The benefit that resonated with me was how digital game based learning can enhance an individual’s ability to identify and fulfill needs.  Consider this quote from the author.

“In the process of understanding individual components that form complex systems, gamification practitioners learn about the underlying nature which surrounds these systems.  In doing so, they are practicing to identify a specific group’s needs and demands……The new workforce needs to be able to recognize subtle market demands and realize that need.  In other words, there is a new place for problem solving skills and gamification enables one to do just that.”¹

The design of our sales negotiation training course breaks content into small packets of information and then the learner spends 90% or more of the training by “doing” via the game.  The combination of learning and doing in real world situations is very effective in helping learners understand the specific dynamics of the sales process and develop the behaviors – like understanding customer needs - they need to be successful.

In our course, learners assume the role of Carlo Vecchio, an aspiring Venetian merchant in the late fifteenth century, an era when Venice was the center of commerce in the Mediterranean, and therefore the world.  Through an exciting competition with their colleagues, learners are challenged to grow their maritime trading company as well as to be the best negotiator and the top merchant in all of Venice.

The learning experience is managed by the most sophisticated game simulator in the training industry.  Under the guidance of Carlo’s mentor at each level of the game, learners negotiate their way through a series of increasingly challenging situations including customer conversations, acquiring business resources and hiring and managing employees.

Learners continually practice and apply the skills taught at each level of the game while receiving tips, tricks, and tools directly applicable to persuasive conversations with those inside and outside the organization.  The course helps learners:

• Apply strong negotiation and persuasive communication skills to achieve business results and long-term relationships.
• Uncover the interests and needs of different parties and how they impact the negotiation strategy.
• Utilize tools and strategies to creatively generate negotiation and proposal alternatives to reach mutually beneficial agreements.

What do our learner’s think?  Here is some feedback from their perspective:

“Fun and effective!  I had lots of fun and I learned so much!”

“Very interesting cases.  You learn very efficiently and effectively.  “Applicable to real life.”

“I found it very interesting, especially the lessons of the mentor.  The main concepts are completely applicable to our day-to-day.  I am already looking forward to the next course!”

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our sales negotiation training can help your employees identify and fulfill the needs of your customers, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

1 http://www.gamification.co/2013/05/02/why-gamification-matters-as-a-student/

How can we use corporate soft skills training to help foster employee engagement?  Let’s start by defining what engagement is and is not.  It is not what you get when you publicly agree to get married. J   

Learning is engaging if it is interesting, timely, relevant to a skill the employee wants to (or must) improve, and delivered in such a way as to capture the attention and efforts of the learner.

Engagement results from the effective design of the online game based experience using elements like a story, characters, competition, recognition, real world scenarios, and continual individualized feedback. 

GameLearn^®, whose digital game based courses we distribute in the United States, has measured learner engagement levels from over 30,000 students who have taken their online game-based courses.  Here is a summary of those measurements:

• Average overall course evaluation:  9.4 out of 10.
• Percentage who find the course applicable to their job: 98%.
• Percentage who would recommend the course:  99%.
• Percentage who complete the course after starting it: 91%.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our sales negotiation training and time management training games can help your employees enter the “Age of Engagement,” or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

1 http://gsummit.com/

The article cited a study by Leadership IQ which found that approximately 90% of new hires fail because of factors other than the lack of a technical skill required for that job. ¹   The article identifies “Influencing across boundaries” as one of the top soft skill success drivers. 

“Influencing across boundaries.  Having the ability to sell one’s vision to others is a powerful soft skill, particularly for those in leadership, sales or marketing roles. Individuals who can articulate the “what’s in it for you” message project confidence, credibility and enthusiasm when presenting new ideas, products or services.”²

Our entire focus at Game On! Learning is providing corporate soft skills training that helps employees change their performance game.  Our communication skills training program has helped hundreds of organizations develop employees who are skilled at communicating their vision to both internal and external customers.

This highly interactive, digital game based course teaches the persuasive communication skills needed to help employees become expert communicators and achieve “win/win” results for their internal and external customers.  Employees develop skills to help them communicate to build trust, resolve conflict, engage in collaborative (rather than competitive) negotiation, and hone the skills to reach agreements.

