Games and gamification are hottopics in eLearning, but it can be difficult to find good advice. Here are fiveresources from The Guild Online Events archives. These are available to membersof The eLearning Guild at the Member Plus level.
Using Games and Gamification to Help All Employees Fulfill Their Most Important Job Responsibility. Sivasailam Thiagarajan and TracyTagliati. Handout, recording. Thiagi has figured out how to wrap a wide range of game designs, fromthe casual to serious, around different instructional content resources andprocedures to make the task of learning more engaging and the work ofassessment more authentic. To moderate his exuberance, Tracy brings asignificant dose of wicked reality from the corporate firing lines of amulticultural and multinational organization. Together, they will share arealistic picture and several practical guidelines on how you can optimize thepower of games and gamification for learning in your own organization.
Got Game? Using the Experience API for Personalized, Gamified Learning. Wendy Oliver and Margie Johnson. Handout,recording. Learn how, usingthe open-source Experience API (xAPI) and a learning record store (LRS), youcan personalize and gamify learning experiences to enhance the learner’sexperience and increase course completion rates. Although gamified learning canbe more expensive to design, there are ways to increase the return oninvestment (ROI) and still support behaviorist learning theory.
A Free Online Repository for Finding Learning Objects and Building Games. Kim Larson and Bonnie Tomlin. Handout, recording. Explore Wisc-Online, the freeonline learning repository that contains both learning objects and an arcade ofgames. Wisc-Online—developed and managed by this session’s presenters and theirteam—offers thousands of learning objects that provide short, self-containedlessons covering a range of subjects, including computer science, careerclusters, natural and social science, and more. GameBuilder, part ofWisc-Online, allows learning professionals and learners to create games thathelp reinforce foundational concepts.
Beyond Badges: Understanding Game Dynamics in the Social Age. Julian Stodd. Handout, recording. Explore 10 different game dynamics and learn how to relatethese dynamics to social-learning approaches, mobile-learning approaches, ortraditional training. Ideally all three! Moving beyond competition and badges,you’ll examine how you can use gaming approaches to build coherence and trustin communities, as well as using micro-rewards and input approaches to drivelearner engagement over time. The aim of this session is to encourage you tothink of more holistic and inclusive approaches to learning games that trulyenhance competence, not just reward the gamers.
Getting Serious Organizations to Take Games Seriously. Joe Totherow and Kama Totherow. Handout, recording. Learn methods for designing effectivegames and—by shifting the focus of game design from the game interface (thelook and feel of a game) to the game’s mechanics—getting those games takenseriously. You’ll get a close look at the complex world of game mechanics,explore how to leverage these mechanics in your instructional game design, andsee real-world examples of how to use this approach to create effectiveinstructional games that are taken seriously by serious organizations.
