Enspire Learning Blog

A blogger over at Blogging@Wharton just posted an interesting response to the "Games and Simulations" article written by two of Enspire's finest for the 2008 Training Industry Quarterly Electronic Magazine.

Co-writers Bjorn Billhardt and Allison Kolb address how games and simulations can be effective learning tools by allowing individuals to learn through failure, as long as they offer feedback and place information in the right kind of context.

Check out the full article here here, and the response at Blogging@Wharton.

What's the best way to make friends in a foreign county? Get chased out of an illegal gaming event with them.

That's what renowned anthropologist Clifford Geertz discovered when, after trying unsuccessfully to integrate into a small Balinese village, he tagged along with his host to an illegal cockfight. After the authorities showed up, and Geertz fled the scene with his hosts, he gained credibility and access in ways he may never have otherwise done.

Long after the playground, playing remains a form of acculturation. For adults, it can signify acceptance and forge bonds between classmates, coworkers, neighbors -- even strangers from different countries. It’s no coincidence that Robert Putnam framed his theory of the collapse of American community – Bowling Alone – around playing a game together. When play between members of society breaks down, the society suffers too.

So next time you're in Italy, suggest a pickup game of bocce, or bring a chessboard, and you may make friends like you'd never expected.

What are ARGs (alternate reality games) and how can they be used to solve your business and training problems? While sports are played on fields, board games on boards, and video games on screens, alternate reality games are played in the real world. Things that are often pictured or imagined in most games such as receiving a phone call, finding an object, or even travelling to a location are actually lived out in alternate reality games, making them a particularly engaging and realistic form of simulation.

In the summer of 2007, Enspire Learning created and deployed an alternate reality game to do internal data security training. Employees solved the mystery of Tom Linear, a fictional ex employee who had “stolen” intellectual property from Enspire. The game was a great success not only in teaching employees, but in encouraging behavioral change and increasing company morale. The fun appeal of ARGs and the strong impressions they make can make them effective teaching and motivational tools. They can be designed to cater to a wide variety of audiences and content needs.

Click here to download Enspire’s new free whitepaper “This is Not a Game: Using Alternate Reality Games in Corporate Training” to learn the best practices for creating or commissioning an alternate reality game.

You’ve heard the buzz and you’ve played the games (if you haven’t, you’re missing out!), now get some behind the scenes action. Enspire Learning is pleased to announce the release of a new whitepaper featuring the Shadow Specter Games, “Serious Gains from Serious Games: Solving Business Problems with Custom Games”. This is a useful read for anyone interested in learning how to design a serious game to accomplish a variety of business objectives from creating an effective training program to increasing employee morale to marketing a product.

Download this free whitepaper, if you’d like to know how a serious game can help you meet these and other business goals or if you’re curious about how the “Shadow Specter Games” were designed.

Karl Kapp has a great new book out called Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning: Tools and Techniques for Transferring Know-How from Boomers to Gamers by Karl Kapp from Bloomburg University -- and it just so happens to mention Enspire.

The whole book is worth a read. Several other bloggers have already provided keen synopses, reviews, and thoughts of the book as part of a Blog Book Tour -- and Enspire is sponsoring day six. You can find links to all the other bloggers and keep up with the tour at Karl’s blog.

The book specifically calls out Enspire’s custom e-learning course and simulation for SAP, a six-hour learning experience for project managers with teams scattered across the globe (that just so happened to win a Gold Brandon Hall Award). The book does a great job of discussing the project, but there's nothing quite like experiencing the real thing.

So Enspire’s provided access to demos for three of the six SAP courses below. Experience our funky fictional world of Orth and unique project management sims (or "games" really) for yourself. Let us know what you think in the comments!

There's a recent article in Slate by some fella named Justin Peters (editor of Polite Magazine) titled World of Borecraft: Never Play a Video Game That's Trying to Teach You Something.

It's not a scholarly or scientific piece, just an essay expressing Peters's own skepticism about "fun" educational software. Couple of interesting points to chew on:

1) Peters is clearly a gamer himself--he unfavorably compares learning games to "Civilization" and "Grand Theft Auto." I think sometimes we assume that as time goes by, we are going to deal more with clients and users who have grown up with video games and are thus more receptive to the kind of learning games we want to create. But what if the opposite is true? What if someone who spends a few hours every day blasting zombies and stealing cars on the XBOX 360 will actually be less receptive to the idea of playing a mandatory process improvement game at the office?

I don't think that's the case, but it's something to consider.

2) Peters's conclusion: "The basic issue here is that it's easier to make a fun game educational than it is to inject fun into an educational game." Is this a valid distinction to make? Is it just a case of chicken v. egg?

Looking to teach kids a little bit more about their nation's history, Canadian company Bitcasters has produced a mod for Civilization III. They are distributing the mod, along with 100,000 copies of the game, to schools around Canada.

I haven't had a whole lot of luck reading up on the details of the project, or how the whole thing came together. But, I have read the plan is to have a total of three mods that will give students an interactive history lesson, complete with related articles and evaluations. The first mod, called 'The New World', can be downloaded for free. A copy of Civilization II is required to play (which I do not have).

I'd be interested in seeing this thing in action, or at least hearing from someone who has. The game's message boards aren't really hopping, but there is a handful of positive feedback.

The idea of using the customizable nature of modern computer games to craft an e-learning experience isn't ground-breaking. But, this is the most promising example I've heard about. The advantages of using a stable, established engine (Civ III), can help a company avoid some of the problems associated with tech development, and focus more on the quality of the content.

Starbucks, partnering with Global Green usa has developed a new serious game on a "hot" topic - global warming. The Planet Green Game challenges the learner to explore a simulated hometown and discover way to reduce their carbon footprint and help their community be more eco-friendly.

Despite the serious subject, the learner gets to be creative, control their experience, and have fun along the way. Highlights of the game include a gas conservation activity and an experiment in designing an eco-friendly park while learning about environmentally hazardous and helpful elements that go into the construction. The game even features a mini-branching conversation between the learner and the town mayor.

Planet Green Game is a diverting and informative simulation that reveals the innovative and the activist sides of Starbucks. It remains to be seen whether the game will reach its target audience, but this could be an interesting step toward not only furthering issue awareness, but also a new dimension in marketing and consumer education.

Enspire's very own Mindy Jackson, Director of Instructional Design, is guest-writing again. After contributing a chapter to last year's Lies About Learning, Mindy has been asked to discuss the use of games across disciplines in a new book that will focus on strategies for applying games, simulations, and interactive media experience in learning contexts. (It should be an interesting chapter, since integrating games and learning is Enspire's focus.) The new volume will be available online and in print from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center Press. Stay tuned for more information on a release date.

Enspire's Executive Challenge simulation is a featured game on the Texas Film Commission's web site in the month of February. In addition to promoting film and animation production in Texas, The Film Commission also promotes Texas's burgeoning video game industry.

Like a great game, Executive Challenge creates an environment where participants are utterly engaged in the flow of the experience. This benefits learning in may ways. First, it means that participants are motivated and not checking their BlackBerries during the training experience. Because of the high level of engagement, participants tend to fall into traps (choosing a bad strategy, losing sight of the big picture, communicating poorly) that they might not fall into during a more traditional learning experience. A participant's response to such traps provide rich teachable moments. Finally, the intensity of the experience provides learners with a great reference point to look back upon, helping to make learnings that occur during the simulation more lasting.