Login
 Home / Resources /
   E-learning games
 

Why is it that people will give up on a piece of e-learning after 10 minutes, but will play a game for hours? Simply put, games are fun.

Games motivate us with rewards when we succeed, and let us try again when we fail. Learners pay attention when they are engaged which helps improve retention, which, in turn, helps learners to apply concepts in the real-world performance environment.

In his book, Engaging Learning, Clark Quinn extracts the essential characteristics of how you can make effective games:

 

Thematic Coherence – Every game is in a genre (or blends several), and the action within the game must be consistent to the theme or model world we develop.

Clear Goal – The player must be presented or discover the goal he or she is trying to achieve within the theme.

Balanced Challenge – An experience that is too simple is not fun, and one that is too difficult is frustrating. As the player improves, the challenge needs to increase appropriately. Then tension should relatively wax and wane while maintaining a steady increase.

Relevance: Action to Domain – The dilemmas and consequent decisions that the player makes must be meaningful in the model world.

Relevance: Problem to Learner – The genre of the game and the story line must be of interest to the player.

Choices of Action – There needs to be (at least a perception of) a variety of choices the player can make at any time.

Direct Manipulation – The player should act directly on the model world through the interface.

Action Coupling – Input-output interreferentiality: the action in the world should cause actions that are represented back to the player by consequences in that world.

Novel Information or Events – The play should include elements of chance that make the play non-deterministic.

 

Clark’s book Engaging Learning is an excellent resource. You can buy it on Amazon, or go to the book's website at www.engaginglearning.com.

 
 
How this relates to SmartBuilder.

SmartBuilder is the only e-learning tool on the market that gives you the power and flexibility to incorporate gaming experiences into your content, yet maintains an ease of use that is accessible for instructional designers who do not need know how to write computer code. SmartBuilder has a number of features such as score trackers, timers, and variables that give you the essential pieces with which to incorporate gaming elements into your content.

 
Read more about elearning gaming
  Games-based learning library
UK E-learning Centre's library for Games-based learning. Lots of reading here.
http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/Resources/games.htm
  Gaming for Education
Beverly Ferred, EdD's website dedicated to education and gaming. This site includes several categories of useful links.
http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/Games_Resources.html
  Quinnovation - Resources
Clark Quinn's personal list of resources--one of the best list of gaming resources that we have come across based on the quality of reading.
http://quinnovation.com/resources.html
 
 
 

Tips for creating effective elearning
What is Effective Elearning?
Active Learning
Elearning Games
Recommended Reading
Other Resources

 
 

SmartBuilder
Free Trial
Live Demo
Virtual Tour
Features
Examples
Client Showcase
Competitive Comparison

Pricing
FAQs

 
     

       Home  |  SmartBuilder  |  Solutions  |  Services  |  Resources  |  Company  |  Contact  |  Privacy

       All Rights Reserved © 2010 SuddenlySmart, Inc.