Learning Development Companies Facilitating Collaboration

Designing Digitally

11/22/2017

Facilitation Collaboration elearning

Learning to work together and to share knowledge with each other is one of the most significant benefits of a well-designed eLearning activity. Learning and development companies work to provide gamification systems and serious games that encourage collaboration between coworkers.

Judging the level of collaboration

A good eLearning activity will encourage collaboration. There are three main components that demonstrate how well employees are working together.

  • Evaluating connections. It’s important to look at how well the employee is connecting with coworkers. Are they easy to work with? Are they a team player? The answers to these questions can tell a lot about an individual’s view of their work and their place within the company.
  • Evaluating contributions. Make an appraisal of the level of contribution by a given employee. Are they sharing ideas? Do they contribute to the overall conversation during an elearning activity?
  • Evaluating cultivation. Pay attention to the willingness of the learners to interact with each other. Do they listen to the ideas that their peers are sharing?   

Using these standards to judge the level of collaboration that is happening with employees as they work through an elearning training program will ensure the activities are effective.

Intrinsic motivation and engagement

Extrinsic motivators work to initially engage learners. Intrinsic motivators are what keep them interested. Gamification and serious games that are designed well by reputable learning and design companies will focus on intrinsic motivation. There are some motivating factors that specifically link collaboration and sustained engagement in a gamified activity.

  • Mastery of collaboration skills. It’s in the best interest of any corporation to foster collaboration among their employees. The goal of gamifying collaboration is to break it down into steps that eventually result in mastery. Businesses want employees who are proficient at sharing their ideas, as well as listening to the ideas of others.
  • Freedom to choose how to collaborate. When a learner is given the opportunity to choose how and when to collaborate, they develop a sense of ownership. Having that autonomy tends to raise the level of engagement. When employees allow their workers the chance to choose the medium for collaboration they are empowering them and the results are more favorable than demanding that each person participates in the same way.

Working toward a common purpose. Most people like to feel that they are part of a team. They may be more motivated to strive toward goals when they are working with others as opposed to going it alone. They get the sense that collaboration allows their impact to be greater.

Suggestions for learning and design companies

To sum it all up, here are some practical tips to developing a game that successfully facilitates collaboration:

  • Keep learning objectives at the forefront.
  • Concentrate on specific behaviors to encourage.
  • Assessments and feedback are vital.
  • Don’t be afraid to recognize everyone for something.
  • Start small and work up from there.
  • Don’t expect gamification to solve every problem.
  • Learning and development companies are designing gamification activities and serious games that have the potential to facilitate meaningful collaboration between employees.

Let Designing Digitally, Inc. show you how gamification and serious games can make a difference in your workplace to improve productivity and ultimately profits.