Edutainment in the Classroom

The way we learn and teach is changing. Is your team ready for it???

We may be headed back to the physical classroom; but for many companies, remote learning is here to stay. It builds an interesting challenge for companies, how do you keep teams engaged behind a screen? The answer may be in edutainment.??

What is Edutainment???

We see edutainment every day but rarely acknowledge it. You see it in kids' classrooms and on TV (The Wiggles, Sesame Street just to name a few). If you’ve earned a badge in Trailhead, you’ve witnessed it in action. In a nutshell, edutainment is education delivered in an entertaining way. It comes from the idea that learning should be fun and with the increasing adoption of remote learning, this will help great trainers stand out from the pack.?

When we went into lockdown two years ago, we found ourselves having to change our way of teaching. We introduced online whiteboards for collaborations, we changed the way group activities were done, and we discovered Kahoot!? to keep people engaged where virtual training was done over the course of 5x 7 hour days. But I think we’ve only scratched the surface. There are so many tools available now that didn’t exist two years ago. Remote learning is no longer an alternative or an afterthought. It’s the way forward.??

How to implement Edutainment Now?

1. Think about ways to simplify a complex idea?

Whether it’s technical jargon or how to do something, consider ways to make it memorable. Since TrainTheCrowd is in the business of delivering software training, we always find ways to convert tech-speak to someone everyone can relate to. A great example is this Salesforce rap which explains Salesforce’s security model.??

2. Go back to your childhood and think about your favourite games?

Think about the games you used to play. Whether it’s Charades, Taboo, or Bingo, there is always a way to turn learning into a game. One of our favourite ones is online Taboo. Break the group into two teams. Each team nominates one person to pick a term (typically a system feature). This person will then have 60 seconds to describe the term without saying the term. If the team can guess the term correctly, they get a point. The team with the most points wins.??

3. Get comfortable with storytelling??

Few can resist a good story. One of my previous music history teachers set a great example of this. Passing a music history exam meant we had to learn the lives of famous classical composers inside out. The content in the textbook was dry and read like an encyclopedia and yet, the teacher was able to extract the content and turn it into a binge-worthy story that Netflix would be envious of. If you can find a way to turn your lessons into a story, you can make learning so much more memorable for your audience.??

?The tools you need?

You don’t necessarily need to spend a lot to introduce edutainment to your training. If you’re looking to make small changes, it could be as easy as creating a group activity using online breakout rooms or whiteboards such as Miro which has a free plan. But if you are looking to invest, one that we use is Kahoot!, a game-based learning platform that’s great for lesson reviews, and a fun way to end the day.??

The Future of Edutainment?

I think we’ll see a lot more gamification in the way people learn and this will likely take place online. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that companies need to adapt and adapt to new ways of learning online. With all the social distancing and lockdowns we’ve had, everyone is craving a sense of connection. This might lead us back into the classroom but it may be in the form of augmented reality.??

How do you keep teams engaged behind a screen? Tell us in the comments.?