Behavioural Leadership - Organisation Development via Games Based Learning

We have written on this blog for a while. Sorry about that folks. The main reason has been the work that we have been doing on a new venture - Behavioural Leadership.

Behavioural Leadership utilises the latest research into people-centred management using Transactional Analysis and Behavioural Economics. Our Behavioural Leadership approach uses experiential learning and Transactional Learning & Coaching to deliver behavioural breakthroughs.

As you would expect from people who are passionate about games based learning at Behavioural Leadership we use collaborative learning simulations to root the experience in a situation. As we say on our experiential learning page, this creates a rich situation that is far removed from death by PowerPoint and combines visual, auditory AND kinaesthetic approaches to create meaningful and memorable experiences. This multiple learning styles approach is supported by research undertaken by IBM and confirmed by the Post Office discovered that long term recall is affected by how the information was originally delivered. Recall after being told was 10%; told and shown (32%) and told, shown and experienced (65%) – Source Whitmore, 2003.

We present case studies which often involve the use of learning simulations and other technology such as e-Learning. We update these on a regular basis, so our game based learning followers might want to keep an eye out for them.

And finally for those who like their information in blog form, then we might be able to help. At the Behavioural Leadership blog we write about the use of Transactional Analysis and Behavioural Economics in organisational development. And within that context, we discuss experiential learning and in particular learning simulations.

eLearning Manifesto - 20 Supporting Principles

The Key to Success?

"We believe that learning technology offers the possibility for creating uniquely valuable learning experiences.

We also believe, with a sense of sadness and profound frustration, that most elearning fails to live up to its promise.

We further believe that current trends evoke a future of only negligible improvement in elearning design—unless something radical is done to bend the curve."

This is the preamble to the eLearning Manifesto (http://elearningmanifesto.org/) put together by Michael Allen, Julie Dirksen, Clark Quinn and Will Thalheimer. 

They set out 20 supporting principles:

• Do Not Assume that Learning is the Solution
• Do Not Assume that eLearning is the Answer
• Tie Learning to Performance Goals
• Target Improved Performance
• Provide Realistic Practice
• Enlist Authentic Contexts
• Provide Guidance and Feedback
• Provide Realistic Consequences
• Adapt to Learner Needs
• Motivate Meaningful Involvement
• Aim for Long-term Impact
• Use Interactivity to Prompt Deep Engagement
• Provide Support for Post-Training Follow-Through
• Diagnose Root Causes
• Use Performance Support
• Measure Effectiveness
• Iterate in Design, Development, and Deployment
• Support Performance Preparation
• Support Learner Understanding with Conceptual Models
• Use Rich Examples and Counterexamples
• Enable Learners to Learn from Mistakes
• Respect Learners

I agree with the above principles as they, in part, overlap with my games based learning manifesto (http://www.games-based-learning.com/2013/10/a-games-based-learning-manifesto-10_11.html). They also have a venn-like link to a blog I wrote regarding Marrying up to Situated Learning Theory  (http://www.games-based-learning.com/2012/10/marrying-up-to-theory.html)

Here is a video where the four announced their manifesto:

Oh and for balance, it is worth not everyone appreciates the top down approach to defining a manifesto. Have read of Donald Clark Plan B  (http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.in/2014/03/gang-of-four-proclaim-serious-elearning.html) . And here is another cutting and funny parody (http://www.eqsim.com/blog/?p=413) from EqSim Ruminations. The latter makes some interesting generalised criticisms of e-Learning industry, which are valid in their own way and is probably the reason I have focused most of my efforts on learning simulation for the last decade. 

In conclusion, I think well designed e-Learning and simulations/games both have their place BUT what is key is making sure that they are learner focused and they deliver against the required needs and outcomes. And not lets crow bar in an ill-fitting solution that is simply about cutting costs.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

What Can g-Learning Designers Learn from Commercial Games?

First of all, if you don’t know what g-Learning is, have a look at our post “g-Learning: Is this the learning term we have been looking for?”.  Then have a look at the infographic courtesy of topwebdesignschools.org and our insight below.


