EDITOR’S COMMENT
Learning games
e.learning age magazine ISSN 1474 – 5127 Published by CloserStill Media
Commercial Clive Snell
clives@elearningawards.co.uk
Kate Vose
katev@elearningawards.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)118 380 0350
Editorial Peter Williams
peterw@darkhillmedia.co.uk Melanie Williams
melaniew@darkhillmedia.co.uk
Designer Jane Denton
janedenton3@gmail.com I
t is clear that games and gamifi cation is the e-learning trend for 2015. The talk in the L&D sector is how to learn from games and drive those lessons into improving performance in e-learning. But talk is cheap and more conclusive proof that L&D leaders think the way ahead is games can be seen by the corporate deals that are happening around games and the investment of time and cash that is going into the approach. The desire and rationale for e-learning to be game-based is described in various ways but the bottom line
is that L&D wants to banish the dull and boring. Learning in the workplace wants to engage in order to improve performance. This is another chapter in L&D’s perpetual quest for both relevance and engagement. L&D wants to get a reaction, it wants to force some interaction. A boring lesson in the classroom is likely to pass largely unnoticed by those attending and those responsible for the overall effectiveness of the teaching. Online tools to measure success are that much sharper and that much more available so that poor and inadequate e-learning is in an exposed and unforgiving place. Hence instructional designers are after adjectives such as fun, exciting, challenging, interesting, positive, and powerful. Games have long been around in some shape or form, what’s a quiz if not a game? We’re still at the early stages of this particular gamifi cation revolution. For all the thinking and discussing we’re not sure exactly whether it will work and if so how. We do have some proof that games used for specifi c objectives can have a marked effect. We also think that the younger end of the workforce will be grateful – verging on insistent – that their learning is via this route. A nagging question is how will those in charge of commissioning the learning react to this approach especially as it tries to break into the mainstream? L&D has to work hard to prove its relevance – it doesn’t really want to have to prove it is serious as well. Games may be the way ahead but the route has to be clear well-built and purposeful.
Peter Williams Editor
PS The E-Learning Awards shortlist is published in this edition. Congratulations to all those who made it. Contents
News 02 News
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E-Learning Awards 04 Award News 12 Shortlist 14 Meet the judges 38 Health sharing
Columns 06 Clive Shepherd; community engagement 08 Vaughan Waller; organisation 10 David Perring; the analyst’s corner 28 Ask Genie; agony aunt column 42 Chalkface
SEPTEMBER 2015
Features 18 L&D’s SatNav 22 Retail revolution 24 Cloud computing 26 The MoSCoW technique 30 Learning analytics
34 Blended learning; igniting a spark 35 Book review: Teaching a persona 36 Game theory: providing inspiration
Career 40 Elearner Megan McIver 41 Mark Reilly Job Like Mine
Cover story 20 Corporate strategy: collaboration explored
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