Concurrent Session Details

Is gamification just another empty buzzword, or can the principles that game designers employ to engage players really be applied to the design of eLearning software? What exactly is gamification? And can you apply the theories of gamification to a variety of projects regardless of scope and budget? With the sheer scale of the game industry, game developers have dedicated a great deal of time and resources to finding ways to hook gamers that can also be applied in the design of eLearning software. An experienced game designer, now in the eLearning space, will share his experience with using proven game mechanics and motivational techniques to strengthen interactive experiences.

Session participants will learn what gamification is and is not, and how you can apply game mechanics to non-game environments. You’ll see how you can use the same mechanics that captivate gamers to make your eLearning applications more engaging, fun, and effective.

In this session, you will learn:

• Myths and facts of gamification — what it is, and what it is not
• Proven game design mechanics that you can use to enhance eLearning materials
• Development tips for increased creativity and quality
• Practical knowledge for creating more engaging, fun, and effective eLearning software

Audience: Intermediate designers, developers, managers, and others with at least a basic knowledge of software design principles. Familiarity with modern video games would be helpful, but is not required.

This session has been cancelled.

Everyone wants their training to be as addictive as Angry Birds or Farmville, but it is always a challenge to create training that is memorable and motivational. Games influence the behavior of the learners in an engaging way by providing challenges and rewards. This session will demonstrate a REAL-LIFE example of implementing gaming into a corporate culture, and the challenges and rewards of this new learning delivery strategy. It offers a real-life example of how gaming revolutionized the way that SAP provides product/sales training. It is a great story, and will provide lots of tips and tricks for those who have never created a learning game before.

Participants in this case-study session will learn how SAP's Value University created their first multi-level, multi-player mobile game to teach their sales people how to sell a new product. You’ll learn how they developed the game using their Instructional Design model process, the challenges they encountered, and the lessons they learned. They built the game internally, learning as they went, with no prior knowledge of how to build a game, and only outsourced the programming.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to go about writing your first game as an instructional designer
• The challenges of building a game
• Game dynamics that satisfy learner's desires and make it addicting
• Integrating gaming into your stuffy corporate culture

Audience: Intermediate designers, developers, team leaders, managers, and others interested in implementing games into their processes.

A new generation of employees is here, and they're changing the way business is done and learning is accomplished. Socially networked, and immersed in playing videogames since childhood, they learn differently, with a verifiably different set of skills from their predecessors and vastly increased expectations when it comes to communications from their employer.

This session will address this issue through case studies and demonstrations of games that top companies are already utilizing to increase their employee engagement. Participants will discover new and effective methods for enhancing organizational performance and individual development. You’ll learn how to translate your internal messaging into the language of videogames and simulations. You’ll gain a new understanding of workforce demographics, message translation, and how you can tie employee engagement directly to Return on Investment.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to create awareness, transform employee mindset, and change behaviors by leveraging games
• How top clients translate their internal brand missions into a program that engages employees
• A new understanding of workforce demographics and message translation
• How to tie employee engagement directly to Return on Investment

Audience: Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, managers, HR managers, and others with basic knowledge of HR, including the current issues talent managers face, and basic knowledge of game platforms.

Many organizations want to design and develop meaningful and impactful serious online games to promote learning, but they haven’t identified a structured process to rapidly bring a game from concept through to completion. Often this needs to occur on a tight timeline and with minimal budget. Unfortunately, they often apply the typical structured process for development of eLearning courses to this situation ... resulting in just another eLearning course. With thoughtful application of principles for designing effective games and an effectively structured process, you can overcome this challenge.

Participants in this case-study session will learn about an online gaming platform completed for the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture that involved rapidly bringing an online educational gaming resource with more than 12 unique, online, learning games from concept to deployment in less than 7 months. You’ll learn the practical tools, models, processes, and human resources required to implement an online gaming project like this one, and you’ll leave with templates and examples that can help you with your own online learning game development efforts.

In this session, you will learn:

• A model and strategies for rapid online learning game development
• A real-world case study illustrating implementation of a model for rapid online game development
• The tools, people, and processes required for successful rapid online game development
• The lessons learned from this project to inform your own online game development efforts

Audience: Intermediate designers, developers, team leaders, managers, executives, and others familiar with online learning design and development strategies and common online learning development tools and resources.

There is a gap when moving from formal education to the professional world. Many Instructional Design (ID) Master’s programs focus on instructional design theory, which doesn’t give a lot of practical application for would-be IDs to move from academia to the ID industry. We need a paradigm shift to bridge the gap between the theory and application of instructional design principles, as well as emerging technologies in the ID industry. This case-study session will present an approach to designing a game-design course specifically for instructional designers, because they must apply their knowledge of instructional design theory by considering the learning objectives and the content to be delivered. This course design was no different.

Participants in this case-study session will learn the instructional design strategy for a Master’s level Instructional Game Design course. You’ll learn the design considerations used to achieve the melding of the instructional objectives with the appropriate content – all within the parameters of providing an applied course on how to use games for learning and training from an Instructional Designer’s point of view.

In this session, you will learn:

• What to consider when designing a practical application course
• Considerations for creating a game design course for IDs
• Strategies for matching instructional theory with practical activities
• Strategies for matching instructional content with the appropriate game genres

Audience: Novice, intermediate, and advanced instructional designers with prior knowledge of instructional design principles, experience with workplace training and eLearning, and interest in using games for learning.