Source: TopCollegesOnline.org

So, what can we learn from the above infographic?  Does it contain any useful information for g-Learning designers?  We think so.  There are some useful reassurances about perceptions of games and some interesting demographic insight (average game player is 30 years of age).  However, we think that g-Learning designers should take note to the types of games and gameplay that feature on this list as the ‘top’ games.  The top games on the list can be split into several broad genres:

• Adventure (e.g. Assassin’s Creed, Halo)
• Sport (e.g. FIFA, Madden NFL)
• Strategy (e.g. Age of Empires, The Sims)
• Party (e.g. Just Dance, Guitar Hero)

This is useful in itself, as g-Learning designers could design their games around these genres/styles.  However, what interests me, is how most of these games are famously played cooperatively.  Obviously you can play most of them solo, people may only ever play them solo and some of them can only really be played solo (e.g. The Sims).  However, by and large, the top games seem to be the ones which allow cooperation and collaboration.

This is interesting, as it suggests yet again that gamers aren’t all anti-social loners and that this view of gaming is seriously outdated (see our article, “Gamer Myths: Infographic and 10 Facts").  However, for g-Learning designers, it suggests that perhaps we should be creating more collaborative learning games.  Perhaps these are the most enjoyable or engaging.  Click here for a case study of one of our collaborative learning games, to see how we do it.  Interestingly, our market for sim-uni is also adults.  Click here to see our “Adult Games Based Learning and sim-uni” post.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’sFacebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

The Role of Learning Simulations in Learning & Development Strategies

In September, we (pixelfountain) held a workshop in partnership with Virtual College.  The delegates were professionals from a wide variety of sectors who were invited to discuss the role of serious games/games based learning in learning and development strategies.  For more of an introduction and to see footage from the day (and to appreciate more how our workshops work), watch the video below.



After playing the learning simulation, the delegates discussed using serious games for learning and development.  Various applications were suggested, including:

• Inductions
• Management training
• Partnership working and relationship building
• Staff engagement days/away days
• Stakeholder collaboration
• Team building
• Assessment centres
• Training needs analysis
• Community/resident groups

Barriers to adoption were also discussed.  These were fewer in number, but included:

• The term ‘game’ and misconceptions about games for training
• Access to technology
• IT literacy
• Cost

One of the main aims of the day was to discuss the delivery method of the games and the positives and negatives of different methods.  For example, workshop-based, facilitator-led, collaborative delivery as opposed to individually played, online delivery.  There was a bias in favour of the games being workshop based, but that is likely to have been because the simulation used on the day was designed for that purpose, which could have skewed opinion.

The delegates had a fantastic day and really loved our newest simulation, Planit-Housing, which was developed in partnership with The University of Northampton.   For more information about Planit-Housing, click here and to learn more about our other products and how our workshops work, click here.

To download the full Virtual College report, click here.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

Badges, Gamification, Employment & Lifelong Learning

Image courtesy of kerolic on Flickr.

We often talk of gamification and have even won an award for doing so (click here).  But we (and many others) usually talk about how badges are engaging and motivating for the learner or even how they can essentially coerce people to do things that an organisation/individual wants (e.g. good behaviour in class, sharing promotional content on social media sites, reviewing products etc).  Badges and other gamification strategies have been used very successfully in this way.  However, the report, ‘Expanding Education and Workforce Opportunities Through Digital Badges’ takes a slightly different look at the phenomenon.

This new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education and Mozilla has looked at how badges can be used as a way of showing and verifying to employers the skills that individuals have amassed.  These can be formal education, knowledge based skills, 21st century skills as well as skills gained through hobbies and other ‘extracurricular’ activities.  “A digital badge system can bring resumes into the twenty-first century,” says Gov. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.  “Digital badges are making anytime, anywhere learning a reality for learners of all ages who want to pursue their interests with tangible results in real time… Badges bridge the divide between formal and informal education, and they have the power to transform competency-based learning and hiring practices.”

The report does explore how digital badges can be used to improve student learning and outcomes, but also how they can expand vocational and interest-based skills for learners of all ages.  And importantly, what this can mean for employment.  “The way we learn and the way we work have radically changed in today’s digital age, and we need the credentials that make sense for the way we live our lives today,” argued Erin Knight, senior director of learning and badges at Mozilla.  “Open Badges can connect learners to better jobs and opportunities, allowing them to increase skillsets and marketability. In return, employers can look beyond abstract credentials or self-reported resumes and get credible information on candidates—finding a better match, and unlocking a better future for all involved.”

