Designing Digitally
03/27/2018
When it comes to gaming, there are a wide variety of online gaming options available. From simulations to 3D learning, “fun” gaming software to online serious games, the opportunity to impact employee engagement and learning potential is tremendous.
Serious games, in particular, do just the trick. Perhaps you have not yet considered incorporating serious games into your training program. There are benefits directly derived from their usage for learning in the workplace.
But what are serious games? Serious games are typically simulations or traditional online games with a unique twist. This twist is that “serious games” are made with the purpose of having the user develop a skill or mastering a process. This skill is related to your business, whether it is learning to operate a new piece of machinery or learning a new business process. The overall objective is to learn, while offering entertainment value.
The value to a company is plentiful. Not only will employees learn more about the business, program or skill, they will become more engaged in the process. Higher engagement leads to greater employee retention and directly impacts the productivity of the business.
Below are three benefits of online serious games for your company.
When employees are in corporate learning environments that are engaging in nature, they are more likely to retain and apply their learning to real life scenarios. This is especially true for companies utilizing simulations as part of their online serious games strategy.
With this in mind, your online game strategy should be developed around the real world importance and value that your employees will feel. Using real life scenarios, your employees will undoubtedly feel more confident applying their learnings to a corporate environment.
Serious games can incorporate internal competitions - perhaps department to department or employee to employee. Competition assists employees to retain information once the program is complete.
It’s only natural that employees like to perform better than their peers; it’s the very nature of human beings. We enjoy being competitive, and this extends into the workplace.
Online serious games appeal to this sort of motivation. Competition brings an edge and appeal to your program and your workplace, aiding in overall engagement and memory retention.
Training your employees is important. Not only can training help aid in the overall productivity of your employees, it also increases the quality of service and performance within your company. From customer service to internal communication, online serious games will have a positive impact on your bottom line.
With all of the changes in a variety new trends in your industry, or skills that need some brushing up, third party training - or even traditional training with your team - can add up. Classrooms, hours spent putting together a syllabus, travel costs, and a trainer all cost money. Group training also negatively impacts productivity. When you implement eLearning or online serious games, this is simply a one time commitment to get started. Your team and your eLearning expert partner will create your training simulation. This eliminates the need for travel, trainers and loss of productivity.
You can say goodbye to wasted time, money and energy by incorporating serious games into your training program.
Overall, online serious games make employees accountable. When it comes to such training, you are able to accurately determine the success and challenges of those using your programs. Whether it’s details like, “how well are my employees performing in this module?” or “what are the strengths and weaknesses of the users in part three of this program?”, data will accurately indicate where and how you need to optimize your programs. There are a plethora of benefits that serious games online provide, and engagement, competitive edge, and cost effectiveness are but a few of the benefits you can experience.
We love talking about online serious games, and we would love to hear your thoughts about such programs. If you have been considering the impact that online serious games could have on meeting your business’ strategic and operational goals, let’s chat. Click here to contact us and we can #getnerdy with online serious games today.
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