Throughout the course, learners continually practice and apply the skills taught at each level of the game through realistic scenarios, all the while receiving tips, tricks and tools directly applicable to persuasive conversation with those inside and outside the organization.  Up to 95% of learning time is dedicated to internalizing the optimal communication behaviors and practicing those skills through highly interactive animated video simulations.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our sales negotiation training and time management training games can help your employees quickly develop the corporate soft skills required to change their performance game, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/these-soft-skills-can-go-a-long-way/?interstitial=tmwb042513

²http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/these-soft-skills-can-go-a-long-way/2

“Churning skill sets require e-learning initiatives.  With job descriptions and daily tasks evolving faster than schools can produce qualified job candidates, many employers rely on constant, on-the-job training to remain competitive. E-learning programs help companies push new skills and critical improvements to line-level staff members quickly and efficiently, without the lag time of classroom or retreat-based training.”¹

The problem is:  traditional eLearning is often not engaging enough to get employees to consume it.  And rarely effective in building and imbedding critical skills – it’s a much better bet for knowledge-based learning.

Our online game based courses are a better solution for this type of learning.  Delivered over a multi-week format, our sales negotiation training and time management training courses flip the traditional skill-building formula upside down.   In each, the learner is given a packet of content to absorb (the premise and goal of the game, plus a scenario-based case study) and then spends 90% or more of the training by “doing” via the game.  Much more experiential for the learner, who must learn what works and what doesn’t in order to succeed in the game.

The likelihood that a learner will attempt to apply the new skills back on the job during and post-training has much to do with their confidence level in using those skills correctly.  We all know what confidence is, but I think the definition that relates best to what we hope to accomplish through training is this one: “the faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way.”

Confidence is one of the key points of differentiation between game-based elearning and traditional training.  Confidence is fueled by the growing conviction during training that the new behaviors will make us more effective or successful in our job, and that we have mastered those skills to the point where we know we can perform them correctly as part of our responsibilities.

Research shows that online game based learning is extremely effective in building confidence due to the following characteristics of the learning:

• Maximized skill practice time versus traditional training.
• Versatility in the new skills by applying them in varied types of scenarios.
• Specific, individualized remediation received during the game.
• The competition with colleagues.
• Rewards and recognition earned as the game progresses.
• Being challenged as the game scenarios become increasingly complex, and developing the ability to meet those challenges.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our sales negotiation training and time management training games can help your employees quickly develop new skills that can be applied on the job immediately or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning-industry/trends.htm

“Learning transfer refers to acquiring knowledge or skills in one context that enhances a person’s performance in another context.”¹

Easy to say, but not so easy to accomplish, especially with traditional classroom based learning.  Online game based learning presents a strong case for its ability to more effectively transfer learned skills back to the job.  The graphic below is designed to provide an at-a-glance view of our rationale.

The managers of learners completing the digital game based courses we offer bear out the effectiveness:

“They found it very interesting, especially the lessons of the mentor.  The main concepts are completely applicable to our day-to-day.”

“It has been a very positive experience.  So far we have had a 100% completion rate.”

“What we really liked the most about this program is the practical application.  The majority of face-to-face training lacks much practical content.”

“You learn concepts to help you plan, and afterwards negotiate in situations that reflect real negotiations that you have with clients.”

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our sales negotiation training and time management training games can help transfer learning, send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/transfer-of-learning/

One of the conference tracks is of particular interest to me –Attract and Retain for Growth–because these are areas our online game based programs can help impact.  I am keen to learn more about how we can enhance our solutions to provide even more value.

Online game based learning measurably increases learners’ retention of the training because of the highly experiential nature of the training.  The volume of research linking improved learning retention to experiential learning is vast, but if you can obtain Pamela Hammers Specht’s complete study on this topic¹, it is quite relevant to the comparison of traditionally-designed skills training to digital game based learning, even though it was published some years ago.

Online game based learning provides a more memorable context for the retention of the learning, particularly when the game scenarios are designed in such a way as to be applicable to the learner’s job.  This does not mean the scenarios must purely mimic the learner’s work environment. 

In fact, some level of reality separation is desirable for the game to be effective.  The game environment focuses the learner on the training, leaving behind, for the moment, possible distractions from the workplace.  The key is the applicability of the scenarios, and the relevancy of the taught skills.