Expanding Education and Workforce Opportunities Through Digital Badges defined badges as ‘credentials that represent skills, interests, and achievements earned by an individual through specific projects, programs, courses, or other activities.’  The report argued that it is important that badges are defined accordingly and are measured against a specific set of standards so that they could be used by employers in a meaningful way.  The report suggests that for this to happen, there must be an open badge standard that ensures all badges contain the same level of criteria and evidence, which allows people to earn badges from different issuers, manage and collect them, and display them on websites as they see fit.  Mozilla has created this “Open Badges” standard that ensures the credibility of verifiable skills involved with the badges.  They aim to make the badges credible by making them store information through hyperlinks about what tasks, projects etc. were completed to earn the badge.

Schools can use the system to connect their pupils’ curricular and extracurricular learning as well as rewarding them for developing their 21st century skills.  The schools and colleges that have adopted the system so far have also done so to make learning more engaging and innovative.  “Learning pathways differ from student to student, but badges can bridge those differences and provide students with opportunities to follow their interests, and connect what they have learned—at any time and place—to academic achievement, career success, and civic engagement,” Wise said.

But what interests me most is what the badges could mean for employment.  It is unlikely that this system would completely become the norm, but it does make one wonder.  It could encourage children from a younger age to think about their careers.  It could encourage a closer relationship between students and employers, giving both valuable experiences.  Employers could tailor more what is being taught in schools.  They might put emphasis on different elements of a person than their grades.  The system also has interesting implications for lifelong learning.  It could foster a more positive relationship with learning as a whole.  It may make people think of and approach learning differently.  People could become inspired by the badges of others.  The intrinsic reward of a badge along with the ability to ‘show off’ to others could generate an impressive level of learning.

Obviously, these are all big ‘what if’s and this one system is unlikely to do everything (if any of these).  However, I do think it highlights something interesting and very positive about society and it would be great if it took off.  The popularisation of geek-chic (which I thoroughly approve of) along with the acceptance and popularity of video games may just have amalgamated to create something that could be great for learning and learners.  One thing I would like to see being emphasised though, in a system like this, would be badges for good deeds, charitable giving and so on, and then we could really be on to something great!

Click here for the full report.

Click here for more about Open Badges.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

Motivating Generation X and Y with Gamification

There is a reasonable amount of research into motivation at work being undertaken these days and it is interesting to see where gamification fits into the picture.  A recent study from Odgers Berntson and Cass Business School suggests that organisations are unprepared for the new generation of leaders.  Richard Boggis-Rolfe, Chairman of Odgers Berndtson argued "The retirement of the current generation of corporate leaders will lead to cultural changes that most organisations are unprepared for. In order to thrive in the post-baby boomer landscape, companies need to put serious thought and effort into smoothing the intergenerational transition for leaders from generations X and Y."

But Who are Generations X and Y?
Jane Sunley, CEO of Purple Cubed (a consultancy firm specialised in workplace engagement) explains, “The baby boomers are the generational cohort born between 1945 and around 1961, generation X were born between around 1962 and 1981 and generation Y from around 1981 to 2001… Don’t get too hung up on the dates though, because everybody says that they’re different. The important thing is to appreciate that every generation has been influenced by the environment of their upbringing: education, parents and – in the case of generation Y – the biggest influence has been technology.”

What are the Key Differences Between the Generations?
According to Sunley, there are five key differences between the upbringing, character and motivations of each generation that affect their working styles:

1. Reason they work – Baby boomers ‘live to work’, generation X ‘work to live’ and generation Y work to fund their lifestyle.
2. Decision-making – Baby boomers prefer to make their own decisions, generation X will take direction but then like to be left to get on with it and generation Y require constant direction and collaboration.
3. Feedback and response to work – Baby boomers know when they have done a good job, generation X like regular feedback and generation Y need constant feedback.
4. Sharing opinions – Baby boomers like to keep their opinions to themselves, generation X share their opinions and generation Y assume others want their opinions.
5. Attitude to change – Baby boomers are resistant to change, generation X relish change and generation Y are flexible.

