Avoid the Wrong Reasons for Interactive Learning

Alexander Pope in his work “An Essay on Criticism” famously observed “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Unfortunately, the same is often said of efforts involving games, gamification and simulations. It is not uncommon for an interactive learning initiative to be undertaken for the wrong reasons and subsequently fail miserably. The game doesn’t teach the content, the gamification effort quickly wanes or the simulation doesn’t provide the desired behavior change.

Typically, the reaction is to blame the delivery vehicle—games don’t teach or gamification is just a gimmick—neglecting that the biggest single contributor to failure is undertaking the initiative for the wrong reasons. In second place are poorly or hastily designed games, gamification and simulations. The problems are not with the delivery mechanism. The problems are with the expectations, reasons driving the initiative and with the ultimate design of the solution.

Avoiding costly mistakes and investments in games, gamification and simulations is an important element in this growing field. Too many misguided attempts and the idea of using these methods for learning quickly becomes discredited and falls out of favor and, on a more immediate level, jobs can be lost and career’s stymied when poor choices are made. And worse, the employees who really need to learn the content contained in the interactive learning experience end up not learning.

The solution is to choose to undertake the development of games, gamification and simulations for the right reasons. Avoid requests to engage in these types of solutions from well meaning individuals who have an incorrect expectation of what interactive learning experiences can do for the learners or the organization.

It is important to keep in mind that often the person making the request for a game, gamification or simulation is not purposely asking for the wrong reason, it’s because they don’t know. Most people’s experiences with games is through their smartphones or game consoles and they have unrealistic expectations of what a learning game can accomplish, what it costs or even how others will react. They see gamification elements in consumer products and think those types of elements can easily be added to the tool kit of the Learning and Development department of their organization.

While costs are dropping and tools for creating interactive learning experiences are becoming less expensive, any initiative in this area is still expensive and time consuming. The most common wrong reasons for wanting a game, gamification or simulation are:
• They are Cool/Awesome/Fun/Neat
• Everyone is Doing It
• The Learning Will be Effortless (Stealth Learning)
• Everyone “Loves” Games, Gamification and Simulations
• It’s Easy to Design

Can you think of some other wrong reasons? What are they?