Education, Entertainment & MMOs

Way back in 1989 I attended (and successfully completed) my first instructor’s course. It was a program taught by my state’s training commission and was chock full of information on how people learn and how to structure training to be efficient in the delivery of knowledge and skill objectives. To be honest, it was pretty dry but it was informative and set a great foundation for what was to become one of the passions of my life.

Even back then, simulation training was a significant industry and growing rapidly. Whether it was screen-projected simulation or force-on-force simulation, to properly develop and deliver such training, to the maximum benefit of the student, the instructor needed a thorough understanding of how to choreograph scenarios, and/or manipulate them, to prompt certain desired behaviors from each student. To do that with projected simulation, that is to say, simulations that are like movies shown on a screen that the student stands in front of but that can be manipulated as they play so the scenario is never the same one student to the next, had to be more complex in their development.

Back then, as I was first becoming familiar with such training programs, I never gave much thought to how those scenarios were developed; what drove them; what was required in the software to make them work… or how much fun they could be. Yes, there’s a kind of sick twisted fun to being an instructor who can always trip up any student (especially those know-it-all-gotta-always-question-everything ones). But there’s an even greater fun to be had as the student who goes through the various scenarios and, by correct perceptive performance, pushes the edge of skill to complete each scenario successfully. Yet, whether the completion is considered “successful” or not, there’s something to be learned in every scenario.

Then there came a day where I found myself subcontracting to the Army on an effort that supported training delivery. During the course of my contract doing such work I was exposed in a greater depth to the development of simulation training and came to learn that many of the software engines that run simulation are the same as those that run the most popular Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) as well as the First Person Shooter games (FPS games). Anyone else remember DOOM?

With that knowledge came the realization that the learning environment (the simulation) could be great fun if constructed properly. I’ve long known that education is far more efficient if it’s entertaining in its delivery so there was obvious benefit in making simulation training more game like… more… well… fun!  I wasn’t the only person who had that revelation and using entertainment to teach has become an even larger focus than ever before.

If you’d care to find out just how much more, and how such can benefit your agency in nearly every aspect of your training and operations, you should check out an upcoming conference. The conference focuses on “serious games” and is being delivered in Manassas, Virginia, not far from Dulles International Airport. From the description of the event:

“Expand your knowledge of leadership training; learn new game and simulation-based techniques for first responders and general workforce development at Serious Play Conference July 10-12 at George Mason University's Science & Technology Campus.  Choose from a solid track of 20 sessions for federal, state and local personnel or choose from more than 75 other sessions covering new training and learning topics for emergency, compliance and educational uses.”

Some of the presenters and topics include:

Michael Hopmeier Unconventional Concepts: Guidelines for Training Excellence from Homeland Security and the Kabuki Dance of Science

Sarah Moffat U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services: Modern Mentoring: How to Design a Round Table of Leaders as Legendary as King Arthur's

Brenda Bannan College of Education and Human Development, GMU: Live Sims for First Responder Training

Garth Jensen Naval Surface Warfare Center Calderock Division: Using MMOWGLI to Reframe Wicked Problems as Grand Challenges

Alicia Sanchez Defense Acquisition Univ: The Role of Games in Memory Formation for Learning

Michael Freeman Naval Postgraduate School: Strategic Experimentation Through Innovative, Multiplayer, Online Games

To register for the conference go to this link: www.seriousplay-dc.com/passes-prices

If you’re not sure if it’s worth it for you, go do some basic research on the value of entertainment in education. I think you’ll see it’s more than worth it.