Strictly following a conventional instructional design process can lead to dull, boring training. The focus is too often on the content and not on the actions or behaviors desired of the learner. Boring training disengages learners, and  uninterested learners simply won't learn the content or, more importantly, the behaviors or actions that you want them to enact. Additionally, from a designer perspective, it can be demoralizing to design content that you know is boring.

Games tend to deeply engage players, cause them to stay on task for long periods of time, and genuinely encourage engagement. With a change in thinking, instruction can be designed to elicit engagement and action. In this workshop, you'll learn how to think like a game designer. You'll discover methods of creating engaging, interesting instruction by considering game design elements such as storytelling, freedom to fail, mystery and intrigue, the player's journey, and even ideas on creating multiple levels within your instruction. You will learn how you can turn what appears to be dull or boring training into exciting, interesting, game-like activities that engage and excite the learners. You'll have the opportunity to dissect games to see what makes them effective, and then you'll be able to apply those ideas using templates and worksheets to your own content. You won't be developing entire games in this workshop; instead, you'll be applying game thinking to make your traditional instruction more engaging and action-oriented.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to dissect a game to understand the underlying mechanics
• Three techniques you can use to add mystery, intrigue, and suspense to your instructional design
• Why "freedom to fail" can be a powerful and effective motivator in the design of instruction
• How to apply the Curve of Interest to your overall design strategy
• Why creating desirable difficulty may be painful in the short term for learners, but beneficial in the long term

Audience:

Designers     

Technology discussed:

Knowledge Guru, Poll Everywhere