Collaborative gaming takes all the benefits we know from gamification and turns it into a group event.
More than ever, companies are looking for new ways to engage their workers, but our world changes fast. There always seems to be new technologies, trends, or best practices to understand. And your company needs to keep up. Your employees need to be on top of these changes, able to adapt and learn new skills. It can be hard to keep your workers both up-to-date and excited about learning.
Many companies today are closing this gap my making use of collaborative games in their eLearning. Engaging, cooperative, and practical, here are the three main benefits of using collaborative gaming. Let’s explore more of what makes collaborative gaming unique.
Gamification Promotes Engagement
First and foremost, collaborative gaming brings all the benefits of gamification in eLearning. Gamification is the process of applying gaming elements into non-game contexts. The main goal behind gamification is engagement. Having learners interact with their content creates an immersive environment. This makes them more attentive and receptive to information. So, it’s no surprise that collaborative gaming brings these same benefits. We learn best by doing. And gamified learning provides great ways to put information into tangible practice. Not only that, but the collaborative nature takes these benefits another step forward.
Gamification Promotes Teamwork
You know what they say: teamwork makes the dream work. And they say it for a reason. The ability to work together is one of the things that makes humans special. Working together makes us more well-rounded, efficient, and trusting of one another. These are all priceless traits to have in the workplace. And collaborative gaming can help your workplace achieve them.
Through collaborative gaming, your learners will have the opportunity to work alongside one another to complete tasks and reach objectives. What’s great about this is you can build togetherness while also letting learners compensate for each other’s weaknesses. When your employees feel comfortable supporting one another in that way, it can provide benefits in far reaching places.
Gamification Increases Motivation
When you get down to it we’re all human, and people want to win! Teamwork is great, but anytime competition can be used in a healthy and positive way, it’s a bonus. While it may sound counter-intuitive in collaborative games, learners can still compete with one another. Teams can rally together to test their knowledge against other teams. These teams verse each other in various tasks. With each task guiding learners toward a learning goal, expect to see information absorbed at a fast rate. And the quicker you can train your employees, the better.
Additionally, you can use leaderboards to record each learner’s performance on their tasks. By doing this, you can track skills. With each task focusing on a learning goal, you’ll be able to clearly see where each learner struggles. You’ll also be able to see if there’s a certain task or piece of learning material where most, or all of your teams are struggling. While helping you – the instructor – this clear layout also helps focus the attention of your learners on the areas where they need to improve.
Recap
It can feel overwhelming to try to keep up with the fast pace of the world today. There’s always something new to learn. If you feel like your current eLearning solution isn’t cutting it, collaborative gaming just might be the thing to take you to the next level. Its engaging and group-centered form creates a fun and fresh way for everyone to get involved in their learning.
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