Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2010 - 23

#3: Create Real Challenges and Competition Simulations are often too easy or don’t present students with a meaningful challenge. Allowing learners to experiment in a simulation environment has value, but real learning does not occur unless the participant has the opportunity to fail. Creating real challenges means creating progressively more difficult rounds of play that allow the learner to advance in the game and build upon skills mastered in previous levels. Celebrity Calamity (www. celebritycalamity.com), a recent financial literacy casual game, teaches low-income individuals proper use of debit and credit cards and the risks of accumulating credit card debt, with the learner completing multiple levels to achieve the final score. Simulations that have a single level or that are too easy to master can easily be dismissed by learners as a fun exercise rather than a learning experience that forces them to think about their actions and how their choices lead to the outcome. #4: …But Don’t Ask Participants to Compete Against the Computer Effective learning takes place when people have the chance to reflect on their behavior and analyze how they can act differently in the future. Debriefing and reflection periods are among the most important parts of a learning experience. Far too often, though, reflection does not take place because the learner dismisses simple computer feedback, feels he has done as well as he could, and faults the simulation designers for any shortcomings in his performance. However, allowing learners to directly compete against each other is more powerful than just providing comparative results and high scores. Learners in a single-player business simulation may complain that they can’t spend more money marketing certain products and are prone to frustration because of the game’s limitations. But if players compete directly with other participants playing concurrently, they are far more likely to work with and accept the constraints of a game or simulation because they know that their competition is facing the same constraints. #5: Finally, Dish Up an Experience! Don’t just create a game. Create an experience. Far too often it is forgotten that a learning experience is also a social experience. Participants learn from each other as much as they learn from the game. Simulation and game experiences have the unique ability to stimulate dialogue or discussion. A successful simulation experience should be so engrossing that participants want to interact with each other throughout the experience, exchange their thoughts, and relate learning back to the real world. A celebratory happy hour or dinner is a perfect place for this informal dialogue to occur. This concept holds even in a virtual environment. The most successful experiences have ample time for participants to socialize and network—especially in an online context. So, yes, designing an effective simulation or game does take a lot of effort, and yes, without that effort, you run the risk of designing an ineffective training solution. But when they adhere to the five guidelines above, games and simulations have the unique power to transform thinking and change behavior on a very deep level. Bjorn Billhardt is CEO and founder of Enspire Learning, an award-winning elearning and simulation development company based in Austin, Texas. E-mail Bjorn at editor@trainingindustry.com. Takeaways • Simulations need to accurately but simply reﬂect the real world in order to clearly demonstrate learning objectives. • Don’t be afraid to introduce elaborate game elements that contribute to the learning experience, even if they are not directly related to learning objectives. • Simulations and games with progressively more diﬃcult levels allow learners to master game mechanics ﬁrst, and then focus on the learning objectives. • Simulation experiences are more successful when participants compete against one another and are able to network with and learn from each other. Training Industry Quarterly, Winter 2010 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

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Training Industry Quarterly - Winter 2010

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