Watch for future blogs to learn about some of the IMPACT conference highlights.  To get started now, contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our digital game based learning can help you increase employee retention, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹Pamela Hammers Specht: Experiential Learning: The Impact of Degree of Participation and Student Characteristics on Comprehension and Retention.

When I was a sales manager, I would coach sales representatives to maximize their efforts by focusing on the 20% of clients or prospects that had the potential to yield 80% of the revenue.

Interesting you might say, but what does this have to do with time management training?  Time management training can help your employees develop the discipline to effectively manage their time and routine activities so that they can focus on your vital few.

Our online game based time management training program can help.  It is a highly interactive course that teaches the time management and personal productivity skills needed to create a results-oriented culture that encourages teamwork and significantly increases organizational effectiveness.

In an exciting adventure reminiscent of the Da Vinci Code, learners have to follow clues and solve puzzles and mysteries which will lead to the discovery of the knowledge that Seneca and his disciples developed nearly 2,000 years ago to build a time management system from the greatest body of wisdom on that topic in history.

Over a period of 21 simulated days in the video game, learners will learn to more effectively manage the daily chaos of mail/email, meeting after meeting, phone calls, competing priorities – and more – while staying on track with key projects, goals and responsibilities.  How successful each learner becomes will depend on their increasing proficiency as a manager of time.  At the end of the program, students are able to:

• Discover and apply a process for decision making that can reduce work load and stress.
• Learn to define goals, develop plans, and discover strategies for achieving them.
• Increase running speed, improve concentration, reduce distractions and multiply productivity through Looped Focused Work Flow^©.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our digital game based learning can help your employees master the 80/20 rule, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information. 

1http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Pareto081202.htm

As you think about the model, please consider the following key points.

• This model intelligently uses elements from multiple levels of evaluation:  perceptions, actions and results.
• As you can see, this model uses a high level of involvement from the sales managers, but that is a huge strength.  Their hands-on observation, mentoring and coaching approach greatly increases not only the performance impact of the training but the credibility of the data gathered.
• The last step in this process sets up ongoing evaluation tests to guide the sales managers and learning and development staff in training and coaching refinements to the program that will further imbed the skills and improve the business results, and ensure ongoing alignment with business needs.
• As the increased skill proficiency translates into increased sales, the sales managers are in an excellent position to partner with the learning and development staff to quantify, in conservative terms, the ROI of the overall program based on criteria established at the beginning of the process with the executive team.

Contact on of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about our digital game-based programs and how you can measure the impact of your training programs, or visit https://zd121.infusionsoft.com/app/page/na18 to download our free whitepaper “Game-Based eLearning: Learning Transfer and ROI versus Traditional eLearning".

  1Measuring the Impact of Sales Training, Huthwaite, Inc.

Training Magazine cited this as a best practice for delivering training - “promoting ongoing knowledge and skill development and giving  learners takeaway information for continuing study and skills for continuing practice.”¹

Our online time management training provides learners with a suite of tools and tips through our innovative email follow-up system.  Lasting for three months, the follow-up program starts in the last 1/2 of the training and extends over 2 months after the course is complete. 

Emails provide reinforcement of skills learned during the training, relevant exercises, and additional personal productivity instruments and tools.  The follow up reinforcement also provides additional approaches to adapting the time management system to the learner’s work and personal time.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how the follow-on tools and tips in our time management digital game-based learning program can help you extend the value of your corporate oft skills training, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://www.trainingmag.com/content/fostering-behavior-change

The theme of the 2013 CLO Learning Symposium in Austin, TX this year piqued my interest because it challenged some long held assumptions regarding the “home range” of organizations and highlighted opportunities for innovative learning professionals.

“The home range is no longer just the head office or the local market. It’s a global community.  The challenge to chief learning officers isn’t just to bring development to employees no matter where they may be………It’s also creating a learning environment that feels like home, where all employees have the opportunity to grow and advance their skills.”¹

Game based learning offers an educational experience that can help you build community among your learners and help them feel connected and “at home.”  Our courses provide the ability for learners to become a member of a cohort of their colleagues who learn from one another, participate in fun and exciting competitions, and be rewarded for their success.  The interactive video game design engages students and is familiar because it is reminiscent of video games they play with friends, family members, or by themselves.

