4 WAYS SERIOUS GAMES

LINK TO LEARNING

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WHY GAMES?

Forty years of research1 says YES,

games are effective learning tools.
People learn from games... and they
will learn MORE from a game than from
other forms of learning.2 However, most
people dont get WHY games work,
which causes them to dismiss games as
frivolous.
If you want to defend games as a
laudable learning strategy, you need
to be able to explain how the fun of
games links to the essentials of
effective learning design.

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LETS START WITH FUN

Fun can be...
WINNING!
Most of us like to win at things even though some of us might say we
dont like competition. Games dont necessarily have to be competitive,
though. Cooperation can still lead to a win state in a game if you beat
the game or achieve the game goal.

TRIUMPHING
Triumphing might mean vanquishing an opponent, or it could mean
mastering something really, really hard (such as a level in a game or an ingame challenge). People love triumphs and the sense of emerging victorious over a human opponent or opposition of any type.

COLLABORATING
Think of times youve played a game as a teamand the enjoyment you
got out of working together as a team toward the game goal.

EXPLORING AND BUILDING

How many of us got a kick out of checking out all the rooms in Clue as
kids and making suggestions? Millions of players enjoy the online game
Civilization and the ability to explore new territories and build cities. Not
convinced? How about all of the people who enjoy wandering around
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art or any other museum? Its a love
of exploring that makes these visits enjoyable.

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COLLECTING
Ever play Pac Man? As your expertise in the game builds, you collect more
and more achievements. If you play Backgammon, you collect your opponents markers. Lots of card games allow you to collect cards (Rummy,
Canasta). Many folks make hobbies out of collecting memorabilia. Lots of
people find collecting fun.

PROBLEM SOLVING OR STRATEGIZING

Crossword puzzles, word searches, and strategy games are popular because people like to solve problems, and they like to formulate strategies
that can help them build things, achieve, collect, triumph, etc.

ROLE PLAYING OR IMAGINING

Getting to be someone or something youre not in the real world is fun for
many people. Its also a very safe way to try on new behaviors.

SURPRISE
Lots of us enjoy the element of surprise or the unexpected. Often, the
biggest fun is in initiating the surprise, not receiving the surprise.

Now that weve laid out what fun can be, lets move
on to the essential elements needed for learning
to happen...

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ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF LEARNING3

To learn, we need...

Motivation

Relevant Practice

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Specific, Timely
Feedback

The ability
to retrieve what
weve learned 4,5

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MAPPING THE FUN TO LEARNING

Finally, lets map the fun in games to elements
needed for learning to occur:
Learning Element:

Game elements that meet these needs:

Motivation

Specific, Timely
Feedback

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1. Game goals: Games tend to have well-defined goals

for success. Decades of psychology research shows
that most people are goal-oriented and will perform
better with goals.
2. PBLs - points, badges, and leaderboards: PBLs are
highly motivating to players who will play to earn
points, collect achievements, and obtain top position
on leaderboards. Recognition is a common motivator,
and PBLs are a way to give it.
3. Levels: The ability to master things or triumph is another common motivator. Levels provide motivation to
keep playing.
4. Flow: In a great game, time seems to either stand still,
or it goes incredibly fast. We keep playing because its
fun; the more we play, the more we learn by playing.
5. The fun in problem-solving, strategizing, and collaborating: People find all of these motivating.

Games offer continual, immediate feedback. Good performance gets rewarded with increasing points, escalating
achievements, or advancements to new levels. Poor performance typically results in the opposite and causes the
player to immediately adjust behavior to try and improve.
The turn nature of games gives players lots of opportunities to adjust and refine performance.

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In a game, the entire play is practice. In traditional training, there is often a ton of tell before you get to any do.

Relevant
Practice

The ability
to retrieve what
weve learned

Fun factors in here, too, as problem solving, strategizing,

mastering things, etc. all can tie in to providing relevant
practice. Also, learning games tend to be designed in
context. In a simulation, for example, the simulation is
set up to mimic the real-world challenges. This provides
relevance. In quiz-style games such as Knowledge Guru,
relevance can be mirrored via scenarios that match those
the learner will encounter in the job. Game rules and
game resources can also be designed to mimic real-world
constraints.

Games are often repetitive in nature, and repetition cements memory. Repetition builds mastery. In games, we
often repeat the same sequence of steps over and over,
with the level of difficulty escalating as we progress in the
game. In games, we can also replicate real-world context
without real-world risk. This replication gives us context,
and context makes it easier to retrieve information later.

Now do you see how games link to

learning ?

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SEE THE RESEARCH

[1] Van Eck, Richard (2006). Digital Game-Based Learning, EduCause, Vol 41, No. 2: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/digital-game-based-learning-its-not-just-digital-natives-who-are-restless
[2] Kapp, Karl (2012). The Gamification of Learning: What Research Says About Simulations and Serious Games. Keynote address for The Medical Device and Diagnostic Trainers Summit, Princeton, NJ
http://www.slideshare.net/kkapp/spbt-kapp-keynote2012
[3] Gagne, R. and Driscoll, M (1988) Essentials of Learning for Instruction (2nd ed), Prentice Hall.
[4] Clark, Ruth and Mayer, Richard (2003). eLearning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning, Pfeiifer,.
[5] Medina, John (2008). Brain Rules, Pear Press.
[6] Blunt, Richard, Ph.D. (2009) Does Game-Based Learning Work? Results from Three Recent Studies. http://patrickdunn.squarespace.com/storage/blunt_game_studies.pdf
[7] Peng, W., Lee, M., & Heeter. (2010) The effects of a serious game on role taking and willingness to
help. Journal of Communications. 60, 723-724. Chapter 5 of The Gamification of Learning Instruction.
[8] University of Colorado Denver (2010, October 20). Video games can be highly effective training
tools, study shows: Employees learn more, forget less, master more skills. http://www.sciencedaily.
com/releases/2010/10/101019171854.htm
[9] Lee, J., Luchini, K., Michael, B. Norris, C., & Soloway, E. (2004). More than just fun and games.
Assessing the value of educational video games in the classroom. Paper presented at the CHI 04
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vienna, Austria.
[10] Gagne, R. and Driscoll, M. (1988) Essentials of Learning for Instruction (2nd ed), Prentice Hall.

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game engine to easily create your own learning games.

Schedule a demo at
www.theknowledgeguru.com/demo
317-861-7281

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info@bottomlineperformance.com

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