders and game developers to the emerging trend of Gamification. Click here for the full interview from Nathan Verrill on “Fun is Not the Enemy of Work”
Most learning technologies focus on using visual information to deliver content. But immersive technologies address all of the senses; visual, haptic, auditory, and sometime the olfactory. These technologies are used to construct environments which provide alternative methods for receiving and imparting information to your audience. Click here for the full interview from Michael Macedonia on “Immersive Education and Training”.
You don’t have to look far for articles and reports about the adoption and effectiveness of Serious Games. Here are some recent pieces you might have missed and may find interesting. Please add comments to share other resources.
From the Harvard Business Review, Business Week and Fast Company, to independent bloggers and professional associations, there’s a lot of news being generated about the use of serious games. Here to stay and growing among companies large and small, serious games present exciting results for training and development leaders. Here’s a run-down of some articles that may support your research and evaluation.
The CEO Guide to Business Gamification, Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This is a special report including several features like, ”The Games Companies Play,” and a podcast titled: “Is Gamification Serious Business?”
Learn how companies including Siemens, SAP, Nissan and Mattel are using game technology to improve how they train workers and design and market products. The gamification market may surge to $1.6 billion in 2015 from $100 million this year. Read more here. Read the rest of this entry »
If you’ve just recently come across information on LEEF —The Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum— here’s a quick summary of the program coming up June 16-17 at Harrisburg University. It’s led by Andy Petroski & Charles Palmer, with help from industry advisors, as a professional development event extending from the University’s graduate program in Learning Technologies and the Center for Advanced Entertainment & Learning Technologies.
The Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum (LEEF) brings together learning professionals and game designers and developers to explore the evolving use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning and performance. In its third year, the event is unique because it is small, experiential, social and affordable. LEEF has nationally recognized speakers (IBM, SAIC, The Future Work Lab, etc) and is refreshingly cutting edge, while still being practical and applied. Attending the forum is a great way to become introduced to, or advance the use of serious games for learning and performance. This year’s focus includes an introduction to the concept of gamification and how it will change the nature of learning and work itself.
LEEF is:
To learn more about the Keynote Speakers, Case Studies and the rest of the agenda, visit the Program page for LEEF.
Scroll through the LEEF Blog to learn more about the topics that will be explored at LEEF, including Gamification, (earlier blog on Gamification), the Evolution of Learning Games, principles of adult learning and game design, rapid prototyping, and more.
By now, you have probably read the announcements about LEEF on June 16-17, and are well aware of the momentum that is growing for the adoption of games and simulations for learning. Now is a good time to register someone from your organization for LEEF, because:
• Discounted registration ends Friday April 15. You can save $100 by registering now!
• All 12 of the project case studies have been posted online for your review.
The Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum (LEEF) brings together learning professionals and game designers and developers to explore the use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning and performance. LEEF is:
• An intimate venue for hands-on exploration of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning
• Host to 12 interactive workshops on design, development and implementation
• Where veterans and newbies explore the frontiers of serious games and eLearning innovations
• An event that is easy to navigate, applies experiential learning and allows you to make meaningful contacts.
Andy Petroski is a co-coordinator of LEEF and Director and Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University.
Most organizations evaluate a traditional Return-on-Investment (ROI) model when determining whether to adopt new technologies and techniques. The challenge with ROI is that it mainly addresses quantitative elements that can only be measured in dollars. As a result, cost and time savings is often the only thing driving technology adoptions. ROI doesn’t take into account impact on organizational culture, improved experience for employees and customers and image building opportunities. So, until they are forced to do so by societal, consumer or market forces (e.g. Windows OS, email, Internet, etc.) the majority of organization’s don’t view technology adoption as a strategy for success, but only as a cost savings measure.
A different lens through which to view technology adoption is needed, especially in a world that is rapidly changing, collaborative and technology-enabled. This lens should take into account activities of early adopters along with customer and employee engagement.
This new lens is especially important as younger workers enter the workforce. The majority of them come from a personal world in which they are technology-immersed. They communicate differently, work differently and view technology differently. And, increasingly they are coming from an educational world that is technology-immersed. K-12 and higher education have made heavy investment in technology-enabled learning over the past few years. In just a few short years there will be people entering the workforce who did not physically hand-in an assignment, paper or project in their secondary or post-secondary career. Their view of communicating and producing with technology will be as ubiquitous as the more experienced workforce’s view of television. Articles abound highlighting younger employees’ work-related motivations. They want to be able to innovate, want work that’s interesting and want access to the latest and greatest technology. To attract and keep talent and build a foundation for the future of your organization, technology adoption should be a high priority.