Throughout our online time management training and persuasive communications sales training programs, learners receive immediate and personalized feedback from a mentor to help ensure they feel supported throughout the training.  Because our games are available in multiple languages, you can implement a “home-based” global program with ease and effectiveness.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our digital game based learning can help bring much more impactful corporate business skills training home to your employees, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://clomedia.com/events/view/spring-2013-clo-symposium

A recent article in Training Industry Quarterly identified that one of the key trends in sales training is to focus on “team alignment and speed of execution….and executives at Cisco and many other companies are now demanding that sales training not just deliver skills and tools, but do it in ways that helps selling happen faster.”¹

We have designed our sales negotiation training program to do just that.  It is delivered in an innovative game based learning design and teaches the persuasive communication skills sales representatives need to be persuasive communicators and achieve “win/win” results for your organization and your customers.  Key skills developed include communicating to build trust, resolving conflict, collaborative (rather than competitive) negotiation, and identifying the needs and interests of prospects to more quickly close agreements.

Because 95% of the learning time is dedicated to internalizing the optimal negotiating behaviors and practicing those skills with real life scenarios, your sales professionals can apply their newly acquired skills to help accelerate the sales process immediately.  The result?  99% of our learners find this training applicable to real life.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about our digital game-based learning programs can help you increase the time to close or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹Training Industry Quarterly.  Winter 2013.  Three Emerging Trends in Sales Training.

• Generation Y integrates technology into their lives like no other generation.
• According to Business Insider, feedback and recognition is extremely important to them and they are thirsty for acknowledgment.¹

How will Generation Y change the way we deliver corporate soft skills training? I read a recent blog post about learning in the 21^st century that offered some interesting insight.  Interactivity and involvement were cited as being essential and making video/gaming core to the delivery of training was identified as a way to achieve this.  With respect to feedback, personal and customized is the way to go.²

Game On! Learning’s online time management training and negotiation training programs are a perfect match for this generation.  Each is video-based, highly interactive, and features a mentor who provides constant, individualized feedback to the learner.  Peer-based competition offers a fun and effective way to learn and receive recognition. 

The proof is in our measurement.  Over 91% of individuals who start our courses complete them.  99% percent would recommend our courses to their colleagues.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about our digital game based learning programs can help you engage your Generation Y workforce, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://www.businessinsider.com/4-ways-to-manage-gen-y-employees-2013-1#ixzz2Np7xNC00

²Thoughts on education in the 21st century organization, Kevin Wheeler, February 2013

A recent blog post on the Training Magazine Network gave me some food for thought.  These three criteria really resonated with me.¹ 

• “Memorable – if they don’t retain anything from the learning then they can’t apply it.  Engaging with their emotions, using repetition and spacing the learning out over a period of time all help.”
• “Actionable – they must be able to put their learning into practice. If they can’t, you’ve wasted your time and theirs.”
• “Efficient – it needs to have been an efficient way for them to reach the level of performance or achieve the outcome they need to.  Focus on the material that will help people to change their behavior and improve their skills. Ditch the rest or put in links to it instead.”

Keep focused on that last point.  Many organizations I meet with are spending their scarce resources on “dumbed down” information-based training.  Invest training time on teaching skills and behaviors.  Provide information and knowledge via more efficient tools.

Our game based learning courses have these components and many others that help to produce an amazing learning experience for your employees.   Our online time management training and persuasive communication/negotiation training programs feature design elements like a storyline with engaging characters, peer competition, and constant skills practice, all of which help learners internalize the new skills so that they can apply them immediately on the job. 

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our digital game-based learning can help increase the effectiveness of your eLearning programs, or visit www.gameonlearning.com to download our latest white paper.

¹http://www.elearninglearning.com/elearning/

There has been a lot of emphasis over the past few years on packaging training into small “nuggets” of information that can be easily consumed.  

Training magazine recently published an article entitled Improving learning outcomes with a bite sized strategy and described this strategy as involving:

“Identifying pertinent information, breaking it down into smaller pieces, and streamlining the delivery of information.  By giving employees “one bite at a time” over the course of a longer training program interspersed with days on the job, they will be more likely to remember important information and apply the new skills on the job."

