As per industry sources, 70% of learners drop out of their e-learning applications without completing them.
What, by golly, does this mean? Folks run away from learning? It just can’t be. No way.
Because, if you see, people want to enjoy new things everyday. Pretty natural, right? Otherwise, they would keep seeing the same old things, and will be yawning away to glory. Oh, what a rusting feel that could be! Mind you, we’re talking just about our outward senses here.
What about the inner stuff, the mind? It too needs to feel stimulated with some fresh stuff every day. As otherwise, it would also be yawning. Only thing, we can’t see it. Now, that’s not the point. The question is, could we designate this stimulation as learning, in simple terms? We could, I guess.
So, there’s no scratching our heads about learning, per se. It has to be around, because, it keeps the pulse racing. Awright! Where, then, is the catch?
I wonder if it’s got to do with the way the stuff is presented to us. Possible!
Coming to think of it, I’m at my wit’s end, seeing the way people – I mean all these teachers, professors, and instructors – present their stuff to me. Intolerably drab! That probably was the reason why I used to always sit near the door in the class room. Scoot, when the bell rings! Get the heck out!
Now, here comes this guy, giving me a naughty smile. Throws a puzzle at me, and asks me if I could handle it. Suddenly, I find myself sitting up. My senses have become acute. I’m ready to respond, because… I’m at risk.
This is exactly what happens with kids. They get irresistibly hypnotized by computer and online games, not without any reason. Because, they get kicked up about being at risk, they hate to lose, so they put all their energies together in learning those ways that’ll help them to come out of it. Only to feel top-of-the-world when they win, having mastered the ‘tricks of the trade’.
The infatuation for playing with risks, holds sway over many a heart. Cliff-hanging, wave-surfing, para-gliding, skiing, the list can go on. If only instructional designers could get a hang of this stuff and bring in at least a little bit of that thrill factor in the courses they design!
The thing is, it’s happening. Slowly but surely! Experts say that by 2014, more than 75% of the global organizations will have some kind of gamified application. Because, such engagements, they find, do bring in the most needed learner attention levels.
Games rule. And, they also strike a winning formula with e-learning.
(Nirmal Ranganathan, Instructional Designer, C2 Workshop)
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