Designing Digitally
09/09/2017
If you are developing a new training program within your business to improve specific aspects of employee learning, you are likely considering serious games or serious simulations. Serious games are used in a variety of cases, such as emergency services training, corporate education, health care and many other industries and verticals. This is a form of education that is designed to have a clear impact on memory retention for users, as the information retained is typically of great value and purpose. In addition, serious games and simulations are a very important contributor to the learning process.
If your company is evaluating the potential impact of serious games and simulation for your business, we have put together five significant benefits that you need to be aware of before starting your program development.
Games are a form of organized play, in the way that they have set goals and rules to guide players. The goal ultimately focuses on learning outcomes for the end user. There is a widespread understanding that games motivate players to spend time on tasks and enhancing their skills (in fact, there are many studies that support this). Design elements like context, rules and goals help the end user learn and enhance their understanding of learning outcomes.
Serious games promote learning. The end user is pulled into the gamification elements of serious gaming, which in turn enhances their engagement and overall learned behavior throughout the training.
From military to healthcare, serious games and simulations are used by a plethora of industries and verticals.
Military and emergency services organizations, for example, were early adopters of serious games for training. Yet, corporate organizations now use serious games for training their staff, too, such as for HR guidelines and practices.
Serious simulations are not restricted to industry or vertical. They can be used by all.
Serious game create an environment that is learner-centric and highly individualized, which means that it is ideal for students who are on different learning paths or levels of education.
Did you know that only 5% of what you’ve learned from a lecture is retained? 10% of what you’ve learned from reading? Yet, you can retain 75% of what you learn when you actually practice what you’ve learned. This means that serious games with simulation - practicing - will help users retain information. This is a significant advantage for incorporating serious games with simulations, rather than traditional lectures in a classroom setting.
In corporate education settings, it is important to bring the online simulation online. This means allowing learners to have a conversation about what they have learned, and engaging with their peers about the progress they have all made in the simulation.
Ensure that the serious game or simulation goes beyond learning only the concepts. The learning experience needs to be discussed, written and felt with others. This will help learners to retain more information throughout the training.
Serious games and simulations have a great deal of benefit in a wide variety of industries and verticals. When it comes to corporate training, serious games can have a significant impact on the employees and users of the program. From retaining more information than standard training programs to increasing engagement with the process from start to finish, the benefits of serious games and simulations are sure to be experienced by your eLearning team.
Remember, it’s important to partner with a company that understands your goals and objectives about a serious game simulation program. At Designing Digitally, we work to understand your serious game development goals. Let us help you improve your employees’ performance in the field with our effective simulations, as we work with you to determine the best way to educate, engage and entertain your learners. This is the year to make goals and objectives that will move the needle on your business by increasing employee engagement, improve profitability and have a positive impact on the bottom line!
We bring a personal and effective approach to every project we work on.
