Slide 1

							A ‘Serious Games’ 101;
What are they & what are the
opportunities?




        Company overview
      Kevin Corti, Founder, PIXELearning.
                               Setting the scene


• What is GBL (a.k.a. ‘Serious Games’)
• Why should organisations be interested?
• Examples & case studies
                    Company background

• Established in 2002, Coventry
University Technology Park

• Business education, vocational and
management skills development

• £550k investment in GBL technology
platforms

• Clients - Coca-Cola, Scottish Enterprise,
AWM, Edexcel, Skillsmart Retail many
schools, colleges and universities

• A growing reputation in UK & overseas
                                                       ‘Psychobabble’

Experiential           Play                            Feedback
Problem-solving        Rules                           Adaptive
Learning by doing      Goals                           Flow state
Task-based             Objectives                      Competition
Authentic              Structure                       Collaboration
Relevant               Drama                           Role play
Meaningful             Story                           Strategy
Engaging               Narrative                       Exploration
Immersive              Humour                          Eye candy
Memorable              Higher order cognition
Enjoyable              Apply information = knowledge
Stimulating            Fun
Engrossing
Constructivism focus
Job-specific
Truly interactive
               Serious Games definition v1.0




 “The use of computer game
technologies and approaches
for primarily non-
entertainment purposes”.
                                  Serious Games definition v2.0
                                     University of Central England
                                       Coventry University
                           BECTa           Birmingham University
                           JISC         University of Warwick
                                            Penn State University
                           A.W.M.
                           D.T.I.
                            EA Games & NESTA




          The MOVES Institute
 M.I.T.
Carnegie Mellon Microsoft
              Intel NOKIA
   University of
                    LearningLab
Southern California
               Serious Games definition v3.0




“Serious games are simply a
new(ish) business application
which will solve client
problems”.
                   This isn’t new!


        “You can learn
        more about a
        man in an
        hour of play
Plato
        than in a year of
        conversation”
                          This isn’t new!


               “You can learn
               more about a
               PERSON in an
               hour of play
Plato (2006)
               than in a year of
               conversation”
    How often does this happen?




“Please…just
another hour…I
really want to finish
this course”
Does eLearning engage?
         Does eLearning engage?




“Umm…no thanks!”
We know games are ‘compelling’
Games engage beyond the bedroom!
                       It’s not all “Single-player!”



      Games are increasingly
      social (e.g. XBOX live &
      MMORPG’s)



  Multiplayer
GBL = Social
      learning
environments
                             Characteristics of games


Realistic environments & systems
Clearly defined rules & structure
Clearly defined objectives    Drama & story
  Truly interactive   Humour        Characters
Clear outcomes & feedback       Challenge
Adapt (flow state) Higher cognitive activity


           ….and they are enjoyable!
   So why should YOU
   be interested?

Performance improvement
Awareness of role
Competency testing
Assessment/ROI
Recruitment
Customer education
Promotional tool
Induction
Motivational tools
Aspirational tools
Best practise
                                   The ‘F’ word



There is a lot more to Games-based Learning
than simply trying to make learning fun….

     ….although that
       wouldn’t be a
           bad start!
                                          Pedagogy??


Andragogy (Adult learning)

• experience (including mistakes) provides the basis
for learning activities
• problem-centered rather than content-oriented
• need involvement in planning & evaluation of their
instruction
• interested in learning subjects that have immediate
relevance to their job or personal life


Malcolm Knowles (1913 to 1997)
                                     Experience



Games-based learning…
Provide safe, realistic and meaningful
environments…

…..in which learners actually apply
information to develop knowledge and
skills.
GBL is heavily
experiential




                 GBL gives learners virtual
                 experience which they
                 can use for real in
                 workplace
Ask yourself;

“Would you let your new
management trainees run your
organisation?”
Ask yourself;

“Would you let your new
management trainees run your
VIRTUAL organisation?”
                        Problem-centred learning



• Games are pre-defined ‘problem spaces’
• Solving the problems = satisfaction
• GBL problems are authentic & relevant




      Game over!        Game over!
       You won           You won
What you do (or don’t do) has an obvious and
meaningful effect in the game.

The game changes. Each time you try it…it is
different.

Information / choices / behaviours /
approaches / tactics / strategies
…..meaningful outcomes
This isn’t about using Pong or Millionaire to
try to help learners memorise facts.

                           “Chocolate-
                          coated broccoli
                          still tastes like
                             broccoli”
                            Evaluation (and feedback!)



For employer & employee
• Games capture staggering amounts of data

• GBL applications provide this for assessment
purposes.

• History data, learners inputs, decision logging
             That word…. ‘Game’


The first step is
admitting it!
- Gamers Anonymous


“My name is
Kevin and I
am…a gamer”.
                                  That word…. ‘Game’



Lonely hearts

Spotty, white, teenage male with poor
social skills seeks fellow XBOX enthusiast
to share long nights in front of the
bedroom TV.

‘Trevor’, aged 15 from Guilford
                             The gamer demographic



The reality:
• 18 to 35 – core market for Sony & Microsoft
• 41% female
• 42% aged 25 to 49
• 35% income of $50k to $100k
• 16% income > $100k
                     The ‘natives’ are digital




Key message!
• Learners are changing
• Opportunity NOT threat
• Organisations needs to evolve
to take advantage.
                             Examples of GBL in action




Financial Management / Ffn-FM’s
Marketing skills for SMEs
Team dynamics (TPLD)
Marketing skills (LearningBeans)
Legal, regulatory & sales training (Caspian)
Corporate & Social Responsibility
http://www.virtual-u.org
   Virtual U statistics (Jan 05)


•105,000 downloads
•52,000 registered downloads
•Over 800 institutions
•Over 90 Countries

            User Polling


•5% administrative staff (chair to
president)
•15% professors
•24% grad students
•29% undergrads

   Training & Education Metric


As of 3/1/05 people who have
responded to our installation survey
over 25% are using Virtual U as part
of a formal training, or classroom
exercise at their institution.
Promoting retail careers / retail training
                          Sam holds a Master’s degree in
                          Marketing (Henley College). She has
                          12 years of experience in blue chips
                          (HASDA, Tisco and Sansberries)




HR / managing people & teams
IT sales process training (SEER)
GCSE Business Studies (PXL & Edexcel)
             Examples




Food Force
                         Examples




[ www.food-force.com ]
Enterprise training (PXL & BCKS)
Hospitality & catering – manager training
Project management fundamentals
                    Implementation issues


How quick?         Assessment criteria?

How specific –     SCORM/ADL?
COTS or bespoke?
                   Curricula/qualification?
How easy to
update?            Who designs it?

Web-based?

IPR?

Cost / licensing
model?
                       Implementation issues


Game Design & Instructional
Design

“As easy as mixing oil
and water!”
Partnerships are key – Matchett Group,
Edexcel & Coventry University

Projects need to be driven by learning needs
(learn from the past!)
                            Core technology in place?



> Minimise risk

> Cut cost

> Reduce delivery time

> Easy to update

> Profitable for provider
The future….

Tools (middleware & authoring platforms)
for non-technical learning professionals.

Allow YOU to create, manage and deploy
GBL quickly and easily.
PIXELearning Ltd
www.pixelearning.com
T: +44 (0) 24 7623 6971




                     Kevin Corti,
                     Managing Director
                     kevin.corti@pixelearning.com