Integrating Games Into The Blended Learning Mix

Everyone likes playing games. Whether it's a simple game of Solitaire on your desktop or Minesweeper, which, let's admit, no one really knows how to play, games serve as a welcome catharsis when you need to distract yourself from all the stress of everyday life. But here's a thought: "What if you could learn while you played games? What if you could help all employees in your organization learn while they played?

"Yes! You heard us right; what if a typical classroom session involved a trainer walking in, explaining a certain concept to his trainees through a presentation, and then closing the session with something as unheard of as, "Now, let's all log into our systems and play this interactive game. It will give you a broader understanding of just what I was talking about."Does blended learning stand for the end of classroom training sessions? No, it doesn't. A good Learning Management System (LMS) that bases its training on the perfect blended learning program can help redefine the way that classroom training is conducted, making it so much more effective. Game- based training has been gaining popularity among the corporates as an effective learning medium. There are a number of organizations that successfully use games both as an independent learning tool and as a part of the blended learning program. How can game based training strategies help you?

• Games based on particular learning sessions that include various levels and objectives help retain learner attention and motivation
• Trainees find themselves enjoying the learning process and look forward to their sessions
• It has been proved that game- centred training methods helps learners retain knowledge better and stay motivated to learn all the aspects present in a certain concept

The present generation of tech savvy consumers are keen to find authentic content that can be consumed across all platforms and screens whenever they want to and wherever. This Gen C workforce makes it crucial to incorporate a number of touch points for your blended learning program to be truly seamless and effective. Research has shown that by incorporating the rising web technologies like social bookmarks, vodcasts, podcasts, blog posts, VOIP solutions and interactive PDFs that hold activities into the blended learning model, the learner is engaged, enabling him to participate in sessions in a way that he feels most comfortable.

Training programs for Gen C requires a potpourri of visual and exploratory learning preferences and Blended Learning integrates the different forms of learning dissemination to cater to these requirements. By including games in your blended learning mix, the teaching experience and the learning experience are taken to a whole new level, making the learning process something exciting that is looked forward to.