New Tricks

For a long time, computer-based training and distance learning were all about delivery. Just fifteen years ago organizations typically recorded instructor-led sessions and then released the audio or video files to their employees. A decade ago, text onscreen and graphical elements like photos, charts and even animations were added to the audio and video files to create two-dimensional, page-turning e-learning courses. The only experience that would approximate immersive learning in this environment would be role-playing. This is a great tool for learners, but is very expensive. Many learners were not comfortable role-playing in front of their peers and seniors thus limiting its effectiveness as a learning modality. Tremendous advances in technology have allowed training leaders to alter the focus of corporate universities from passive delivery methods to active learning techniques with advanced adult learning angragogies.

Most companies with aggressive training initiatives have collected a wealth of useful, instructionally sound training material over the years and want to continue to use it. However, while the information in these recorded lectures, presentations, interviews and other instructional material is still quite relevant to employees, the format in its current state is not. To capture the attention of learners today, information must be available in various right-sized media components that can be accessed at any time within the parameters and context of the learning experience.

While the majority of chief learning officers have recognized the need to repurpose existing material to accommodate different learning styles, they have had limited options for making it happen. That is, until the power of immersive learning simulations captured the industry’s attention.

The popularity of simulations (also called serious games or scenario-based learning) in the business world is an outgrowth of the gaming that young – and not so young – professionals do in their leisure time. Since birth, employees today have grown up with technology in their lives. They know how to multi-task by participating in online chat rooms, listening to music, reading textbooks, and playing video games. It’s only natural that as the children of the “video game generation” age and become integral members of the working population, organizations are turning to simulation-based learning to enhance their training experience.

Since humans are curious creatures by nature, we learn best by doing, which is what immersive learning simulations are all about. Rather than stress the process of repeating information during basic knowledge transfer, simulations change actual behavior by teaching learners how to respond to different situations accordingly. Instead of explaining a process for handling irate customers, simulation technology places learners in virtual offices where they interact with life-like characters – and react to changing environmental issues – to perform each step of the process. The most effective way to learn, after all, is to learn from our own consequences.

Think simulations are designed exclusively for social-oriented training like sales and customer service? Think again. Well-designed simulations can recreate scenarios surrounding any process or procedure in any department or industry. Keep in mind that recalling information or process steps is only half the battle toward true understanding. Employees must also know when to apply certain procedures or how to respond to changing environmental issues to achieve desired outcomes.

Now, what’s the link between transferring existing material into relevant training and developing engaging, interactive, cost-effective simulation experiences for today’s work force? Effective tools like Flash and object oriented programming languages have been the answer up to now. We are beginning to see much more powerful and efficient authoring tools take center stage today. Products like NexLearn’s SimWriter offer rapid-development great instructional design capability, along with an intuitive interface which is being adopted by training development organizations all over the country. Trainers, human resource personnel and subject matter experts are more productive than ever as they are able to incorporate audio and video files, Flash animations, text-based documents and even e-learning materials created with other tools such as Captivate, Firefly and Articulate into robust, new training experiences. Pick-and-click functionality allows developers to focus on creating content and storylines instead of programming code. Immersive learning simulations and SimWriter effectively provide the immersion interactivity and engagement learners want and the ROI CLOs demand.

About Dennis Rees
Dennis Rees is President of NexLearn, LLC. For the past five years, he has led the company in the development of SimWriter, the world’s only patented simulation authoring tool, and in its effort to become the premier provider of custom Immersive Learning Simulations. Rees holds both a BS degree from Kansas Newman University and an MBA from Wichita State University.