We all want to learn. We all need to grow. And how can you optimize training? How to learn better? The best way to do it is through a game. Keep on reading and find out why.
Assessment tools
The advantages of the online game are many and varied. The most appealing one to those responsible for training is the ability to assess what the new gamified methods offer. When a student makes use of an online tool in order to acquire knowledge or develop a skill, the computer registers a great amount of data. The actions taken by the participant are recorded, step by step, so that the subsequent assessment will be both simple and valuable. Simple, because data registration is automatic; and valuable, because it offers reliable information, impossible to obtain with any other methods.
Scoring system
Besides the possibility to measure the progress of participants, quality game-based learning offers a scoring system which allows for self-assessment. Students measure their own progress through several options: levels, points, rankings, prizes, etc. In some serious games, participants are aware of their progress depending on the virtual stage where they are, or the different options that may be available at the moment, or simply their position in the ranking.
Virtue lies in practice
You learn best by playing for a good reason: the game provides the opportunity to practice. The more we practice something that we want to internalize, the easier it is to learn it. With serious games and simulators, practice is a process with no risks. In other words: making mistakes is not the end of the world. Mistakes are allowed precisely because they make learning possible. People who make mistakes also learn to correct them; game-based learning lets students explore and be wrong so as to take in the contents in an effective way. That favors decision making. Confucius summed it up very well: “I forget what I read; I remember what I see; I learn what I do“.
Fun
Not all games are used to learn, but nearly everything can be learned by playing. A language, an ability necessary for your professional development, a skill that will make you grow personally, etc. Mastering new techniques is a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be boring. When the approach to learning is focused on fun, the process can actually be very pleasant. Games are far from those repetitive and tedious methods, based on pure data memorization, which leads to a lack of progress and a very poor learning.
Easy
You can learn best through games, which can be accessed from computers, smartphone applications, tablets, etc. In short, they are much more accessible in time and in space, in order to make learning not only fun, but also simple.
Interactive
Human beings are social and our mind is a device designed to “network” with others. Only through certain simulators you can develop social skills and soft skills, much more appropriate and easy to assimilate in a gaming context than in a more traditional one, mostly text-based. Games have structures that favor engagement, thanks in part to the ability to do something collectively and its competitive aspect that reinforces the sense of engagement for the user.
Why do you think that you learn best by playing?
