What we can learn from games.

Thanks Chris.

Personally I don't think music would be needed in the assessment - although it depends on the format of how that platform game looks. It sounds like a fantastic idea, can you share any more information?

I'd stay away from the music for now and focus on the content to drive engagement, give me a shout if you want any help.

Joshua, I was only thinking of music when the learner answers correctly and
the character is then animated (a learner reward as you indicated in a
previous post)The game scenario is for the learner to use stepladders and
ladders to put out fires in a tower with 3 lives to do it (hidden behind
the cloud, shown when slide plays). The learner has to check and safely use
the ladder to enable the character to use them. Hope that makes sense. I
would love any feedback good/bad as I'm at the storyboard stage.

Thanks

Chris

That's a good idea Chris. 

I was imagining a 100 piece orchestra, full length soundtrack. 

For the purpose you want that would be a great solution. Noises/effects/soundtracks in certain situations makes it easier for the learner to associate with being correct. One of the most iconic uses of sound for me comes from Zelda - when you successfully complete a puzzle in a dungeon you receive an audio prompt to let you know you've done so. It's a good reinforcer that the path they've just taken is correct.

Whilst I may sound Pavlovian with this - that sound will then associate with the learner as meaning 'success'!

Joshua, thanks for your input. I'm no musician! Though may put something
akin to Mario bros on the intro page. A game without sound would seem weird
Chris

Not a problem Chris. 

Let me know how this is going!

New post - Choices VS Consequences in E-Learning

Blog available here

I've recorded an interview today for a radio show on Saturday - I'll post the link up here when I have it as well!

New post coming today guys a nice bitesize E-Learning tip.

Full feature post coming next week along with the launch of the new site!

Also I recorded an interview with Monica Cornetti this week discussing scenarios in E-Learning along with some gamification elements, you can access that here.

In further news to all of those exciting things I'll be releasing my first podcast this week so stay tuned for that and as always I'll let you know when it's active.

New post out now on a Bitesize Learning Tip - Straight from a game into your E-Learning Course. Using the introduction level from Trine 2 for inspiration for our E-Learning application.

Link to the full post here.

Hi Joshua,

I'm really enjoying the blog, keep up the good work.  I came across a game developed to encourage cancer treatment adherence and thought you might be interested in it.

http://www.re-mission2.org/#/about

Thanks

Thank you so much for this Stephen and thank you for the kind words.

This is a topic very close to me as I'm sure it is with a lot of people so thank you again for sharing the link.

I just wanted to say thank you for all of the support so far! I'm launching the new site on Monday and I can't wait to show you all!

New post coming today on dispelling the myths of dopamine in E-Learning and gamification!

New Blog Post: Dispelling the dopamine myth and powering up your E-Learning. Also includes a semi-rant on why I dislike badges in E-Learning...

Full post available here (Click me)

As always a great read!

I'm currently working on some gamified e-learning for school children and interested to know your thoughts on the differences in between creating learning for them and adults.

It's interesting one of the modules I have recently built has been designed similar to how you describe chunked into small amounts of content with mini-challenges. It uses a points based system but I could envision using that to unlock the final (boss) challenge.

That's a great idea Tristan, one approach I've used before. I always feel as though the whole unlocking an assessment doesn't work as a reward.

This actually ties in to designing for school children. During an English language module I created for a school I used several small challenges where the reward for completing them was some armour or items for your character. When you unlocked the final boss (a large dragon) you successfully spelt the words you learnt to do damage to him. Depending on which armour you had the dragon would do less damage to you!

Just one example!

Latest post just released, looking at the Top 5 ways to start using gamification in your E-Learning immediately!

It was a nice post to write and so far I've already received comments on the helpful example!

You can access the latest post by clicking here

New post coming soon!

Brand new post out now discussing the use of Easter Eggs in E-Learning! Use these quick approaches to give your learner a smile!

Full post here

Great post! would have to say yours is by far my favorite blog on e-learning.

Any suggestions for how you explain easter eggs to reviewers etc? For example I have just built a module on water saving for children, it has a picture of a house and when you click on the areas you can save water (shower,bath, toilet etc) it plays sound and provides a water saving tip. I included a couple of other spots (xmas tree in the attic, birds in the tree) that also play sounds but obviously no water saving tip. A couple of the reviewers have commented that they don't see the value in these.

Thank you Tristan that's very kind of you.

So the challenge you face is quite common. I like to discuss with the SME the reasons why this shouldn't be included - I know that 'value' is an important word for them however E-Learning has to be about the experience. Experiences need to be built and crafted and you're also satisfying the users who are natural explorers, which is great for your course.

Using clickable areas like that isn't a great deal of work for you but to the user they will appear as nice additions and provide that reference I speak about in the post of making the user smile. The reviewers may not see the value in those additions but at the same time they are not truly the target audience, they are looking at everything with a close eye because they know what they need to see from that course. The average user who is usually being roped into doing a course is the target and small interactive pieces like you've added will go a long way (in my opinion) to help change the landscape of learning from presentation to experience.

Games employ a similar philosophy, there are countless games that include a bathroom with things like a flushing toilet, there's no practical sense for them but if the player can see it then it makes sense they can interact with it. The same applies for E-Learning courses.

New post just released, thanks to Tristan for his question in the forums this week which sparked my enthusiasm for this post.

Do We Need Instructional Text in Games?

I've played in games a lot of time before...Now I much more interesting in RC models. How you cannot like stuff like that: http://djiphantom2vision-plus.com/ ?:)

After an action packed birthday weekend I'll be looking to get a post out by the end of tomorrow!