Game-based learning has been a corporate and educational trend for years and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. In fact, it is transitioning from trend to tried-and-true knowledge dissemination style right in front of our eyes, but that begs the question: how do we take what is clearly successful and use it to our advantage? How do we create game-based learning ourselves? This is where Sharon Boller and Karl Kapp step in. Boller and Kapp, industry and educational experts with over 50 years of combined experience in training and development, use their book as a how-to guide, a practical handbook for taking you from, “I want to create a game-based learning,” to, “We’ve deployed the game!”. Their goal is to give you the knowledge, examples, and tools so that you can walk away prepared to create your first educational gaming experience, and in many ways I think they succeed. |
Play to Learn by Sharon Boller and Karl Kapp walks the reader step-by-step through the process of creating learning games, but not before giving a few key pieces of background, terms, and definitions to the reader, to make sure everyone is on the same page. There are so many different definitions for the same or similar terms floating around that making sure these baseline terms are defined from the start is crucial. It’s like they walk the reader through their very own in-book tutorial of sorts, mimicking the start of many games.
The first definition given is that of a game. Boller and Kapp (2017) define a game as “an activity that has a goal, a challenge (or challenges), and rules that guide achievement of the goal; interactivity with each other players or the game environment (or both); and feedback mechanisms that give clear cues as to how well or poorly you are performing. It results in a quantifiable outcome (you win or you lose, you hit the target, and so on) that usually generates and emotional reaction in players” (p. 4). I agree on many of the key points of this definition, but one grated at me as I read other articles and played games after reading: quantifiable outcome. Nicholson (2014) discussed Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games (MMORPGs) like World of Warcraft and how there really is no ending to these games. There are different goals, and new quests are added, but there is truly no end. In my own experience, games like The Sims also don’t have an end. Would Boller and Kapp not consider these games? Play to Learn doesn’t touch on games like these and it would be interesting to hear a follow up on why these are counter to their definition, though my educated guess would be that they’re referring to games that can be inspirational for learning game creation, and most corporate learning professionals would not be able to create or implement a MMORPG-style game.
The other key terms defined that are critical for success are the terms entertainment games, learning games, simulations, and gamification. The key differences, as explained by Boller and Kapp (2017), are that “players may learn from an entertainment game, but learning is not the goal. If any learning occurs, it is a by-product or incidental to the goal of enjoyment” (p. 22), whereas “the end goal of a learning game is to achieve some type of learning outcome while being engaged or immersed in the learning process” (p.22). Meanwhile, “simulations are an attempt to reproduce reality” (p. 22), and “gamification is the use of game elements in a learning situation, but not the creation of an entire game” (p. 22). These terms are laid out so simply and definitively that it is surprising that, in real life, many people still don’t understand which one is which. I actually had the opportunity to explain all four of these concepts to a room of learning professionals, reading directly from Play to Learn at a recent team meeting, and almost everyone learned something about at least one of those terms. The difference between gamification and learning games, in particular, is one that is pretty blurry to a lot of people. Anyone interested in game-based learning should have these posted up on their wall for a constant reminder, and the way Boller and Kapp clearly define the terms is a simple but huge success for this book.
Level Up: Following the Process
The remainder of the book is broken up into chapters that follow Boller and Kapp’s design process, making for a linear, methodical approach that feels very preparatory for creating the types of learning that are described within. Like levels within a good game, each chapter builds upon the last to culminate in “winning” the process by deploying a tested, effective game to the learning audience.
There is a good emphasis, two chapters, on evaluating other games before starting your own. Buried in this stage of design is a concept that was surprising. Boller and Kapp emphasize that “learning games need to be...“fun enough.”...yes, the game should be engaging with a mild level of fun, but learning should be the goal. Focus on engagement rather than entertainment” (p. 25-26). This seems to be in juxtaposition to other ideas about learning games, like the idea expressed by Shapiro et al. (2014) that “the best learning games are always fun...No matter how advanced your understanding of the subject matter, a good game should still be fun” (p. 20). I’m inclined to agree with Boller and Kapp’s assessment of the fun factor, especially when it comes to corporate training. Certain aspects that we train on are never going to be fun to cover, but through gamification or learning games could be fun enough. Compliance training comes to mind. No matter how engaging or well-designed the game is, it’s still going to be a compliance training, but it might be one that is more effective and less miserable to take for the employee.
