“Game Over.” Most 18-year-olds hate those words, but LDS Business College staff was shocked when the freshmen in their Library Literacy course were happy to see the words. Didn’t the students know that the course’s interactive, Flash-based super course, powered by game-play learning theory, was the best thing ever—a marvelous improvement over the previous course of narrated PowerPoint slides? Even though the students showed some academic improvement, to fully meet the outlined objectives, staff needed to remedy some faults with the new course. Students were highly frustrated with some course elements—ironically the portions that were supposed to be entertaining and fun—and showed a general disbelief and irritation with the course. And the second time around, revision resources were very limited.

Participants in this case-study session will explore how LDS Business College staff redesigned their Library Literacy course again, on a much smaller scale and on a very small budget, to address the students’ concerns and improve their attitude toward the course. You’ll see how minor design changes yielded large performance improvements. You’ll discuss how this course is similar to compliance training in a corporate environment, with students required to have a forced interest in the subject matter, so the lessons learned at LDS Business College are applicable beyond academia.

In this session, you will learn:

  • How to consider motivation throughout the design process
  • How motivation applies to instructional-game design
  • How to redesign on a shoestring budget
  • How instructional games can become solutions for boring content

Audience:
Instructional designers and other learning professionals with knowledge of basic instructional design, the ADDIE model, and basic motivational theory.

Handout(s)

Recording