Games and Work--A New Look at Professional Development and Learning

A recent book, Total Engagement, by Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read, talks about the use of games, especially alternate reality games, to improve workplace performance.

Many of these alternate reality games are team-based, require skill development and critical thinking that transfer easily to the workplace.  The feedback and reward mechanisms built into the games help improve self-esteem and sense of both accomplishment and self-worth.

In most learning situations, learning takes place when the learner is actively engaged in positive learning activity.  That is what is taking place in most of these alternate reality games--sometimes in a "virtual" environment.

In this more "austere" "new economy" where training dollars are even harder to come by, it is important for businesses to look at  play and learning and work with new  lenses.  The professional development required to help their employees do jobs better and transition to new jobs may be more easily and effectively accomplished by introducing the right game at the right moment.



 

Alternate Reality Games, Learning, and Youth Fiction and Fantasy

Alternate Reality Games (ARG) are amazingly popular around the world.  Total Engagement by Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read, provides insights into these games and the way they relate to business.  (See my post regarding learning from the recent Virtual Edge 2010 Summit.)

Newberry Award Winning books for the youth market share alternate realities in their youth fiction and fantasy genre.  Readers identify with the heros and heroines in much the same way people identify with characters in the ARGs.  Harry Potter is one of many series of books that have become wildly popular.  Many new series are emerging and are very engaging for readers (and listeners when eAudiobooks are used).

This literature can be used as a model for new learning ARGs that allow students to build both academic and game-related skill sets for points and recognition within the ARG.  Priced correctly (and fairly), students could engage with these games and build skills on a daily basis.