Redbean September 2007 - I look for synergy in organisations, teams and learning and performance programs. Clark Quinn has stated that “aligning engagement and education creates a synergy to make a more compelling and effective experience. Doing good engagement is hard, as is good education… Learning can, and should, be hard fun.” (Engaging Learning, 2005 - http://www.quinnovation.com/).
Making learning “hard fun” has spun off a whole industry known as Serious Games (expected to be US$1.5B in 2008) which is being taken very seriously by the government, corporate and the education sectors. You can even get a Masters degree in serious game design from Michigan State University. http://seriousgames.msu.edu/
Anne Derryberry has just written a comprehensive paper on Serious Games where she argues that “21st century learning experiences need to reflect the lives of 21st century learners.” It is a great read and provides a balanced view of what an investment in serious games can do for an organisation. Adobe commissioned this paper and it is available on Anne’s website. www.imserious.net
The 3.5MB PDf is available direct from here.
www.imserious.net
