Hi all and welcome to my one month tenure at the editing console for the Learning Circuits Blog. Thanks to Justin and the team for the opportunity and the nice introduction!
I've been working in and around E-Learning for the last 10 years or so - enough time to know a lot about nothing and a little about everything. Drawn in by the possibilities of blending technology with education, I'm a bit sad to say that the results haven't always been everything I might have hoped for...
There's a very early episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa imagines herself in the school of the future. She puts on her VR headset and is transported alongside Genghis Khan to explore the battlefields with him on horseback. Somewhere along the way, we seemed to miss out on this vision.
Driven as I was by this view of the future, it perhaps should come as no great surprise that my area of interest resides firmly in Social Learning Games - a whole buzzphrase, let alone buzzword.
We've been researching, experimenting and implementing solutions that embrace both social and game-like behaviour for the last couple of years and we've seen some stunning results. But more of that later... it's time for the Big Question!
Does Gamification have a role in Workplace Learning?
How to Respond:
Option 1 - Simply put your thoughts in a comment below.
Option 2 - Tweet your thoughts using the hashtag: #LCBQ. We will do our best to collect together tweets around the topic.
Option 3 - Post in your blog (please link to this post). We recommend including #LCBQ in your title to help us. Put a comment in this blog with an HTML ready link that I can simply copy and paste (an HTML anchor tag). I will only copy and post, thus, I would also recommend you include your NAME immediately before your link (or you could also include your blog name). So, it should look like: Tony Karrer - e-Learning 2.0 : eLearningTechnology.
Feel free to interpret "Gamification" in the way you see fit - we'll discuss the outcome later in the month.
Cheers for now!
Ben
Option 1 - Simply put your thoughts in a comment below.
Option 2 - Tweet your thoughts using the hashtag: #LCBQ. We will do our best to collect together tweets around the topic.
Option 3 - Post in your blog (please link to this post). We recommend including #LCBQ in your title to help us. Put a comment in this blog with an HTML ready link that I can simply copy and paste (an HTML anchor tag). I will only copy and post, thus, I would also recommend you include your NAME immediately before your link (or you could also include your blog name). So, it should look like: Tony Karrer - e-Learning 2.0 : eLearningTechnology.
Feel free to interpret "Gamification" in the way you see fit - we'll discuss the outcome later in the month.
Cheers for now!
Ben
Posts
11 comments:
Thanks, Ben! It's a good question. My belief is "YES". I definitely think that adding gaming elements to learning has many benefits.
I think some people get caught up in the term 'gamification' -- as if it means we should take any old bit of learning and attach some arbitrary badge system to it. But that's not the case. Game elements should add meaning and value, and so need to be carefully designed and integrated into learning.
I agree with Justin - yes, so long as the game elements add meaning and value.
I'm not a huge fan of badges and points and so forth. Instead, I look for a game to provide an authentic experience.
Manish Gupta - Game Based Learning - Fad or Future
Arunima Majumdar -Game Based Learning - Can Learning Really be Fun?
Just like so many things, the value is in the design, not the label. Games and yes, even gamification, can support learning and increase learner involvement in content...but there are so many types of games that its difficult to categorically say "gamification is good."
Good games can lead to better training and improved learning outcomes--there is actual research now! Bad games, including a lot of the marketing being passed off under the label gamification, very likely doesn't lead to any improvement, but I'm guessing (no research out there yet on this) that it doesn't hurt learning outcomes...in fact, short term, learner participation is likely increased, even if behavior or performance doesn't change.
Since the goal of most training is behavior change, the proof is ultimately in the outcomes. As a game designer, I'm most interested in whether or not the games I design motivate people to do something better. Games designed to support and measure performance improvement are ultimately the kinds of games that learning professionals should be incorporating into their curriculum, not just interest builders.
Jasmine O'Connell - Game Playing
A response from Clive on Learning
OK, so this isn't a direct response to our #LCBQ, but it is a heck of a post & comments on this topic...
Kapp Notes
Andrea May Gamification in Workplace Learning: The Role of Play
Kevin Mulvihill - Sudden Insight - Does Gamification Have a Role in Workplace Learning?
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