Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
Issue link: http://elmezine.epubxp.com/i/201066
Four Research-Based Questions To Ask About Serious Games SOME TRICKY AREAS MUST BE EXPLORED BY DESIGNERS BEFORE ENTERING INTO THE GAME-BASED LEARNING REALM. BY ROB FOSHAY, PH.D. Many of your employees probably like computer games and play them enthusiastically. But learning games — in a corporate context??? Are learning games really efective in improving the skills employees use on the job? Research on serious games suggests improved job skills and performance can result from integrating learning games into your training programs. But the same research shows that efective learning games are difcult to design, and they are rare. How can you tell the diference between an efective learning game and an inefective one? Te research suggests questions you can ask of the potential learning game vendor/provider that will help you decide. I'll provide four of the most important questions to ask, and we'll also benchmark those questions against an available serious learning game designed and developed for the corporate market. Te game we'll benchmark is called Merchants®, which teaches persuasive communication and negotiation skills in the context of business relationships. Merchants is designed, developed and owned by Madrid-based Gamelearn S.A. and distributed in the U.S. by Game On! Learning. From a training point of view, persuasive communication and negotiation skills represent a huge developmental challenge. Researchers call the problem-solving skills required during negotiations complex and ill-structured, because these skills are not based on a clear goal or pre-defned step-bystep solution procedure. Instead, the optimal solution has to be "invented" for every negotiation, by applying core strategy principles to produce a successful outcome. Every negotiation is diferent. You begin with only a general goal: to fnd a solution that will meet the needs of both parties, while building trust Elearning! October / November 2013 27