Could This Cause Problems?
According to the Cass Business School study, “Only 41% of respondents believed that their organisations are ready for changing workplace demographics of age, gender and diversity.”  Many respondents to the study also commented that “the retirement of baby boomers from leadership positions would result in a mass exodus of talent over the next 20 years, which will intensify the global war for talent among existing executives”.

Obviously organisations will have to adapt their leadership strategies, corporate culture and so on to adjust to the new generations of leaders and workforce as well as the 21st century as a whole.  Sunley argues that understanding the differences between the generations could give organisations the edge when managing the shift in their workforce.  Appreciating the five key differences could help directors form a more effective leadership strategy.

How Should Leadership Styles be Adapted?
The Cass study suggested that, “Foremost among the new leadership skills will be emotional intelligence, people skills and flexibility, which will be needed to attract and motivate a more diverse and mobile workforce… This more collaborative form of leadership will be key to helping executives navigate the 21st Century workforce.”

Professor Cliff Oswick, Cass Deputy Dean, believes, "The increasing diversity of the global workforce will need to be taken into account by corporate leaders. Cultural awareness will be at a premium and leaders will have to cultivate emotional intelligence and be better attuned to gender differences."

What About Gamification?
I have been reading about this topic over the past week or so and it struck me that gamification looks like another way that organisations are coping with some of these new generational styles as well as the 21st century world of work as a whole.  The likes of Google are creating new ‘gamified’ offices that cater to the often young, innovative, creative types that they wish to attract and motivate.  They often include things such as gyms, gourmet cafeterias, dogs, hair stylists, scooters, massage parlours, slides, shops and so on to support the lifestyle and motivational needs of generation Y (amongst other things).

The fact that generation Y like to work together and collaborate is often encouraged by gamified solutions as well as new office spaces.  Rewards for collaboration can be encouraged by team leader boards, badges etc. as well as collaborative games being used to train, assess, build teams and so on.  ‘Gamified’, 21st century offices also support generation Y’s need for collaboration.  For example, offices are often made with areas specifically for people to bump into each other or act as the proverbial water cooler and encourage people to spark off one another and innovate.  Many offices now create open plan areas with smaller pods or seating areas within them to make collaboration natural, easy and fun.  For example, white board walls, pianos, ping pong tables and so on are often included in new offices to promote team bonding and collaboration.

Perhaps most strikingly, gamification is a way that generation Y can receive immediate feedback.  Members of generation Y are likely to have been brought up around video games and to have amassed a lot of hours playing them.  Games offer immediate feedback which could be why generation Y come to expect it from every aspect of life.  Gamification can allow immediate feedback to occur and give employees a virtual ‘pat on the back’ for completing actions.  This would be time consuming for their managers or peers to do and may not come naturally to them (especially if they are baby-boomers).

What can be gamified:

• Recruitment – see article. 
• Learning and development - pixelfountain does this, see: www.sim-uni.co.uk.  See article.
• Strategy and implementation – pixelfountain also does this.  See article.
• Communications (internal and external) and Marketing - see articles here and here.
• Rewards, incentives and recognition – e.g. Badgeville.
• The cultivation of a specific corporate culture – see article.

Motivation is extremely important at work, both for the employees and the organisations.  The infographic below sums up very well how generations X and Y might be motivated differently to the baby boomers and how gamification can be utilised to engage and motivate the workers of today and tomorrow.

Infographic courtesy of Badgeville, click for larger image.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and interesting games based learning findings.

Mistakes and (Games Based) Learning

“In school we learn that mistakes are bad, and we are punished for making them. Yet, if you look at the way humans are designed to learn, we learn by making mistakes. We learn to walk by falling down. If we never fell down, we would never walk.” 

― Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Learning from mistakes is an evolutionary advantage.  If we did not learn that putting our hand in fire was painful, we would burn ourselves often.  If we did not learn from poorly designed tools, we would never make improvements and reap their rewards.  Learning from mistakes is what has made humans so powerful.  We make large and small mistakes for ourselves, learn from them and pass on this knowledge.  Mistakes are a powerful learning tool.

