By Efi Papachristou,

Growth and Innovation Lead, Pegneon

The unprecedented health crisis, urges both employees and employers to reinvent themselves. Monitoring performance, upskilling and reskilling human resources, jobs enrichment and increased productivity, are just a few of the areas that called for immediate action.

Distance learning solutions enable the advancement of skills and progress of employees during the Covid-19 crisis. From collaboration platforms that support live video communications to massive open online course platforms (MOOCs) the list of educational applications and resources becomes broader day after day.

What is interesting is that during the Covid-19 crisis, the potential of game based learning has strengthened and a new paradigm for tomorrow emerged. The pandemic becomes the driving force of digital transformation for businesses, and now is the right time for companies and large organizations to transform their curricula into distinct remote lesson plans.

Amidst this technologically flourishing digital learning revolution, serious games are the most innovative educational tools for corporate training and development. The key difference from traditional training tools and methods is that serious games feature a distinct fun element that make them entertaining yet didactic, but also they feature a richly vivid and interactive digital environment.

Putting emphasis on the importance and the positive impact of working remotely (saving money, saving time from commuting to work, spent more time with our family, etc), we often neglect that this type of employment may also affect negatively the work – life balance of employees. Increased stress levels, fatigue, insomnia, feelings of disconnection and need for communication and interaction with colleagues, are symptoms that usually work from home employees usually experience.

The benefits of distance learning via serious games are on the flipside of the same coin. When we play games, we become more creative, empathetic and open to assimilate knowledge and adopt new patterns of behavior. Games can release stress and cultivate a fun, yet inspiring, educational experience. Technological developments and digital literacy of modern workforces also multiply their potential. Freedom of choice, flexible training hours, action based training methodology, rewards, participation, intriguing storylines, immediate feedback and evaluation on the performance are only a few of the perks that address the training needs of employees during the digital transformation journey. The interactive nature of serious games make them ultra-engaging and far more fascinating from video tutorials and multiple choice tests in a way that they can serve a wide variety of learning purposes (including soft and hard skills training).

The transition to digital learning experience could enable remote workers become the digital transformers of the future, but it also proves to be a cost and time sensitive investment for companies. The efficient and innovative, perspective of serious games makes them ideal educational tools for advancing the skills and evaluating the performance of remote workers. Not to mention that training via a serious game is undeniably the most fun and engaging method that forges strong team bonds and lifts the spirits of everyone involved.

The post Remote Working and Distance Learning appeared first on PEGNEON.

By Efi Papachristou,

Growth and Innovation Lead, Pegneon

Game-based learning and serious games have a strong foothold in our society. They are valuable tools for sharing information and for serving training purposes across industries.

The use of video games can also prove crucial in helping citizens obtain information, raise awareness and achieve a better understanding of a situation in a sociopolitical context, during a crisis and/or during a pandemic.

Amidst the current Covid-19 pandemic, Pegneon’s team started to seek out information about the new disease. Looking for ways to share this knowledge with our network of co-workers, partners, friends and family, a few ideas we discussed implementing, were the following:

• Putting up a banner on our website that promotes the “Stay at Home” Initiative

• Drafting a manual/handout including key information about Covid-19 with quotes and photos of our game characters to achieve a funnier or more appealing approach regarding the information provided

• Posting articles, sharing links with useful information on our social media.

Wearing the hat of a millennial campaign manager, who is determined to use all the available technology tools, learning methods and training techniques that we used in business, the idea to develop a serious game amidst this pandemic came up almost naturally.

Our core aim lied on stimulating people to take all the necessary precautions, to act wisely, to stay at home, to follow all the recommended steps and to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy and safe. The solution we sought would serve multiple purposes, among others to de-stress, amuse and educate citizens. Our discussions on how to communicate key information about the pandemic efficiently, focused on the following:

• Fast, efficient and effective implementation of the project

• Easy and user friendly interface

• Reliable sources of information

• Engaging storyline, great gameplay

Time limitations were restricting us from working on a brand new game, thus we agreed to use one of our award-winning educational games as the basis for “19 Crowns” (game elements, game library, game mechanics, key concept, graphics, etc).

The name of the new game, inspired by the crown-shaped virus, facilitated our brainstorming process. We also decided to use the websites of World Health Organization and EODY, (Greek National Public Health Authority – Εθνικός Οργανισμός Δημόσιας Υγείας) as our key sources of information.

“19 Crowns” was launched after three days. The game introduced a series of three mini-games, each including five quiz questions about Covid-19. The player visits an enchanted kingdom, where a virus spreads quickly and our two heroes, Peg and Neon, have to stay apart for a while. Neon has to go through various challenges and adventures, learn about the virus and meet again soon with his beloved Peg.

The idea of “19 Crowns” was based on the following milestones:

• 3D design combined with simple yet fun gameplay and instructional design principles. We need the player to enjoy the game and remain extra focused on the learning content.

• Repeat, play and learn. Player can decide to go back to the main menu, learn from their mistake and play all over again.

• Free perusal and no time limitations. Players can start from any adventure and freely navigate on the map/enchanted kingdom.

• Monitor progress / receive instant feedback and rewards. Players receive instant feedback on their response after answering a question.

• Our target audience is players of all ages, as the game does not require highly skilled players (speed, reflex, etc)

The feedback we received proves that our inception and the solution we proposed has served its purpose well so far. Encouraging comments from those who played the game make us even more result-driven, keep trying to innovate and commit to our vision that technology should and must serve society, especially during turbulent times of crisis. 

To play the game, click here

The post Can video games raise awareness during a global crisis? appeared first on PEGNEON.