We have found this type of training delivery to be very effective.  In fact, our online game based learning programs follow this model.  The key is the design of our negotiation skills training programs and time management training courses.  

In each, the learner is given a packet of content to absorb (the premise and goal of the game, plus a scenario-based case study) and then spends 90% or more of the training by “doing” via the game.”  Much more experiential for the learner, who must learn what works and what doesn’t in order to succeed in the game.

As a case in point, learners who complete our sales negotiation training online game based course will have spent 9-10 hours in the game over a 5 to 6 week timeframe.  Over 90% of that training time will be spent at the skill application level by successfully completing a variety of scenarios that utilize the world’s most sophisticated negotiation simulator ever created for corporate training.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about our digital game based learning programs, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

This theme really resonates with me because I have spent my career helping learning leaders develop and implement business skills training and other programs that are measurable and help drive strategic objectives.

For those of you who have been in the business a while, you know that demonstrating the business impact from your training programs can be one of the most complex and difficult of all learning metrics to determine.

Here are some “truths” to help guide you.

·         Training, regardless of the design or modality, is not enough by itself.  Beyond the training, here must be a plan to manage the practice and application of the new behaviors after training.  ASTD research estimates that up to 80% of new skills are lost if not used within 1 week.  The training must be actively reinforced to fully anchor the skills, and much of this reinforcement must come from the managers and colleagues of the employees, not just Learning and Development.

·         ROI measurement efforts are an ongoing process, not a project.  It is often too costly to do a “once and done” project to measure business impact.  ROI is maximized when initial measurements are analyzed to find tweaks that can increase the ongoing accuracy of the measures as well as the impact of the program.  Think of it as a continuous improvement process focused on the program and the metrics – and their alignment with the business need.  Daniel Stufflebeam said it best about 40 years ago: evaluating training results is not done to “prove” but to “improve”[1].

·         If there were a simple, sturdy way to reliably measure ROI, it would be widely used.  Developing an ROI measurement process that is unassailable would be cost prohibitive.  Therefore, each organization must develop their own process in light of their specific priorities, and be aware of the tradeoffs and ambiguities that are certain to be a part of that process.

Contact me at (888) 725-GAME or bryan@gameonlearning.com to learn more about how our game based elearning can help you demonstrate the value and ROI of your elearning programs, or visit www.gameonlearning.com to download our white paper.

Online corporate training programs have the ability to reach across cultural and geographic boundaries to provide employees with top quality, consistent learning where ever they are located.  That is why it is so essential for organizations like Game On! Learning to offer programs in multiple languages.  Our game based learning business skills courses are available in four languages – English Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Our mission is to provide engaging, cost-effective training to geographically-dispersed employees.

Classroom training is an awesome way to build skills and improve performance, but the time away from the job and the travel expenses can be tough barriers to making it happen.

• Blended virtual learning delivered to your organization is probably helping address this challenge, but the more skilled-based the training is, the more challenging it can be to design and deliver to remote employees.

We can help. Our online game based learning courses develop confident, skilled employees – no matter where they are.  Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹ http://www.worldwidelearn.com/eLearning-industry/trends.htm

The Voice of Lumesse is one voice in the dialogue.  Some of the reasons why were cited in a recent blog post.  “Game based learning can be so much fun it becomes addictive and that games enable learners to suspend reality and to make mistakes and learn from them - a hugely important transferable skill for 21^st century  learning.” ¹

We agree with the value of practice and making mistakes.  In each of our online corporate training games, learners spend over 90% of their time practicing the skills they are learning in real world scenarios.  For example, in our online game based negotiation course, learners are guided through each scenario by a mentor character who imparts wisdom, learning and guidance.  After each attempted negotiation, a detailed and personalized report provides specific feedback on what the learner did correctly and what they must do better, and whether they passed the scenario.

The combination of the engagement provided by the game and the spirited competition with their colleagues, plus the amount of time spent at a challenging skill application learning level, plus the detailed individual feedback and remediation equal a much higher level of competence in the taught skills when the learner has completed the training game.  And, it is fun!

