This Blog assignment began by Skyping with my assigned learning partner, Melanie. We agreed on the learning topic of Gamification. Our next step was to research two articles and/or websites; one relating to the current or emerging trends; and the other relating to the emerging or changing role of the adult educator.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there is a lot of online information regarding Gamification such as what it is, how it works and how to implement into training and eLearning. Once we both found articles/websites pertaining to the 2 areas of focus, Melanie and I were asked to Skype, share our notes with each other and post our reflections on our Blog.
New Insights Reflection: ‘What new insights have you gained in terms of the variety of roles that adult educators play (related to your topic)?’
With technology constantly changing and people now accustomed to receiving immediate information and feedback, adult educators need to remain current with technology and trends to engage learners. Thus, the role of the adult educator is shifting from lecturing, giving assignments, returning grades within a couple days and quizzing learners to creating a fun learning environment, motivating learners with engaging material and interaction, providing immediate feedback and adding some form of gamification (progress points, blended learning, online learning, simulation learning, avatars, competition amongst peers, etc.).
Whenever I heard the term ‘gamification’ I was overwhelmed by the thought of how much work it was going to be to gamify an existing course or a new course. Thus, I shied away from incorporating it into my work. What I have learned is that incorporating gamification with adult education can be as simple or complex as the educator desires. The YouTube video I found talked about one simple way to incorporate gamification, changing the way adult educator’s grade. Changing assignment and quiz grades to experience points or progress bars makes learning more engaging and fun, as well as motivates learners to continue their course progress with a positive mindset regardless of how well they did on one assignment or quiz.
Overall, I think gamification has added a new level to being an adult educator via ensuring the content being delivered is engaging and has an on-the-job experience feel.
Trends Reflection: ‘What are some trends in your field (related to your topic)? How are you preparing to address these trends?’
Gamification as a whole is a hot trend in the eLearning industry and has been for a while. With a call center audience in a customer service focused company, creating simulations would be the best portion of gamification for us. More specifically, I would like to create real life simulations on delivering exceptional customer service. To begin, I would start by listening to both great customer service calls and poor customer services calls. Then I would speak with the right people to set standards of what to say during some of these poor calls to demonstration how that call can be turned into a great call experience.
As eLearning modules are less than one hour, I can also incorporate gamification by creating a series of modules that will act as a course or program, and award badges and experience points for completing each module with a final percentage at completion. This will aid in motivating the learners through creating a competitive, yet fun environment. In addition, this gives the learners a sense of accomplishment for completing each module as well as completing the course/program.
Web-Conference Reflection: ‘How was it? What was one thing that you learned about from your learning partner?’
Meeting Melanie via Skype was great, especially when taking online courses, it is nice to be able to work with someone, to brainstorm ideas, provide feedback and moral support as we work our way through the online courses.
Melanie and I talked about the reasons for taking the PIDP, our employment, our topic of gamification and how relevant it is within our current roles. We have very similar roles in different industries. Melanie works in the health industry while I work in the loyalty industry. While Melanie and I discussed gamification in eLearning, I learned how relevant gamification is in for all industries, and how it is already a part of our organizations without even realizing it. Melanie and I will keep in touch as we continue working our way through the PIDP.
To locate Melanie’s blog visit: coming soon!
Resources:
Burrus, Daniel (May 7, 2012). Gamification: Accelerating Learning For Business & Education. Retrieved from http://gettingsmart.com/2012/05/gamification-a-rapidly-trend-that-will-accelerate-learning-for-business-education/
McNiece, C. [WhatWeCee] (2013, January 21). The Gamification of Education [Video File] Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/10/how-to-create-a-reference-for-a-youtube-video.html
Melanie's resources:
http://elearningindustry.com/top-6-benefits-of-gamification-in-elearning
http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends/ten-trends-2014/gamification
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there is a lot of online information regarding Gamification such as what it is, how it works and how to implement into training and eLearning. Once we both found articles/websites pertaining to the 2 areas of focus, Melanie and I were asked to Skype, share our notes with each other and post our reflections on our Blog.
New Insights Reflection: ‘What new insights have you gained in terms of the variety of roles that adult educators play (related to your topic)?’
With technology constantly changing and people now accustomed to receiving immediate information and feedback, adult educators need to remain current with technology and trends to engage learners. Thus, the role of the adult educator is shifting from lecturing, giving assignments, returning grades within a couple days and quizzing learners to creating a fun learning environment, motivating learners with engaging material and interaction, providing immediate feedback and adding some form of gamification (progress points, blended learning, online learning, simulation learning, avatars, competition amongst peers, etc.).
Whenever I heard the term ‘gamification’ I was overwhelmed by the thought of how much work it was going to be to gamify an existing course or a new course. Thus, I shied away from incorporating it into my work. What I have learned is that incorporating gamification with adult education can be as simple or complex as the educator desires. The YouTube video I found talked about one simple way to incorporate gamification, changing the way adult educator’s grade. Changing assignment and quiz grades to experience points or progress bars makes learning more engaging and fun, as well as motivates learners to continue their course progress with a positive mindset regardless of how well they did on one assignment or quiz.
Overall, I think gamification has added a new level to being an adult educator via ensuring the content being delivered is engaging and has an on-the-job experience feel.
Trends Reflection: ‘What are some trends in your field (related to your topic)? How are you preparing to address these trends?’
Gamification as a whole is a hot trend in the eLearning industry and has been for a while. With a call center audience in a customer service focused company, creating simulations would be the best portion of gamification for us. More specifically, I would like to create real life simulations on delivering exceptional customer service. To begin, I would start by listening to both great customer service calls and poor customer services calls. Then I would speak with the right people to set standards of what to say during some of these poor calls to demonstration how that call can be turned into a great call experience.
As eLearning modules are less than one hour, I can also incorporate gamification by creating a series of modules that will act as a course or program, and award badges and experience points for completing each module with a final percentage at completion. This will aid in motivating the learners through creating a competitive, yet fun environment. In addition, this gives the learners a sense of accomplishment for completing each module as well as completing the course/program.
Web-Conference Reflection: ‘How was it? What was one thing that you learned about from your learning partner?’
Meeting Melanie via Skype was great, especially when taking online courses, it is nice to be able to work with someone, to brainstorm ideas, provide feedback and moral support as we work our way through the online courses.
Melanie and I talked about the reasons for taking the PIDP, our employment, our topic of gamification and how relevant it is within our current roles. We have very similar roles in different industries. Melanie works in the health industry while I work in the loyalty industry. While Melanie and I discussed gamification in eLearning, I learned how relevant gamification is in for all industries, and how it is already a part of our organizations without even realizing it. Melanie and I will keep in touch as we continue working our way through the PIDP.
To locate Melanie’s blog visit: coming soon!
Resources:
Burrus, Daniel (May 7, 2012). Gamification: Accelerating Learning For Business & Education. Retrieved from http://gettingsmart.com/2012/05/gamification-a-rapidly-trend-that-will-accelerate-learning-for-business-education/
McNiece, C. [WhatWeCee] (2013, January 21). The Gamification of Education [Video File] Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/10/how-to-create-a-reference-for-a-youtube-video.html
Melanie's resources:
http://elearningindustry.com/top-6-benefits-of-gamification-in-elearning
http://www.core-ed.org/thought-leadership/ten-trends/ten-trends-2014/gamification