eLearning Guild Research: Got Game?

Karl Kapp, instructional technology professor at BloomsburgUniversity and author of TheGamification of Learning and Instruction, explains in the preface to theGuild’s latest research report, Gamification, Games, and Learning: What Managers and Practitioners Need to Know, what we already know but toooften don’t do. He says, “The future of eLearning cannot be boring courseslacking engagement or emotional response. Instead they need to be interactive,engaging, and full of passion and enthusiasm. In short, the future of eLearningmust include games and gamification. Games provide a ‘built-in’ level ofinteractivity and engagement.”

For example, Hideki Narematsu, the human resources managerfor McDonald’s in Japan, uses games to train new hires and he says it cutsnew-hire training time in half. Thegame teaches new employees the basic skills of assembling burgers, makingfries, and cleaning their workstations via video games (Figure 1). McDonald’sJapan reportedly spent approximately $2.2 million on the game development andtwo Nintendo DS systems for each of their 3,800+ stores. This may be more thansome training organizations want to spend on a single game so using game elements or gamification may be a morecost-effective solution.

Figure 1:McDonald’s Japan using the Nintendo DS to train employees
(Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/video/58792564-mcdonald-s-japan-teaches-burger-making-with-nintendo-ds.html)

What is gamification, anyway?

Gamification is about applying game elements and gamemechanics to non-game activities to make everyday activities more compelling. Here’san example. Adobe Systems uses gamification to increase usage of their softwareas well as to solve one of their business challenges: getting buyers to become users.

Using a plugin to apply gamification to learning

Many people have pictures from vacations, the companypicnic, outings with friends and family, and their children’s band concerts ordance recitals and they want to do some photo editing. Let’s say they download a free 30-day trialfor Photoshop CC and open the application. Now what? Do you think they are somewhat intimidatedwith the software? Many are. Adobe wants to solve this business problem with AdobeLevelUp (https://success.adobe.com/microsites/levelup/index.html),a free plugin that applies gamification to learning the software program.

LevelUp lets new users go on a series of missions, such asreducing redeye and removing unwanted elements from their pictures. As the newusers successfully complete each mission, they earn points and badges. Figure 2shows the first mission, reducing red eye. It’s worth 30 points. The best wayto learn new software is by doing real tasks, not by learning each of themenus. The game element makes LevelUp truly engaging because each of themissions is realistic, fun, and helps the learner gain skills they want togain!

Figure 2: Adobe LevelUp—missionone
(Source:https://www.creativepro.com/article/adobe-launches-levelup-photoshop)

The LevelUp game also includes chancesto win prizes and leaderboards (Figure 3) that lets new users see how they rankcompared to others.

Figure 3: Adobe LevelUp monthlyleaderboard.
(Source: https://success.adobe.com/microsites/levelup/monthly.html)

Gamification can do more than one thing at a time!

Adobe is using gamification for multiplepurposes. They are helping users become more proficient in a fun and easyway. Users are learning the corefeatures of Photoshop in a much more engaging way than typical softwaretraining. But there’s another method to their madness. They are also solving acore business need, that of turning tryers into buyers into users. Smart! As weall know, users become evangelists and evangelists often buy other products thatwork well together.

Does gamification work?

Do games and game elements work?The previous examples should provide good insights. Karl Kapp explains thatresearch has shown again and again that people engage in content when they arechallenged to learn rather than simply given answers, and that bulleted listsare less effective at teaching and recalling facts than is a story thatincludes those facts. Traci Sitzmann, an assistant professor of management atthe University of Colorado’s business school, conducted a well-knownmeta-analysis of the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulationgames. She discovered that when they presented training in the context ofcertain types of simulation games, learners had 14-percent higher skill-based knowledge level, 11 percent higher factual-knowledge level,and 9 percent higher retentionrate.

The research report contains many more case studies andresearch about games and gamification. Download it and read it!