Enhance Your Skills through Gaming
You may have heard a lot about games being bad for the brain and how it hampers brain power? If so, then it’s time to change that perception! There has been some research conducted on the effect of games on the human brain. The psychologists and scientists have concluded that games can actually help people become better learners, rather than harming their learning ability as was once portrayed. But how can playing games make you a better learner?
When it comes to learning, games can play an important role. Even though it is not common in the corporate sector to implement the use of games as a part of training their employees, the interest in adopting games for learning is steadily growing. According to research done by the UC-Denver Business School, participants who played games for learning a specific aspect of their job had 9% higher retention rate, 11% higher factual knowledge and 14% higher skill-based knowledge.
Results showed employees who played games to learn and train were more confident in their skills, remembered more and were able to perform their duties better as well. With such benefits, this is something a lot of L&D directors are looking into.
Get Creative
Because you are required to make decisions based on fictional but real-time game events, it enhances your decision-making and learning capabilities. This can be helpful in brain development as you have to plan, search, negotiate and try different approaches to solve problems and advance through the game’s levels.
Games that require you to role play need a great deal of creativity as you have to model the character to be able to tackle different foes and overcome obstacles. These games need you to understand the game’s structure and the rules with which that particular fictional world functions. Even though video games are not labeled as educational, they can play an important role in helping you become a better learner.
An example of such a game is flight simulators designed and developed to train pilots. Learning on such a platform allows the trainee to be put into different situations, and gain knowledge and confidence in a simulated environment where mistakes are not fatal.
It’s Not Just Fun and Games
It is important to note that games have more potential than being a means to just have fun. Games allow the learner to interact with the virtual world which runs parallel to the real world environment. Because of this, the knowledge and the skills which they are expected to apply later can come easily to them. An example can be a game that is created to reflect a real-life job of managing employees with different skills and personalities. The game randomly creates situations that require you to take action.
Unlike passive videos and lectures where the learner can do nothing but sit, watch, listen and take notes, games can get them to utilize relevant skills based on their knowledge by needing to interact with the scenarios.
Become a Better Learner
With games, L&D Directors can give their employees an immersive experience into what they should expect from their respective jobs. The best part is the immediate feedback for both the learner and the L&D Director. The learner is able to finish the program with improved confidence and increased knowledge to excel at their jobs, while the directors of training have an amazing tool at their disposal for training their current and new employees.
With these benefits showing how gamers are better learners, there is no doubt a day will come when games will be an integral part of learning. To learn more about gamifying your training, give us a call 866.316.9126