Nowadays learning and training have become critical key factors to success. From my own perspective, I argue that there are three crucial building blocks which will determine the economy of future nations, namely education, training and learning.
- Education is the exposure to new knowledge, concepts and ideas in a relatively programmed way. It is normally aimed at increasing knowledge, or modifying attitudes and beliefs.
- Training includes those solutions to a learning need that involve being taught or shown a way of doing things. It is essentially skill related.
- Learning is the employee-need centered and its starts with the individual as beneficiary.
From the aforementioned, we can see that the three criteria will lead us to knowledge, skill and attitudes, which sometimes are referred to as competences. Thusly, the performance and productivity of countries in the near future are abided by the quality of workforce they possess.
One should not; however, forget that technology is changing our world: how we work, how we shop, how we entertain ourselves, how we communicate, how we engage in politics, how we care for health, and so on; however, will technology change the way we learn? The answer is Yes. For instance, computers have already altered the way we learn and a good example of the aforementioned is video games. Online games aren’t just for playtime anymore. By the end of 2014, more than 70% of global businesses had utilized at least one gamified application, according to the Gartner Group. By and large, enterprises devote considerable budgets to training programs even during time crisis; therefore, there is a general consensus that continuous training is deemed as a salient pillar via which companies can develop competences, which can cope with the economic, technological, demographic and societal evolvements. For this reason, gamification could display a paradigm shift in the way learning and training are shaped, either in the business or education spheres. In a nutshell, videos games are able of changing the landscape of learning and training. The formula is simple, using games to train employees. The concept is known as Gamification, which is according to Growth Engineering, “the application of gaming mechanics to non-gaming environments to make difficult tasks more palatable”. The business’s prime aim is to provide customers with solutions to improve employees. The idea comes from a need or a problematic, namely traditional “face to face” learning, which has failed to engage learners and trainees, and make them prepared to face uncertainty. For this reason, if you want your learners to be more productive and engaged, you must ensure an environment that can hold their attention threshold high, and a platform which makes them return for more. I have established three Chief characteristics which create its competitive advantage over its competitors, and they are as follows:
- The training style: funny, competitive and simulative.
- New dimensions: challenging, motivational and engaging.
- New components to training: levels, leader boards and rules.
Thusly, here are plenty of disenchanting arguments in favor of impaneling gamification strategy in professional training. Oftentimes, numbers are louder, and more expressive than words, especially when they are harnessed by academic researches. Concretely, According to the e-learning industry, “expected market growth, expected generated revenue and expected corporate demand depict the high potential for the idea success.”
In few words, Human beings are the most effective users of gamification in training. It has been a long time we are exhibiting our liking for games. Many scholars were lucky to push this forward and implement it in professional settings. Others are swinging to the pendulum; they let it go for various reasons. Games allow people to fail again and again without feeling upset or entering a frustrate and depressive experience which may cause people negative psychological repercussions in real life. Those failures are translated into multiple lives that we want to be part of in reality. Academic studies have proven that gamification is highly omnipotent and compelling for all learner cohorts, and for all different styles of learning. I have a strong belief that in less than one decade gamification will stand as a key driving force in the training industry, specifically the workplace learning.
Gamification is the future of workplace learning and training. It can foster and robust learning. By and large, gamification will reshape the way we view learning and the transfer of knowledge by giving it a new breath. As overtly stated by Karl Kpp in an interview with learnnovators, “gamification will disrupt many of today’s learning approaches”.
References:
- The 2012-2017 Worldwide Game-based Learning and Simulation-based Markets.
- Gamification, Games, and Learning: What Managers and Practitioners Need to Know.
- Digital Games Revolutionizing Workplace Learning? A Discussion on the Merits of Game-based Learning in the Workplace.
- Gamification Survey Results, survey by TalentLMS.
