Busy Time at Learning 2018

I am excited to be headed back to Learning 2018 this year where I'll be quite busy. I am delivering a Super Session called "Stop Thinking Like an Instructional Designer and Start Thinking Like a Game Designer." I'll be conducting a 60 minute game development sprint where we'll take some content, a game dynamic or two and some game mechanics and whip up a quick card or board game. And I am conducting a Game Tour which I am really looking forward to conducting.

A game tour is basically a high level look at several different games designed for learning. These aren't games where you need to add your own content, instead, these are games that are already designed. You can customize or tweak the content if you want but, for the most part, these games are ready to go off-the-shelf. I think one of the things that many learning and development and educators don't realize is that there are a great deal of these out-of-the-box games that, with a little imagination, can fit a variety of learning situations.

Why reinvent the wheel when relatively inexpensive, ready-made games are available. In the game tour, we'll review those games. One game we'll look at is a game called "The Beer Distribution Game" or "The Beer Game" which was developed back in the 1960's to teach about supply and demand within a distribution system. We will be looking at the version available from the System Dynamics Society. This is what I am calling a "reveal" game because once you play it the lesson is revealed and you can't really play it again.

Here is a great video on how to play the game.

Another game we'll look at is called Spymaster. Earlier this year, I ran a workshop with Sponge, a UK-based custom digital learning company that creates learning games for global businesses. During the workshop, we explored game design and theory with people across the company (solution advisers, learning designers, developers, visual designers, and project managers). They collaborated on varying game concepts, including one that was designated to move from prototype to product called ‘Spymaster: agent handler extraordinaire’.

In this game, players take on the role of a spymaster who must plan and run various missions to prove their expertise in the world of espionage (or better known as "project management"). In doing so, players identify and manage key resources, including budgets and agents with different skills and abilities. During the game, players must shift priorities and react to unforeseen events, all the while communicating with HQ and the client as the mission continues in real time.

One of the fun things about coach and consulting about games is that sometimes, you get made into a game character as you can see on the left. Very much Dr. Evil-ish. But I digress.

Back to the game. While taking on the role of a spymaster makes for great game play, the experience is also structured to meet very specific learning outcomes that embody the core skills of project management, mirroring both waterfall and agile projects, and remaining flexible enough to meet different business objectives that their clients may have.

Crucially, missions can be tailored to adapt to individual strengths and weakness, while the overall skill level of players in each learning outcome is given a quantifiable result. A working prototype is currently in development and this is one of the games I’ll be showcasing at Learning 2018. When the full game is built, Sponge plans to use it to help recruit its own project managers and eventually sell it as an off-the-shelf resource for clients.

A more academically focused game I'll be highlighting in the session is called Variant: Limits. It's a game created by Triseum which teaches the "dreaded" calculus. You can see a peak at the game in the video below.

Also we'll look at a few sales games and table top simulations. Hope to see you at Learning 2018!! Stop by and say "Hi". I am only there for a day so it will be a whirlwind!

Bio

Karl Kapp is a professor at Bloomsburg University and he literally “wrote the book” on the "The Gamification of Learning and Instruction" and he recently co-authored the game-based learning book Play to Learn with Sharon Boller. Karl is a researcher, analyst, speaker, professor, consultant and designer of instructional games, gamification and engaging learning experiences. He is a learning experience designer who works around the global helping organizations in places like Brazil, China and Brussels create engaging and meaningful learning experiences using an evidence-based approach.

He is founder of The Wisdom Learning Group, LLC, a global partnership that helps organizations implement game-thinking and game-based learning to achieve success. He is author/co-author of seven books on the convergence of learning and technology. He is the creator of the Lynda.com courses "The Gamification of Learning" as well as "Gamification for Interactive Learning"

Follow Karl's blog https://karlkapp.com/kapp-notes/.

Follow Karl on Twitter @kkapp.

Need insights, input, ideas, or a learning strategy or new approach or, especially, an energetic keynote speaker or some industry insight? Karl provides evidence-based guidance, design and insights for creating engaging, meaningful learning (as well as some awesome gamified workshops and learning events.)

Visit www.karlkapp.com for more information on gamification, game-based and learning experience design.