Serious Games” and Learning Management Systems
More organizations are adopting learning management systems and online programs for training solutions, as the recession deepens.
As the demand for LMS systems and online education becomes stronger, e-learning software has also continued to mature. In many respects, LMS technology is beginning to resemble gaming software, with an increase in interactive and exciting features.
Fun and interactive learning systems are becoming the new thing in online training. Some organizations and universities have made plans to integrate, or are already integrating virtual world software into their training systems.
Is it a good idea? Time will tell. Research firm eMarketer estimates that about a fourth of the 34.3 million internet users under 19 used a virtual world program in 2007, and that number is expected to double by 2011. When young people use virtual worlds for entertainment and grow familiar with virtual world different tools, their experience will be more easily translated into an academic or professional learning system when they are adults.
The use of virtual worlds in higher education or company training may be dismissed along with the virtual world terminology of guilds, trolls and orcs. Nevertheless, an increasing number of companies have discovered that virtual worlds may be a useful learning tool.
Virtual worlds permit learners to perform tasks that may be impossible in the real world due to conditions or situations involving personal, geographical or other limitations.
Educators and trainers can use a learning management system to upload presentations and other video material, and they can do the same with a virtual world. Interaction with fellow trainees is a key benefit to virtual worlds as well, as is the ability to walk around using an avatar, performing tasks to demonstrate understanding of learning content.
“Serious game” virtual worlds are used in professional and academic education to teach various topics, from frog dissection for kids to filling a cavity for dental hygienists.
When integrated correctly, software like LMSs and “serious game” virtual worlds can provide students with the means to engage in the material to a point at which traditional e-learning courses never could. With a feature-rich LMS, students have access to audio and visual information in the form of simulations, screen recordings, podcasts, and more.
Unfortunately, while virtual worlds offer vast potential as a learning system and interactive training space for professionals and students, they also have a long way to go before that ideal is an affordable mainstream reality. While “serious games” are still in the testing years, learning management system software providers are stepping up their game to offer a greater fun factor, in order to compete in an increasingly engaging online education world.