“Mistakes are the growing pains of wisdom.” 

― William Jordan

However, not all mistakes can be learned from.  Some are just too big to recover from.  Some can also harbour too much negative emotion to be useful; people usually don’t like to make mistakes publicly.  So, can games provide a safe, secure place to learn from ones’ mistakes? The following bullets consider this question:

1. Immediate feedback and the opportunity to change and adapt – immediate feedback allows the player to quickly learn from their mistake and adapt their strategy, change their decision etc.  For example, in a first person shooter, you may decide that the best way to go about killing all the aliens in the given area is to go in all guns blazing.  If this doesn’t work, you have the chance to try again and adapt your strategy, maybe preferring to take cover more, or to stay at a distance and use long-range weapons etc.
2. It’s just a game – this may be a blasé thing to say when some people spend a large proportion of their time and real money on MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games).  However, for the vast majority of people, a game is just a game and it isn’t the end of the world.  If your city burns down in SimCity because you forget to build fire stations, you can rebuild it.  No real city is harmed, the damage is relatively easy and quick to fix and you will probably not make the same mistake again.
3. Simulated scenarios – adding to the last point, games area safe place to make mistakes and learn from them.  These may be accidental.  However, simulations can be used to train people who could not practice their job in the real world e.g. pilots, soldiers, surgeons, town council officers.  Mistakes for a trainee pilot or surgeon could be a disaster, therefore, mistakes in training simulations offer a rich learning experience with no negative real-life implications.
4. Social factors – many people play games alone.  This means they are able to make mistakes with no scorn or criticism.  However, if they are playing with friends, mistakes are part of the process and the fun, so they are more acceptable.  For example, whole sub-games have developed around the Fifa franchise if players suffer a particularly embarrassing defeat: http://www.fifahub.com/index.php?/topic/1814-the-fifa13-apology-rules-game/.
5. Games have different difficulty levels – games, unlike the real world, can be easily tailored to the players’ abilities.  They also often change and adapt as the player becomes more skilful.  This is important as if something is too hard (and people make too many mistakes), the individual may give up.  Too easy, and too few mistakes and the task is boring.  Games enable the player to stay motivated and engaged while making a good amount of mistakes to learn optimally.
6. Rewards – mistakes are part of the process of most games.  However, to make this bearable and to keep focus and encourage learning, rewards are offered.  These can cement the learning process and encourage players to continue developing and playing.

“Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.” 

― Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

Learning from other people’s mistakes is also extremely valuable.  If people didn’t learn from the mistakes of others, we would not know which berries, insects and mushrooms were poisonous, how to not hunt prey and so on.  Therefore, collaborative games based learning can be extremely powerful.  Playing a game together can encourage learning in many ways.  For example, one team could learn from another team’s mistake in a team game and get the upper hand.  Forums are also a popular way that gamers learn from the mistakes and successes of others.  New social media sharing platforms within games are also becoming more popular.  For example, the new SimCity game is ‘Always Online’, allowing other players to see your work and Play Station 4 will allow players to let other gamers watch their game play in real time.

“I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards.” 

― Rudyard Kipling, Under The Deodars

So, whether they are your own or someone else’s, mistakes are an evolutionary advantage if they can be learned from.  Therefore, a more appropriate term for a mistake with a beneficial learning outcome might be a ‘happy accident’.  Games are a safe way to cause these happy accidents and going back to my first quote, maybe children should have this point reinforced.  After all, some of the most successful people have made the most mistakes, but they become successful because they try more things and learn from their mistakes (see this great article from onlinecolleges.org ‘50 Famously Successful People Who Failed at First’).  Games are a great way for children and adults to learn for many reasons outlined all over this blog, but one of the most important ways is that they safely allow learning from mistakes.

“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.” 

― Edna St. Vincent Millay

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Part 1 - The 70/20/10 Learning Model and Games Based Learning

The 70/20/10 Learning Model is based on research published by M. Lombardo and R. Eichinger in 1996.  It is a popular Learning and Development Model about how successful managers learn.  It essentially says that 70% of learning takes place on the job, informally, through experience.  20% is learnt from others through feedback, coaching, mentoring and so on and 10% is from formal learning, from courses, training and reading.

