Why Games For Corporate Training Are Vital For eLearning Professionals
Are you looking for new methods to engage your learners in their training? Are you still skeptical about what benefits new learning technologies can bring on the table concerning the learning aspect? In this article, we are going to discuss some key elements and methods about games for corporate training, and why it is so crucial to implement them right away in your corporate learning strategy if you want to go to the next level.
Games For Corporate Training Engage Learners
Learners are more likely to retain the information in your serious games if they are interested and motivated about what they are learning. Do you remember, back to middle school, kids in the back of the room, doing everything but paying attention to what the teacher was saying? They were definitely not engaged with their learning.
However, we cannot say that it is 100% their fault: Methods of instruction play a big part in the learners’ interest level. Even though few people get excited for worksheets and receiving a lot of theoretical PowerPoint slides, what most people enjoy doing is playing games. Do you know why? Well, simply put, games harness our motivations: The desire to learn for the sake of the enjoyment of the learning process.
Besides, game players often reach what is known as the “flow” state (athletes also refer to this phenomenon as being “in the zone”). This situation refers to a mental state of complete focus. And this is precisely what training managers and Instructional Designers should be looking for in their serious game development.
By making your learners reach the flow state, they will get focused and engaged in your online training, making their information retention way higher, thus skyrocketing your results. To date, serious games with interactive and well thought scenarios seem to be the best learning method when you are looking for a high engagement rate.
However, classical eLearning modules with quizzes, conversely, generally do not cultivate excitement. Even the one built with difficulty in mind are unlikely to sustain the interest of learners, being less interactive and aesthetically appealing.
More Than Knowledge: True Professional Skills
Researches leaded by the University of Denver Business School have shown the benefits of game-based learning platforms and serious games in employees’ performance.
The results found were self-explanatory. Those who played eLearning games ended up with:
- 11% higher factual knowledge than those who used other learning methods.
- 14% higher skill-based knowledge than those who used other learning methods.
- 9% higher retention rate than those who used other learning methods.
Now, step back and think about these results for a second: Those players retained more information, and presented a higher understanding of the skills needed to succeed in their everyday work life. Besides, they felt way more confident about their abilities to perform. Not to mention that serious games provide immediate progress feedback to the learner. Taking their learning experience to a whole new level.
Here are a few key added values of games for corporate training:
- Games for corporate training makes every single decision made by learners accountable (rather than waiting until the end of the module to take a quiz).
- Learners have to demonstrate the acquired knowledge in order to complete the learning simulation (rather than choosing quiz answers until the right one sticks, or clicking the next button over and over again).
- Learners decisions and scores are visible into the Learning Management System platform, thus providing training managers with clear and accurate data insights about employees’ strengths and areas of improvement.
All the information above is priceless for any training manager getting serious about its workforce performance. It will allow you to access crucial data in order to find out the areas of improvement of your learners. It will thus enable you to add supplementary materials in order to help them in their learning process.
Moreover, it can give you ideas about next games for corporate training to design.
Fail As Many Times As You Want
Sending a brand new employee into a job without any preparation and training does not make sense. By doing so, chances are that the person will make mistakes along the road, create negative customer experience, cost money, and might lead to other undesirable outcomes as well. The great thing about games for corporate training is that they provide learners with a perfect environment to learn through failure.
eLearning Games, with their virtual environment, enable learners to make decisions that lead to failure, thus providing instructional opportunity. The time of sitting back and watching someone else explaining how to do something is over.
Nowadays, serious games actually provide learners with opportunity to practice. And thus to learn by failure. Mistakes being made in practical work situations.
You might be thinking “With classical eLearning modules, my learners can also make mistakes and learn the hard way. For instance, if they choose the wrong answer during a quiz, they are then prompted the correct one”.
That is true, but chances are they will not remember the right choice in the long run. Learners might be able to take the quiz several times. Nevertheless, they will remember the answers for their wording, not their meaning.
In games for corporate training, you can replay a level or module to enhance the content. You just cannot move forward in the training simulation without demonstrating that you understood the key concepts.
Game-Based Learning Creates Experiences That Reflect Real-Life Job Issues
The potential behind games for corporate training is more than the assumption that people like playing games, and thus will enjoy playing games for learning.
No, it is more than that. Actually, serious games reflect several important pedagogical theories, such as constructivism and situated learning for instance. Simply put, constructivism suggests that people create knowledge through interpretation of what they see. That is precisely what games for corporate training enable learners to do. They learn by making decisions and interacting with their environment. As if they were the hero of their own story.
Situated learning suggests that people learn better when placed in authentic contexts, that are similar to situations they are facing in their everyday work life. Once again, serious games are a perfect way of doing it. You can easily create experiences that reflect real-life job issues, like how to manage a sales interview, how to drive a car, how to manage a meeting, a conflict, etc.
Games for corporate training are active forms of learning. Instead of overwhelming learners with too much information, they only present the most relevant, thus allowing learners to start their job with the knowledge necessary to succeed.
Ready To Create Your First Games For Corporate Training? Take Action!
In this article, we shared with you some key benefits about games for corporate training.
If you feel concerned and see a potential use of these methods, you should definitely give ITyStudio a try!
This serious game authoring tool contains all the features needed to embrace the truths listed above.
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