So, if traditional ROI is not the best way to evaluate technology adoption, what is? Here are some approaches you might consider adding to your mix of evaluative tools.
Return on Experience
Return on Investment is a tactical, in-the-moment accomplishment. Return on Experience (ROE) is about creating and sustaining relationships. Strategic relationships with employees, suppliers or customers can yield long-term results, versus the shorter-term benefits of ROI. A Buzz-Tank article by John Oswald talks about customer experience delivering bottom line results. The article references information that customer experience leaders outperform others in pure stock performance terms and touts other stories from the field that prove customer experience has real results.
Risk Management
The process of identifying, assessing and prioritizing risks and their effect on objectives (positive or negative), followed by a coordinated effort to minimize, monitor and control negative impact or maximize opportunities widens an organizations view of challenges and opportunities beyond just the balance sheet.
Risk management creates value, addresses uncertainty, accounts for human factors and should be part of a continual improvement process. There are risk management models and approaches for specific industries and enterprise risk management (ERM). The ERM Institute International, Ltd (ERM-II) is a non-profit educational and research organization that focuses on education, research, and training within an ERM conceptual framework, quantitative methods and tools, and best practices. ERM is an emerging tool that is being used across a variety of industries to help organizations minimize risk – of action and inaction.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Activities can be measured by progress toward organizational goals through the use of key performance indicators (KPI). These quantifiable measurements can be any critical success factors identified by the organization. A KPI might be the percentage of sales that come from existing customer referrals or a reduction in customer complaints. KPIs are usually long-term considerations. Technology adoption could have impact for KPIs related to employee retention, employee satisfaction or innovation.
According to Koreen Olbrish, CEO at Tandem Learning, “One challenge of any improvement evaluation is making sure you have a baseline assessment from which to measure improvement from. You can’t assess how much a technology is helping to improve relationships or address KPI if you don’t know where you are starting. Another challenge is ensuring robust enough data collection to show that improvements are relevant. While anecdotal improvement can help you build the success ‘story’ of a technology, it is critical to tie these stories to improvement measures to help you make a solid business case.”
Can you afford not to be implementing new technology? When is adoption of new technology necessary to keep your competitive edge (with employees and customers)? ROI is one way of evaluating technology decisions, but it often only highlights a small portion of the potential value. Consider other evaluation approaches that allow you to consider technology impact across the spectrum of organizational relationships.
Other resources: 21 risks of not adopting Enterprise 2.0
Join us at the Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum on June 16-17 to explore the changing nature of games, simulations and virtual worlds. LEEF is an interactive professional development event that explores the use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning. Go to www.goleef.com to learn more about the event!
Andy Petroski is a co-coordinator of LEEF and Director and Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University.
Games are no longer just a tactical tool. They are becoming a business strategy, used to drive motivation, communication and innovation in the organization. The energy and engagement created by games and simulations presents opportunities for creative problem solving in a cross-functional environment.
There are a number of ways games are being used as strategic initiatives.
Virtual Think Tanks
Companies like Cisco and IBM have an ongoing presence in SecondLife for idea generation, world-wide collaboration and evaluation of virtual worlds. There are also planned sessions and meetings that take advantage of the 3D environment and enable worldwide participation through virtual attendance. It just wouldn’t be possible to bring all of this “brain power” together without the virtual environment. The ability to interact as avatars in a 3D world adds a level of personalization and engagement that further impacts the results.
Read more about IBM’s meetings in SecondLife
Game Guilding for Solution Building
Seriosity conducts events where players present solutions to business problems to a panel of judges. The solutions are created as a result of game play in game guilds (employees divided into teams). Seriosity describes it in the following manner on their web site:
Camp Seriosity. A good way to learn about games is to play one while studying. Seriosity conducts one and two-day events where the players (i.e., folks in your company) divide into teams (i.e., game guilds) and compete to win (i.e., be on top of the leader board) when they present before our panel of judges. Prizes are on the line. These games yield innovative solutions to critical pain points while demonstrating the power of game psychology. We’ve played this game, to positive reviews, with over a dozen Fortune 500 companies.
While Seriosity’s live gameplay is the only example I’ve found where teams from one organization are formed to participate in a game environment to solve problems, there are online games like IBM’s Innov8 and CityOne, FoldIt and World without Oil that have been created with the specific intention of finding solutions to real-world problems. Each year the Microsoft Imagine Cup challenges students to tackle tough problems. The competition empowers students to use technology, innovation and creativity to help solve some of the world’s most challenging social issues. “Deep Sea”, a game created in the competition, is a game designed to protect the ocean environment and promote innovation in keeping oil rigs safe.