Image courtesy of blogefl (Graham
Stanley) on Flickr

Jobs in the 21st century are changing.  Employers want employees who are quick learners and who are adaptable, as the world is increasingly fast-paced and dynamic.  However, as Harold Jarche noted, work is becoming learning and learning is becoming part of work and employers appreciate this.  Many employers recognise that in a knowledge economy, their employees are their greatest resources, so learning and development is in their best interest.  Corporates are also more likely to have loyal, hardworking staff if they treat them well and allow them to grow and develop as much as possible.  But how does learning take place?

According to the theory, employees learn most on the job rather than in formal courses.  This makes sense.  In most cases, you are more likely to be able to learn about the job from being in the workplace, learning from colleagues and trying things for yourself than in a degree or other formal training.  Many degrees are centred around theories, readings and research more than practical, job-related skills (with the exception of a few, such as medicine etc.).  You are also not that likely to get a book or course that is specifically matched to your job role, as most roles and companies are different.

This begs the question that if 70% of learning at work is through experience and only 10% occurs through formal training, why (in the UK at least) are we sending so many students through university?  Why are we not instead looking more at apprenticeship schemes and the like?  But, I’m getting ahead of myself, that’s more of a point for Part 2 – The 70/20/10 Learning Model: Lessons for Education.

How else do managers learn?  The model states that 20% of learning takes place from others through coaching, mentoring, feedback, working cooperatively and so on.  The final 10% is formal training.  But what does this have to do with games based learning?

Games can be played informally for fun; however, this doesn’t mean they are void of value.  Many games develop skills that can be valuable in the workplace.  These are often softer skills, such as problem solving, cooperation, time management and multi-tasking (see our post, ‘21st Century Skills and Games Based Learning').  Other skills can be developed too though, which could be useful for jobs, such as hand eye coordination for surgeons (see the link at the bottom of our article, ‘Games are Good for You!’).

However, games can also be used as formal training.  pixelfountain (who bring you this blog) design, develop and deliver learning simulations for adult learners in the workplace.  We specialise in developing learning simulations to be used in collaborative workshops.  Our simulations typically simulate a community, university, company and so on and the group is split into teams that must collaborate and cooperate to improve the community etc and reach their goals.  While these simulations are used formally, at away days, on courses, for strategy development and so on, they also tap into the 20% and 70%.

Firstly, they are simulations, so they go some way at simulating a situation or event that is similar to the delegates’ work.  This allows them to experience these situations in a safe environment.  This is important as you can allow learning to take place in ways that you could not in real life.  For example, if the group is in charge of a town in the game and you want them to learn about what to do in the event of a flood, riot, budget cut etc., it is much easier and more ethical to do this in a game than in real life.  The armed forces, pilots and so on are trained using simulations for this very reason.  While this is still formal training, it is simulating a work environment and the delegates are learning through experience.

Our learning simulations are also designed to be used collaboratively in a workshop setting.  The facilitator is the only person who uses the computer and the delegates see the simulation on a large screen or whiteboard.  They must work within and between their groups, with the help of worksheets, to reach their goals.  The collaborative nature of our workshops mean that people can share wisdom, learn from each other, network, give each other feedback, negotiate and so on.  This is an incredibly powerful way of learning and is why our innovative take on training, learning simulations and workshops is so popular.

Working with new colleagues in an authentic yet relaxed manner is often cited by delegates at pixelfountain workshops as a key benefit of the approach.  These relationships can be built upon post workshop particularly with communications technology such as Yammer or Wiztango.  These and other corporate social media tools provide a perfect method to bridge the potential 70/20/10 gap.

Hopefully, I’ve explained the Model to you and shown its relevance to games based learning.  In Part 2, I’ll look at what we could learn from the 70/20/10 Learning Model in terms of education.

Lombardo, Michael M; Eichinger, Robert W (1996). The Career Architect Development Planner (1st ed.). Minneapolis: Lominger.

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Adult Games Based Learning and sim-uni

I thought I’d talk about something a little different this week.  In general, our blog posts talk about how games based learning can be used in schools to teach children a whole host of things.  However, obviously games based learning is not limited to children.  The benefits of games based learning that we have discussed in the past (motivation, meeting the needs of different types of learners, collaboration and so on) are just as true and relevant for adult learners.

