Desperately Seeking: New Idea Sources for Activities in the Classroom
Dynamic Learning Activities - www.HumanPerformanceTools.com
On the heels of an amazing HPRCT conference last week, I've been thinking a lot about Dynamic Learning Activities. With many ways to approach the answer to this fairly easy question in the header, I have opted for a simple one: Activities that create engagement to the content and participation are VERY important in the classroom. I've seen many training programs that had integrity, built using ADDIE concepts and principles, and at the end of the day, deliver a very weak message and have no learning "stick" to the students. The importance of driving ideas home without some type of in-class application (even conceptual) really feels like only half of a job done well. This is where "gamification" lives.
I've dedicated my course designs to finding innovative and clever ways to drive points home with engagement, challenges, humor, teaching each other, gamification, etc, with each method employing an emotional response from the students. If you've ever been in one of my classes, you already know what I'm talking about. This brings me to one eventual question: How can I get better at this?
The answer to the hard question
I am a large believer in professional organizations that help us do our jobs better through benchmarking and networking, mainly. The best advice I think I've ever given is to find someone that does your job somewhere else and talk to them, and make a connection - learn how they get through the things that drive you crazy and offer solutions to them, as well. I've belonged to a series of these professional organizations through the years:
HPRCT (Human Performance/Root Cause/Trending)
Human Performance Association
NA-YGN (North American - Young Generation in Nuclear)
American Nuclear Society
ATD (Formerly ASTD) Association for Talent Development
e-Learning Guild
New Media Expo (which seems to have died out in 2016, but was awesome for blogging and podcasting)
MANY LinkedIn groups
Serious Play
Well, I found a new one that aligns with one of my current major missions called "Serious Play." ATD is a solid stand-by, but this really piqued my interest.
From their website: "The Serious Play Conference, now in our 8th year, is a leadership conference for professionals who embrace the idea that games can revolutionize learning. Speakers, who come from all parts of the globe, share their experience creating or using games in the corporation, classroom, healthcare institution, government and military and offer tips on how to move game-based education programs ahead. At Serious Play, attendees listen, share and participate actively in informal sessions dedicated to the discussion of the future of serious games."
Making it happen
In a couple of weeks I will be attending their 8th annual conference and I expect to also be certified in Gamification Basics during their pre-conference training.
From their website: "Gamification Basics: A Certification Course for L&D Professionals, Educators and Project Leads. Do you want to learn how to create and deliver programs with impact?
During this Certification, you will be given a trademarked five-step program for successfully gamifying your training and learning programs. You will have examples of how training leads at large companies and other organizations use Gamification in their on-boarding, leadership development and other programs. Best of all, you will be equipped to create an environment that is fun as well as educational and that your participants enjoy.
Experience first-hand the deconstruction of games into gamification designs. This program is like no workshop you’ve attended. It is a complete immersion experience designed to leave you creatively inspired and technically masterful. You’ll leave exhausted and exhilarated.
Who Should Attend: If you are a trainer, designer, educator, project manager or organizational development professional, and focused on what matters, this course will make sure your participants are engaged and equip them to apply the learning in your program."
Conclusion
Now this is right up my alley and compliments my mission to provide the best student experiences for the money available in the realm of human performance and organizational improvement!! Be prepared for some more information on gamification and what I'm learning. I posted on this subject a few years ago when I was heavy into listening to podcasts, which is something I highly recommend, and it generated a bit of interest. I'm wondering who is paying attention to this topic these days? It seems like with more than 50% of all US colleges using just one specific brand of clickers in the classroom, (see also "audience response system" if you don't know what that is) then higher education certainly cares. I'm happy to assume that corporate education has already been following suit. In my limited scope and outward view, this certainly reflects what I'm seeing - letting go of traditional power point only training for new and more engaging methodologies.
Clickable Links
Serious Play ConferenceGamification DefinedBunchball and GamificationExamples of eLearning and Gamification (close the frustrating popups and the content is underneath)
Video Links
Tedx Talk: Gamification at Work "The Opposite of Work is not play. The Opposite of play is depression."Gamification to improve our world"Octalysis" core drivers:
Epic meaning and calling
Development and Accomplishment
Empowerment of Creativity and Feedback
Ownership and Possession
Social Influence and Relatedness
Scarcity and Impatience
Unpredictability and Curiosity
Loss and Avoidance