Believe It or Not! - All about Pretend Learning
Key Learnings
- Training experts believe that pretend training makes instructions more effective as knowledge is put to practical use
- The two popular pretend training methods are gaming and computer-based simulations
The more trained the employee, the better the performance and lesser the chances of employees jumping the ship. A few years ago one could easily find a bunch of protestors who argued that this may not necessarily be true. However, today, training gets unanimous support.
Encouraged by this pro-training environment every once in a while there is a new buzzword; from e-learning to blended learning to mobile learning, the list seems endless. While each has its benefits, something that has attracted universal appeal is pretend learning.
The power of the artificial
Creating a make-believe world with the help of simulations and computer games to put learners through a ‘pretend experience’ is a trend in vogue. “In corporate training, pretend experience is better than no experience at all,” says a training expert.
Experts also believe that pretend training makes instructions more effective as knowledge is put to practical use. According to an Accenture study, those who learn by doing retain up to 75 percent of instructions taught, the retention rate is a dismal 5 percent compared to attending lectures and 10 percent from reading. High retention rates aside, the greatest advantage of putting employees in an artificial setup is that they can fail, even repeatedly without facing any real life setbacks.
The two popular pretend training methods are gaming and computer-based simulations. The popularity is attributed to the fact that they make training more enjoyable and meaningful. They come with high recommendations from training experts who consider them the best ways to infuse life into dull training sessions.
A game or two
The thought of promoting workplace games at may not go down with most employers, but when trainers recommend gaming they are not talking about Road rash or solitaire. But for these games, most corporate training sessions would end up as wasted efforts. While games enliven a boring session they can ensure that employees walk out of training sessions with the skills and knowledge their employers pay for.
First timers
Organisations could initiate the concept of gaming with courses that have a modest mix of work and games. Easily available off-the-shelf, such blended courses are the best way to introduce the ‘training through gaming’ concept. Larger organisations can opt for the ‘do-it-yourself’ approach. For lack of an appropriate commercial alternative, Cisco Systems created its own course mix. Their training department blends sophisticated technology and high quality video to remove boredom out of training.
One such course is a certification programme that authorises employee, even outsiders, as networking professionals in shared storage devices. The course uses an internally developed game called SAN (Storage Area Network) Rover, to teach learners the basics of building high-speed shared storage devices networks.
The game requires participants to gather and correctly piece together a network of hard drives, switches and other components in the shortest time. All with out colliding or crashing into asteroids! Besides spicing up training, such games are highly effective when skills learnt form reading or in classrooms need reinforcing.
Ms. Sitcoske from Cisco says, “More and more people are learning that gaming can be useful in training in the corporate environment.” Simple, off-the-shelf can also be used for testing and reviewing employees.
At Borland
Borland Software Corp. swapped its PowerPoint laden e-learning programme for an online programme that incorporates simple games to test sales force knowledge of its product line. Based on popular games such as hangman and tic-tac-toe, each member of the sales staff gets to answer a series of questions. Those with perfect scores or at least 80 percent correct answers get to enter the draw for five Apple iPods. Each employee plays a series of nine games interspersed with classroom sessions.
At the end is a comprehensive 100 question test where the top scorer and one who has completed in the shortest time receive $3000. Even though the games are not very sophisticated, they include the essential element of competition- an element that motivates highly competitive sales people. Borland displays the scores of all preliminary tests. “All of sudden, people are messaging each other, ‘You are on top today but you are going down’, the competition is a motivator,” says Wynn Johnson, director of field readiness.
Evidence strongly suggests that adults learn better when training programmes incorporate gaming elements such as difficult player levels and competitive scoring. Training through gaming must thus get its due.
As close to life
While gaming motivates learners to complete courses, training simulations are equally effective. Allowing a learner to gain real-life experience using sophisticated computer-based simulations is “probably the best way to gain a high degree of proficiency,” says Chris Draper, an Accenture partner.
Training simulations need no introduction. For years, astronauts and fighter pilots have practiced on flight simulators. The medical profession too depends heavily on simulations that help surgeons and general practitioners to perfect their techniques. Large organisations use simple simulations to familiarise employees with new computer applications. What is new is the growing popularity of role-playing simulations in soft skills training.
An increasing number of organisations are using simulations to teach their employees to make sales calls, handle difficult customers and answer queries over phones in a call centre. “When you have a dissatisfied customer on the phone there is no time to look up stuff. It has to be ingrained in how you work,” adds Draper.
Thanks to multi-media advancements, training simulations can use sound, video and animation to create three-dimensional make-believe environments. Most simulations however, are like simple computer games where learners go through different situation while answering series of questions. Animation or photographs represent the characters in these situations .
Behavioural benefits
Some trainers believe simulations improve employees’ work behaviour. “In order for people to change their behaviour, they have to learn the consequences of wrong behaviour,” says Bjorn Billhardt, chief executive of Texas-based Enspire Learning. The organisation recently developed a simulation for a mail equipment and services company.
Plagued with poor performance of their district sales directors, the company decided to replace its instructor-led training programme with simulation-based training. Twelve teams with six district directors were asked to run a make-believe sales division, which each district director organised himself.
The objective of giving them familiar roles was to make them aware of shortcomings in their day to day work. As part of the simulation each team was given a set of profit and revenue goals. Each director had to strategise and take decisions on how best to achieve these goals. “If you maintained you old behaviour, you would not be successful in the simulation, “says Dave Basarab, director of employee development.
It was therefore important for the director to restructure his district and improve decision making. “It changed the way people needed to think”, says Basarab.
Learners are often complaining that training gets boring. Gaming and role-play simulations address this complaint effectively while teaching simultaneously
National HRD Network India is an association of professionals committed to promoting the HRD movement, enhancing the capability of HR professionals, development of human resources through education, training, research and experience sharing.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/believe-it-or-not-all-about-pretend-learning-1024757.html
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