According to the Entertainment Software Association: 

• The average gamer is 37 years old and has been playing for 12 years.
• Eighty-two percent of gamers are 18 years or older.
• Today, adult women represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (37 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (13 percent).
• Twenty-nine percent of game players are over the age of 50, an increase from 9 percent in 1999.

As adults seemingly have so much experience of games and play them so frequently in their recreation time, why can they not be trained using games?  Games based learning is for everyone, not just the youngest portion of society.  People like learning through games because it is fun; you don’t stop wanting things to be fun when you reach a certain age!  Pike’s Five Laws of Adult Learning say that learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you have.  This is partly because the more fun you’re having, the more relaxed you are and the more open you are to the learning process.  For more information, visit this website.

This blog is brought to you (as you can see on the right) by games-ED.  games-ED produces games based learning (learning simulations) specifically for the education market (from people of primary school age up to university age).  However, the parent company, pixelfountain, designs, develops and delivers learning simulations (games based learning) to adult learners.  Therefore, we have a pretty strong background in this arena.

The following table measures our pixelfountain learning simulations against Pike’s Five Laws of Adult Learning.  This also can be applied to learning simulations (and games based learning) more generally.

Pike’s Law	Learning Simulations
Law 1: Adults are babies with big bodies	Learning simulations are games that allow delegates to learn quickly, on a relevant exercise, without the pressure of the day job.
Law 2: People do not argue with their own data	Learning simulations based workshops allow delegates to construct their understanding.  The workshop is not about telling people what to do; instead it is showing them what they could do.
Law 3: Learning is directly proportional to the amount of fun you are having	Learning simulations (serious games) are fun.  We pride ourselves on the fact that people leave our workshops with a smile.  But, the real proof of the pudding is that we have  had individuals do the same simulation a number of times!
Law 4: Learning has not taken place until behaviour has changed	Learning simulations accelerate understanding and shift thinking.  Long-term evaluation of our programmes shows that learning outcomes have been sustained and changes incorporated.  Follow on work, in the organisation, enables the delegates to take the learning forward.

One journal article that I have come across gives a good summary of some of the themes that occur across the research on games based learning (Foster and Mishra, 2009).  The reported effects of games are split into several sections:

• Physiological – such as coordination and motor skills but also aggressiveness and obesity
• Practical skills – innovation / creativity, data handling and technical literacy etc
• Cognitive skills – systemic thinking, critical thinking and memorising etc
• Social skills – collaboration, interpersonal skills and informed citizenry etc
• Motivation – confidence, immediate feedback and exploration etc

The reported positive effects of games definitely outweigh the negatives. There are many positive examples of how games can be used in training and development programmes to teach and develop specific skills and expertise. For example, IBMs Innov8 is a serious game that explains business process management to non-technical people.   However, training games also have wider benefits, which is one of the reasons they work so well.

For these reasons, we continue to be active in this market.  pixelfountain’s latest learning simulation, sim-uni, has just recently been piloted with our partners, The University of Manchester’s Staff Training and Development Unit, at their institution.  The learning simulation is used to train staff across the university, to reduce silo thinking and understand that collaborating across functions can benefit the university much more than working alone.  The pilot was a great success and a short case study of the day can be found here: http://www.sim-uni.co.uk/case-study.html.

This is what Paul Dixon, head of the University’s Staff Training and Development Unit had to say: “The University of Manchester were attracted to working with pixelfountain on their particular style of business simulation as it doesn’t become an exercise in mastering the technology or reducing the learning experience to all huddling around a PC. Instead sim-uni facilitates a rich experiential learning experience and can be used flexibly to achieve a variety of learning outcomes as dictated by the user – be it planning and strategy appreciation, team work and communications or decision making. Our early experience of sim-uni suggests it can be used effectively as a learning vehicle in its own right or as an adjunct to leadership and management development programmes.”

For more information about sim-uni visit our website or download our flier.  You can also follow us on Twitter: @sim_uni.  If you want to learn more about pixelfountain and our portfolio of products, visit: www.pixelfountain.co.uk.

And as ever, please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning things.