The impressive growth trend of the game-based learning sector applied to corporate training, even being analyzed in the midst of the Coronavirus health crisis, is irrefutable proof that this methodology is gaining followers and it is not the result of chance.
Companies have faced in recent years, and even more so in recent months due to the pandemic, a VUCA environment, an acronym that many professionals are used to using to refer to its volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
In this context, rapid technological development, globalization, increased competition and the generalization of mobile devices for all digital activities, including online training, have made HR departments. H H. and those responsible for training within them have developed new needs and concerns.
The challenges of L&D in a dynamic environment
To remain competitive, companies have to quickly expand their employees’ skills (upskill) and teach them new ones, if appropriate (reskill). Hence, they need flexible, fast-implementing and economical training solutions.
On the other hand, the new recipients of corporate training, largely millennials, and soon later generations, completely accustomed to digital communication, always demand the latest, in the shortest possible time and from any device.
The precious treasure of L&D professionals will be, ultimately, those courses capable of covering those deficiencies that continually emerge with a methodology that meets the listed characteristics. Then game-based learning and its irresistible benefits appear.
Game -based learning as the dynamic solution that best suits
As you said, the unstoppable rise of this modality applied to corporate training shows that its advantages are no longer a secret and organizations demand it for its proven effectiveness.
Without going too far, we can summarize in five points the reasons that make game-based learning an incredible tool for creating dynamic corporate training that responds to the training requirements of today’s organizations:
1. Meet the didactic objectives
The contents are still “king” in game-based learning products and the learning objectives will always be there, whether they are cognitive, whether it is about learning skills related to our understanding of situations; psychomotor, if it is about learning a skill that requires our motor capacity, such as flight simulators, or emotional, if it is about getting emotionally involved to aim at certain attitudes.
2. Respond to certain established rules
When we play, there must be rules known to all participants. It must also occur in game-based learning courses , where there will be those instructions that will ensure the involvement of the students, in order to achieve their best performance within that pre-established framework.
3. Tell a story
Storytelling is essential in courses that use game – based learning to engage the recipient of the training. The student usually assumes the role of one of the characters or determines what the protagonist of the game will do. As in any story, there will be a presentation, a conflict and an outcome, and the student will have a lot to do with the paths taken by the character who faces the problem or the obstacles presented, since his mission will be to overcome them.
4. Give instant feedback
The student’s actions will always find feedback that will favor experiential learning in game-based learning . This is undoubtedly one of the vital ingredients.
5. Includes gamification elements
To all of the above, we must also add the seasoning that enhances the flavor of any game-based learning experience and leaves the student wanting more: the typical elements of the game or gamification.
The competition, the rankings, the points, the rewards, the penalties… All of them are ingredients that we identify in many games and that will reflect their rules. They are, after all, the ones that get us hooked and motivate us to improve, because we know that if we succeed, the satisfaction will be greater.
In conclusion, if you face the challenges described above and want to innovate and ensure the success of your corporate training, trust game-based learning platforms such as Gamelearn. In our case, we already have 15 years of experience in creating serious games with which thousands of employees from more than 3,000 companies around the world have learned and strengthened different skills that have helped them evolve professionally. Find out and take the first step.