Speaker 1: Hey guys, this is Jack McGrath from Digitech Interactive, and today I'm going to get you smarter faster on the three ways to increase learner engagement by using gamification. Stick around. Okay, to get started here, let's talk about, you know, since 2002, Digitech Interactive has been creating gamification for learning. And one thing we've learned over all those years is that entertaining games and learning games are not the same things at all. They have completely different approaches, different purposes. However, if you include some of the facets of entertainment games into your learning games, you're going to create an awful lot more learner engagement. So what I wanted to do today was share the three ideas that you can use to increase learner engagement by using gamification. So let's get started. Number one, applied. Okay, some of you have probably seen games, learning games that are Jeopardy, you know, so basically you're playing Jeopardy. Yes, it's a game, but how does it relate to your job? How does it relate to what you want to teach? So the way we frame up gamification is, hey, what are the outcomes you want learners to do, to know and do at the end of this game? And then we build a game design around it. Quick example, we were working for a Fortune 500 large restaurant chain company that wanted to really reinforce how to think innovatively for their marketing managers. So we could have created a checklist with a bunch of things you need to do to follow a process. But what we did instead was we created this fictional game. You're now the player is the marketing manager for Primo's Sandwich World, which is a fictional brand. The concept is a new competitor has just opened up and they're just eating your lunch, so to speak. So marketing managers, you're going to need to determine what are some new ideas that you can launch at your restaurant to beat the competition. So that's the game. And during that gameplay, you're going to need to do the things that a marketing manager should do. You're going to need to research your demographics for your consumers. You're going to need to look at your customers, at your brand. You're going to need to talk about, hey, what are my competitors doing? What are the costs for the various ideas that you can launch? And then you want to take some of these ideas back to your stakeholders, run them by there, run them by operations, run them by finance. So what we did was created a game design document that really proposed an approach. And the concept is, as you can see, basically that you're able to check in with your stakeholders as you choose ideas and get feedback from them, live feedback. So it was a little bit of AI that was built into it. And there's always consequences as well. When you decide to check in with leadership, you might get a tip, but it's going to cost you a certain number of days. And that's going to hit your bottom line in terms of launching your product on time. So it was a perfect example of how do you use applied learning in a gamified way. It was a lot of fun and they really got a lot out of it. So number one, engagement. All right. Number two, challenge. I think it's really interesting to remember one thing. So it's important to have true choices in a game, not multiple choices. Okay. You've probably seen a million of these learning games where all they basically are, are test questions. And they ask you what you want to do. And if you answer that test question correctly, you'll earn points. Well, sure. I mean, I guess that's a little bit of engagement, but I think it's really even more engaging when you can have those choices lead to something. First, they model real world situations. So you create a sense of interactive story. And second is that there are consequences to every action. I think people learn, we all learn a lot through failure. So, I mean, making choices and earning, you know, living through consequences is a great way to do it. So perfect example, here's a client that we worked with, the consumer for economic education. And what we did for them was basically we created a choose your own adventure game. And the concept is we're trying to teach money, you know, personal finance. But what we did instead was your job, your mission is to help this particular character to make the right choices. He's a rock and roll star. So he's wanting to make some impetuous choices. And then you've got to decide what are the best choices for him to make. And as a result, you can tell, you know, that after 40 years, the game elapses very quickly over 40 years. And you can learn, hey, what did I do? So the first thing that players do, and this is by the way, a Facebook game as well. So people can play and compete online. But when you don't do well, you're really wondering, huh, what would have happened if I'd have chosen a different path? So you basically go back and replay the game. So a lot of replayability. But the other benefit is people are learning. It's practice. And when you practice, you master things. So perfect example of number two, learner engagement, use a lot of challenge. Okay, it's a great way to do it. Finally, number three, fun to fail. This is one that's taken me a while to learn. And it's sometimes tricky in the corporate environment, because people want to be very politically correct. But I tell you, learners really enjoy it when you offer them the ability to fail. And it's kind of fun to fail. They know it's the wrong answer, but they want to see what happens. That inquisitiveness will make them laugh. And when people are laughing and smiling, they're open to new ideas, and they're open to change. So basically, a perfect example here, we built a game for an organization called FINRA. The game was called Moneytopia. It was a first person strategy game, and really a role play game. And the concept is that you live out 50 years of your life, making choices, you know, what do you want to buy? Where do you want to live? What do you want to drive? And then based on those choices, it's going to impact your financial wellness, it's going to impact your happiness, it's going to impact a lot of those criteria. So to make it fun to fail, of course, the first thing you do when you start the game is you go into the dream machine, and you start choosing, well, I'm going to choose the nicest place to live, the coolest car, etc. And what we did was we built in the repo man. So what happens is as you get into the game with your new world, then suddenly bills start coming up due and you can't pay them because your account's empty, and then the repo man pulls you out. So it was a lot of fun, people really got a kick out of the repo man, and they definitely went right back into the game and started playing. Now they've learned, and now they're refining it. It's what gamers have done for a million years, and it's what learning designers need to do when they build game design. So that's it for me, guys. Three ideas on how to increase learner engagement using gamification. One, make it applied based on the learning outcomes you want to get. Build a game design around that. Two, make it challenging. Make some consequences to what they do. Make real choices, not multiple choices. And number three, make it fun to fail. Because it's a game, it's got to be fun. People want it to be fun. So that's it for me, guys. If you've gotten anything out of this post, please like it. I hope you'll share it, and definitely subscribe so that you're up to date on the next video that we come out with. Thanks so much.