Gameference’s
Innovation Management Institute creates gameferences and game camps to “to provide innovators and designers with the tools necessary to consistently and effectively create solutions for the most perplexing design challenges.” A gameference is described as “more learning than a conference; more hands-on than a workshop; more peer-to-peer than an unconference.” Essentially, teams are formed to play a multi-level game, through which topical goals are defined or advanced approaches are established while teams compete to develop the best solution.
You’ll probably need to attend one yourself to fully appreciate the concept. Here are some upcoming gameferences:
Is CEG (Chief Executive Gamer) as an organizational role far behind? As we learn more about optimal performance, innovation and creativity, game mechanics rise to the forefront of big impact approaches. The concepts in this post are just the beginning of games as an organizational strategy, versus only being relegated to a tactical approach.
Join us at the Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum on June 16-17 to explore the changing nature of games, simulations and virtual worlds. LEEF is an interactive professional development event that explores the use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning. Go to www.goleef.com to learn more about the event!
This week I am attending the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. I’ve had an opportunity to attend quite a few of the presentations at the Serious Games Summit, and I’d like to share some of the highlights in this blog.
Don Miller of Playpower.org gave a presentation about the Playpower project, which uses a $10 TV-computer to provide affordable, engaging educational games to players in developing countries. The computer is a clone of the Nintendo Entertainment System, but don’t let the 8-bit graphics fool you. The project has spawned several effective games that teach about important global issues, such as malaria prevention and how to avoid landmines.
You don’t always need an extravagant budget and high-end graphics to produce effective educational games. To continue this work, the project needs volunteers. I encourage you to check out the project site to view a demo of the latest game, and to sign up as a volunteer if you like what you see: http://playpower.org/
Also, check out this article that describes a bit of what goes into the development of Playpower games: http://www.racketboy.com/editorial/2010/07/playpower-bringing-8-bit-learning-and-programming-to-the-world.html
One facet of the Instructional Design profession that I have always found exciting is the opportunity to work with new content areas and subject matter experts on a regular basis. From the fascinating-because-it’s-gross category (like fungal infections) to the delicious (like wine), I devour the content and walk away from each project having learned something new.
I have recently been thinking back to content from multiple pharmaceutical sales training projects and the relevance of those skills in introducing new ideas like games, virtual worlds, and other learning strategies within an organization. Often, in trying to “Change the Game” within our own organizations, these new ideas are met with resistance and we essentially need to sell the new strategies to management and peers to garner support, funding, and adoption.
When proposing new ways of doing things, especially to a management team who will need some convincing, think like a sales person! Here are some lessons I learned from sales training content:
When presented with a proposed shift in strategy, there may be a tendency from management to reject the idea, citing an organizational “challenge” like budget or the perceived culture of the target audience. Is the stated challenge really the obstacle or barrier to introducing something new? Or is there an underlying, unstated objection that is the true issue at hand?
When presented with resistance, sales professionals are cautioned never to take an objection at face value. They are trained to really get to the bottom of the issue by asking probing questions and making sure the source of the concern is well understood before responding.
Rather than taking management’s reaction as the final word, try asking some probing questions. By gaining a better understanding of the root of the concern, you can be much more effective in alleviating their fears than by reacting immediately to the stated problem.
Prepare for your conversation by doing some research. Look for case studies that show how other organizations have addressed similar learning needs and challenges with success. Share those case studies as support for your ideas.
Be sure to articulate the outcomes that you anticipate as a result of your proposed initiative. A learning game, for example, is not a solution simply because it’s cool; it can actually have great results for learning and performance improvement. While discussing your proposal, maintain focus on the anticipated benefit and generate excitement about the outcomes.
To the skilled sales professional, these techniques are almost second nature. For those of us not in a sales role, it won’t come as naturally, but it will come with practice. The first step is to start thinking like a sales professional and get into that mindset. When you’re ready to propose something new in your organization, try these techniques, sell your ideas, and start changing the game!
It seems gamification is being considered for everything from customer loyalty programs to employee engagement and application development. But, what lessons do games really offer for user experience design in gamification initiatives? Which criticisms from opponents are valid? And what can designers interested in “gamifying” an application do to steer clear of the worst pitfalls? Watch this video of Sebastian Deterding for an overview of gamification, its most troubling blind spots and how to design for a truly playful experience.
And, attend LEEF on June 16-17 to hear gamification keynotes, experience real-world projects via case study sessions and gain valuable insight into game and simulation tools and techniques.
Join us at the Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum on June 16-17 to explore the changing nature of games, simulations and virtual worlds. “LEEF is an interactive professional development event that explores the use of games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning. Go to www.goleef.com to learn more about the event!
