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.

Sugata Mitra – Four Implications for Games Based Learning

I recently listened to a talk by Sugata Mitra at the Education Technology Conference in Leeds.  I am sure you have all come across Sugata Mitra – he is widely known for his Hole in the Wall experiments carried out in India, which the inspired Vikas Swarup to write his debut novel Q & A, which later became the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

By the way Sugata’s talk followed a similar format to one given at TED (Ideas worth Spreading) – Child-driven education, which you can see below.

When listening to Sugata , I was struck by four implications for games based learning: 


1. Generating Interest: Sugata discussed his work with Arthur C. Clarke, who pointed out that “if there is interest, then education happens.” Games based learning can generate a lot of interest. And a lot has been written about games based learning and its ability to motivate and engage learners. I won’t repeat those points here, but what I will say is that games can suffer from being too interesting. Specifically, the design of the game needs to support the learning process – see blog post “Six Key Principles of Collaborative Games Based Learning”.

2. The role of the teacher: Again, quoting Arthur C. Clarke Sugata said that “A teacher that can be replaced by a machine; should be.” It is worth noting that Sugata doesn’t believe that teachers can be replaced (well not yet), but he does believe that teachers shouldn’t be the purveyors of mere information. He believes that is what Google is for. Instead, they should inspire and help pupils analyse what they have found. Teachers can provide scaffolding and expertise, this particularly true in collaborative games based learning products such as games-ED. As game decisions are input into the game (at a class level) the teacher can ask questions such as, “Why did you buy that?” Game reports can be analysed by the students and the teacher – “What worked, what didn’t and how are we going to improve things this round?”

3. The method of the grandmother: Inspiration can come from unusual quarters. Both in experiments in India and Gateshead, Sugata discovered that students could achieve dramatic results (20% increase in test scores) just by being encouraged by an adult – “wow that looks good can you show me again”.  Again, this isn’t to say that teachers aren’t required, but it shows how important inspiration is in the education process. Games based learning can motivate learners by presenting both an interesting narrative and a competitive challenge. The role of the teacher, as previously stated, is to provide scaffolding and expertise, but they should also simply nudge the players along rather like a grandmother. By moving away from rigid traditional instructional method, teachers allow the students to work together to construct their understanding. See blog “Learn by Doing”.

4. The power of collaboration: Key to Sugata’s learning ideas is the power of collaboration. In his experiments, he encourages the students to work in groups of four with one computer. He believes that the key to delivering improved education outcomes is generating conversations. I completely agree and as I written previously in a blog titled “The Art of Conversation”, collaborative games based learning anchors conversations and enables students to learn complex subjects quickly.

10 Tips on Getting Buy-in for Games Based Learning

I was recently involved in a Linked-in discussion, debating how "How do you position games for learning within your organization?" I thought I would share my thoughts on my new blog. So here goes...

My ten tips:

1. What's in a name: We don't simply call them games, we use the term learning simulations or games based learning for our products. This was especially true in the early days (10 years ago), when we were scared to mention the "G" word. In recent years, though, we have started using serious games, but we still prefer learning simulations for the adult learning and games based learning for education.
2. An obvious point, but, selling gets easy over time as you have examples to show and you can reference sell using previous (happy) clients. Also, the more you sell / deliver, the more you gain confidence, and that shows in you pitch / delivery. Until then it’s a case of fake it till you make it.
3. Sell and do projects with the public sector. They were more innovative and had more cash. Note: this tip is somewhat useless these days :( But, it is worth noting, as it really can be thought of as, "you can only sell to someone who wants to buy".
4. Make the games authentic (think situated learning, which could well be my next blog). We simulate partnership working, budgeting and delivering outcomes. We set these in a resource management game.
5. Leading on from authenticity, use games appropriately. If a game is more than an ice-breaker then it should be fit for purpose. Specifically, we wouldn’t simulate wiring a plug (as it can be simply explained with a video / animation) but do simulate sustainable communities, because it can’t be explained in a linear fashion.
6. Complexity: If like ours your products are built around a complex algorithm, then the reaction from clients and potential users is more likely to be wow that’s impressive rather than the learning looking trivial.
7. Have a score. A key element to motivation is having a score. This works in delivery as the team wants to beat the other department / authority / company. And it works in selling as the client wants to benchmark themselves.
8. Make the games visual: A key element to motivation is having nice graphics - a town that improves and progress represented in visual reports. Again, though, they need to be fit for purpose rather than gimmicky. The visuals also provide a quick hook in a sales demo.
9. Sales and marketing: Get in front of people or put a demo on a website. Sell the benefits not the features. Get people to come to one of your workshops – seeing is believing. As stated, if possible, hook people in with a score, or find another hook.
10. Don't give up.

Hope that helps. Would you add anything else?