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about how our soft skills training will help your employees develop the transferable business skills they need to be successful, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://blog.lumesse.com/2012/11/10-key-learning-trends-for-2013.html

A recent article in Harvard Business Review stated that “power in extreme negotiation comes more from preparation than from how glib or agile you are at the negotiation table.”¹

We couldn’t agree more.  Our online negotiation training game focuses on giving learners the skills they need to be expert negotiators and develop long term, mutually beneficial relationships.  These skills include:

·         Communicating to build trust.

·         Developing a clear understanding of the other party’s interests.

·         Resolving conflict collaboratively, rather than competitively.

·         Presenting proposals to close the agreement.

Practice and preparation are key.  Our game based learning experience is managed by the most sophisticated negotiation simulator in the training industry.  Under the guidance of a mentor, each learner negotiates their way through a series of increasingly challenging game scenarios including customer conversations, acquiring business resources, and hiring and managing employees.

They continually practice and apply the skills taught at each level of the corporate training game through realistic scenarios, all the while receiving tips, tricks, and tools directly applicable to persuasive conversation.  Up to 95% of learning time is dedicated to internalizing the optimal negotiating behaviors.

It is this level on internalization that gives your employees the foundation of preparation they need to approach and manage every negotiation from a position of strength, even when the other party is disagreeable!

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about we can help your employees achieve “win, win” business relationships using our digital game based learning, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹http://www.vantagepartners.com/uploadedFiles/Consulting/Research_And_Publications/Smart_Form_Content/Publications/Vantage_in_HBR/implementing-strategies-in-extreme-negotiations.pdf?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CE_HBR_cos_021213

“At such a level, time management isn’t just a productivity monitor; it’s an organization’s strategic driver.  If the CEO isn’t spending his or her time wisely, it could potentially disrupt the strategic direction of an entire company…This is why many industry experts consider time management a strategic priority.”¹

We believe this strategic orientation is important throughout the organization.  Our online time management training leverages the industry’s most advanced personal productivity simulator to help business professionals at all levels master the time management skills needed to create a results-oriented culture that encourages teamwork and significantly increases organizational effectiveness.

This comprehensive online corporate training game focuses on both strategic and tactical time management skills and is divided into four modules, consisting of three pillars - Planning, Organization, Execution – along with a unifying element, Proactivity.

·         Pillar 1, Planning - Learn to define goals, develop plans, and discover strategies for achieving them.

·         Pillar 2, Organization - Design an individual personal productivity system that will enable each learner to increase their efficiency

·         Pillar 3, Execution - Increase running speed, improve concentration, reduce distractions and multiply productivity through Looped Focused Work Flow

·         Proactivity - Discover the attitudes, tools and skills that can create improvement as a time manager and empower each learner’s personal development.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn how we can help your employees achieve their strategic goals, or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.

¹  http://talentmgt.com/articles/view/make-time-management-a-strategic-endeavor/1

Most “skills-based” training still dedicates much more time to listening, reading or watching than it does to “doing” – practicing the taught skills.  I’m sure you have experienced this countless times:  a unit of instruction (via a trainer or eLearning) followed by a test or role play simulation, with perhaps a final test or grand mastery role play at the end.

Certainly not bad, but how effectively has the learner imbedded and internalized the skills by the end of the training?  How excited are they about applying the new skills after training, and how confident are they in doing so?

Our “serious game”-based eLearning flips the traditional skill-building formula upside down.  In these learning experiences, the learner is given a packet of content to absorb (the premise and goal of the game, plus a scenario-based case study) and then spends 90% or more of the training by “doing” via the game.  Much more experiential for the learner, who must learn what works and what doesn’t in order to succeed in the game.

“Interesting”, you might say, “but does it work?”

If properly designed, a rapidly-growing body of research shows it works much more effectively than the traditional design model for skills-based learning.  The key (as it is for all training) is the design of the learning experience. 

The amount of time spent absorbing information versus practicing and applying the skills is out of balance in most “skills” training.  Game-based eLearning changes that.  Think of it this way:

Will a mix of 80% knowledge absorption / 20% skill application make you a great golfer?  Most would think not.  The practice time (in a safe environment, receiving the continual individualized feedback of the golf pro) should dwarf the time spent watching golf videos, or the Golf Channel, or reading Golf Digest.

Contact one of our Game Changers at (888) 725-GAME to learn more about we can help your employees ramp up their performance or send an email to info@gameonlearning.com to request more information.