Game-Based Learning: Revitalizing 3 Online Learning Activities

Game-Based Learning For Increased Learner Engagement – Revitalizing 3 Online Learning Activities
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Summary: Simulations, scenarios, and assessments – 3 widely used activities in online courses. Learn how they can be pepped up by incorporating game-based learning.

Game-Based Learning For Increased Learner Engagement: How To Revitalize 3 Online Learning Activities

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­It’s no secret that organizational training is an important aspect for companies to withstand competition in an ever-changing marketplace. It helps organizations fill the knowledge gaps of employees and enhance their skills so that they work efficiently toward achieving the overall organizational goals. But as training is an ongoing process, chances of employees getting bored is high. So, you must make it interesting and engaging for employees.

eBook Release: Free eBook: Game-Based Learning For Increased Learner Engagement
eBook Release
Free eBook: Game-Based Learning For Increased Learner Engagement
This eBook is made to meet the needs of trainers and learners, through game-based learning.

There are many ways to make your training immersive. One of them is game-based learning, which is rapidly becoming popular in corporate training. In this article, we will look at 3 online learning activities that can be made fun and engaging through games – Assessments, Scenarios, and Simulations.

1. Assessments

Assessments in an eLearning course are important to gauge the knowledge levels of learners and reinforce learning. Usually these are presented before (pre) and after (post) a training course. Pre-assessments help you measure the prior knowledge of learners, based on which you can steer them toward a personalized path. Post-assessments help you determine how much learners have actually learned from the course.

Usually these assessments are in the form of multiple choice questions, drag and drop, match the following, or dropdown lists. But learners need something beyond these, because after a while, these might become monotonous and tedious. Game-based assessments are a great way to avoid this.

Game-based assessments help you engage learners in the assessment activity and reinforce knowledge in an interesting way. The games that are included in assessments boost the must-win spirit of learners, which makes them apply their skills and knowledge.

For pre-assessments, mini games such as puzzles and memory games will help assess how much the learner knows about the subject and test the recall of facts. You can also have levels such as basic, intermediate, and expert for pre-assessments. This ensures that learners know where they stand and decide on the course they have to take next.

Post-assessments can have maze games or skill-based games, which test the learner on specific skills and topics.

2. Scenarios

We have been talking about how interesting games can be; we also know that stories have always engaged us in every format. So when these two are combined to develop scenario-based games, you create an immersive learning experience. Apart from the must-win spirit, they help learners relate with the context, by putting themselves in the shoes of the characters.

Scenarios are a great way to enhance decision-making skills. In these, you teach learners through situations that mirror the real-life problems employees may encounter and provide a specific course of action for that particular situation.

With scenario-based games it is a bit different. Learners are given situations that mirror their real-life problems and are expected to choose a specific course of action which will be suitable for that particular situation.

3. Simulations

Simulations are a great way to engage learners in a virtual and risk-free environment where they can learn by trial and error. Usually, simulations are used to teach how to execute a process, follow rules, learn how to use a software application, complicated machinery, or the safety measures to be followed in hazardous areas.

Simulations give learners the opportunity to interact with an environment that mirrors the real-life environment they are supposed to work with/in and the situations incorporated are the ones learners might face in the due course of their work. You might find it similar to scenarios, but the difference is that simulations provide a virtual environment to navigate through.

With simulations added to game-based learning, learners get a chance to try out different responses to a situation, experience the consequences customized for each action, and eventually learn the correct course of action. These simulation-games are designed in such a way that learners mimic the steps they would perform in the real world, making training to the point, excluding all the not-so-necessary information, and saving hours of expensive, live training.

Thus simulations not only provide a safe environment to practice, but also avoid the costly delays, rework, and other dire situations that may arise in real-life due to incorrect actions.

So what are you waiting for? Spice up these three online learning activities using game-based training and see the results yourself.

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