When developing eLearning material, content creators want to offer an overall experience for learners, not just a recitation of information. Interactive features are a major part of this plan, and are easy to implement with the right authoring tool. Quizzes, surveys and animations are all great options, but what about serious games and simulation learning? Many developers are wary of combining gaming and education, but the results of doing so are quite convincing.

“Because games have a stated goal and rules of play to guide players to that goal, well-designed games yield meaningful play, defined as that which ‘occurs when the relationships between actions and outcomes in a game are both discernable and integrated into the larger context of the game,’” according to Anne Derryberry’s Learning Solutions Magazine article. “When game design focuses on learning outcomes, then, while preserving playfulness, serious learning is possible.”

The point of serious gaming is to help the learner stay focused and interested in material that otherwise may have not been understood.  Members of the LinkedIn Serious Games Group joined in on Sharon Voigt’s discussion, which asked, “What makes a game an effective learning tool?” and offered their suggestions. A few are highlighted here:

Sharon, Executive Editor, School Specialty, Inc.:

  • Engages my students and gets them excited about learning
  • Provides explicit instruction on a specific topic/skill
  • Adapts to student performance so that the level of difficulty increases as student performance improves
  • Customizable so I can “assign” students activities that match what I am teaching
  • Provides instructive feedback when student appears to not understand either a specific skill or feature of the game

“When I combined the responses [in this discussion] with responses from two other game discussion groups, the feature that received the most responses was 'engages students and gets them excited about learning.' This was tied with the game having an explicit goal (win objective) and a clear map for achieving that goal.”

Kristina Cunningham, M.A. student, Serious Game Design:

  • Good games, and good games for learning, provide the player-learner with an explicit goal (win condition/objective) along with a clear map to how to achieve that goal.

“At heart, most species learn through play. Play is a powerful learning experience hardwired into each of us. Games tap that.”

Mikael Andersson, IT Project Manager:

  • [All] levels require students to use reasoning skills rather than simply answering factual questions…engagement and stimulation relies on requiring reasoning from the student/player, not just repetition
  • Some levels require collaboration with other students either online or in person - when this is possible, absolutely. Collaboration and sharing experiences enhances engagement and outcomes in any game or learning activity.
  • Encourage further exploration and learning on the topic outside of the game environment

James Cowgill, Director of Serious Games at Centerline Digital:

  • My take on it is to focus less on the “gamey” stuff and start with what learning objectives the students need to take away.

How the game is created and the game’s activity is dependent on the learning goals and objectives, but serious games in general should be considered when developing interactive eLearning courses for the end-user. If you use Lectora eLearning software, you can take advantage of the Flash & Games Library within the program, which lets you choose from a list of customizable flash games and animations such as flash cards, jigsaw puzzles, million dollar question game, hangman, word scramble, tic tac toe and more. There are even several new Flash games that have been added, such as basketball and golf hole in one.

“Deeply immersive learning experiences increase engagement, and results can be determined by learning metrics such as retention and transfer. Next to mentored real performance, serious games are arguably the best way to master a skill,” said Clark Quinn and Lisa Neal in eLearn Magazine. “A serious game will not seem frivolous when done right. Whether you call it immersive learning simulations or serious games, it constitutes deeply contextualized, challenging practice.”

Your learners will be appreciative of the break from standard text-centered courses, and are more likely to retain the information that you’ve provided within the game. Any way to collapse barriers between you and the learner should be welcomed, and serious games are an ideal solution for quality eLearning courses.

 

 

 

 

 

To keep up to date with Lectora and related activities, stay connected with our social networks at: Twitter: @lectora, Facebook - http://bit.ly/cIG0Pe, LinkedIn group (Lectora Rapid eLearning) - http://bit.ly/9qcO3n

 

Heather Thomas is the Social Media Lead at Trivantis Corporation. She is a senior public relations student at Kent State University and is interested in corporate PR and social media. She enjoys traveling, reading and writing.