The remainder of the process is pretty straightforward and, while not novel, is a good reminder of why we follow a process when developing training. Boller and Kapp (2017) specifically reference Agile design as what they modelled their process after, but it also is very similar to the SAM model of instructional design, so it should feel familiar to some who have used these processes before. Nothing may be new, but there are few resources out there that succinctly walk a designer through the step-by-step process, so the clarity and simplicity is a welcome resource in my instructional design toolbelt.
Badge Earned: Excellent Examples
The idea of knowledge-through-example is present in this book through the companion app that helps you retain and transfer the knowledge from the reading and also highlight some of the concepts they are explaining to the reader by showing them in action. As you progress through the book, you are encouraged to open up your app and play along; you are given badges, points, and are progressed through levels as you answer questions about the book topics. While I think there was an opportunity to do something more robust with this game beyond quizzing, it was a welcome addition to my reading experience. The idea of developing a game alongside another activity was one that I hadn’t thought of before, as simple as that sounds, for my learning audience. It ties in nicely with Boller and Kapp’s (2017) emphasis that “for learning games to work, they need to be an integral part of a larger learning design” (p. 26), and clearly they take their own advice to heart. The game, Knowledge Guru, isn’t standalone; you need to have read the content in Play to Learn to do well.
There is one negative aspect to including access to Knowledge Guru as a companion to this book; the game is also an example of the games that are offered for purchase from Sharon Boller’s company, Bottom Line Performance. This does lead to a bit of a feeling that the book is an advertisement for their services. Very little is written about the actual development of the finished product, other than a few tools that could be used, so it’s implied and stated that you may need to hire an outside developer. It really didn’t bother me to have this aspect though; these are industry professionals and Boller’s experience comes from creating and owning her company, so obviously it would be a part of her writing and training examples as well.
Lose a Life: The Missing Piece
Early on, Boller and Kapp (2017) make sure to cite several meta-analyses that essentially conclude, “that learning games or serious games more effectively promote learning and retention than conventional methods” (p. 23). If you, like me, are a learning professional, the citations, the statistics, and the research are big influencers. You’re reading the book, most likely, because you already believe in the game-based approach.
What about convincing the people to whom you report? You are taught how to get stakeholders to define the business need (p. 35) and constraints to projects are identified and explained (p. 40), but nowhere in the book is there a description of persuasive arguments for taking the extended time to create a project like this. While almost every aspect of the development process is covered in Play to Learn, the one piece I feel is missing is the “How to Sell Your Stakeholders on a Game” chapter or section.
Within the book, there is a wealth of knowledge on how to incorporate games and the benefit of the different ways of incorporating them, so I think much of the knowledge is present, but I still walk away thinking, “Well, I don’t know if this would fly in my company.” What are some key points that tend to persuade even the most steadfast of naysayers? Are there dollars that can be tied to the increased retention numbers? Are there turns of phrase that change minds? The authors were fond of bullet point lists and charts, which I really enjoyed, so even just a one page summary would have been incredibly helpful to both myself and when I go to share this information with my broader team. Support from leadership can be a make-or-break moment in game-based instruction, and a more robust discussion of these challenges would have been appreciated.
Game Over: Conclusion
All in all, I would definitely categorize Play to Learn as a “win” for Boller and Kapp. They break down the learning game development process in a way that both seasoned learning professionals and beginners new to the field can implement following completing the book. While this book mentions theory in the beginning, this is definitely the practical application of the theories and research behind game-based learning, and is a welcome asset for learning professionals. I find this book such a success that I intend to create a podcast for my broader work team to share the knowledge and resources I have gained from this book, and I will recommend it to anyone interested in developing game-based learning in their own workplaces.