44 Ways To Improve Your Training Games

How can we make our training games more effective?

Best of the Best

1. Become a double looper - a designer as learner. Experience your games from a learner's perspective and at the same time observe the process. Discover the colour of the grass on the other side of the fence - is it really greener or is that a trainer's illusion! 2. A four-part answer: 1. Honor the learning objectives 2. Understand the culture of the players 3. Have an opportunity to be successful in the game 4. A robust and participative debrief 3. The games should simulate the on-the-job skills and requirements as closely as possible. Adult learning theory tells us this--instruction should be relevant, respectful, participative, and purposeful. 4. By adding a touch of humour and some physical action to them. It then gets easier for the participants to recall the game and remember the learnings. It is necessary for them to enjoy the game. 5. My answer is the one way to make training games more effective is to let the group choose some of the rules. Before beginning, I tell the group they will be designing a game for the office to play for team-building. I give them certain options...all which lead to the outcome of whatever skill-set we will be working on. By getting them involved in the decision making and development, I've found that they are more enthusiastic about playing by the rules, rather than finding the loophole through the rules. I work with a competitive group, so any challenge, including rules-making, makes the games more enjoyable and personalized to wants and needs...or so they think. Getting their "mental buy- in" is sometimes the hardest thing to do when attempting training of any sort. To have them believe that they "designed" it, it makes them have pride in how it is played by them and others. 6. Ask participants what work problems or challenges they need help with. Base the game on their input. The product of the game is then certain to be something participants can apply immediately when they return to work.

7. By always starting with our target group's business and organizational goals to drive the selection, tailoring, setup and debrief of our games. I think we sometimes are more in love with a game than with solving a group's challenges in a sustainable fashion. This biases us towards the game instead of their goals. 8. By ensuring that the game links the learning material and the learners. This usually means using the game to make concepts relevant and recognisable via the set up, participation and debrief. 9. By introducing them often, but not carelessly. Only when they add value to several instructional topics that need reinforcement, and only when in line with the values of the firm/people. And FUN! 10. Develop games that are focused on results - how new skills or information directly impact the learner's job performance - rather than just building awareness or using games for "edutainment." 11. For simulation games: We need to focus the participants on observation of their behaviors when playing the game. They need to get the relevance to their job. 12. Generally, tying the games and outcomes directly to situations and tasks the group currently faces or just recently faced. Without a tie to the individual's daily business life, they can't see the relevance. 13. Introduce games and set them up in such a way that everyone can participate feeling comfortable from the very beginning. 14. Let's find ways to tailor the games as specifically as possible to the participants in the room. Perhaps by using their real life experiences in the game design? 15. Make the games fun, but ensure that participants have the opportunity to explore and understand how the results may be transferred to other learning environments. 16. Take time to rehearse the game prior to doing it in a large classroom to prepare yourself for some of the great answers you'll receive. Use these answers to further make the point of the game. 17. These kinds of experiential activities need to have clear and clean metaphorical links to a business reality. Too many of these activities are VERY difficult to act on or implement. I will use "FISH!" as one

example of a fun concept but one that is quite difficult to actually do something with. 18. Training games are more effective when the activities within the game most closely mirror the performance outcome that is expected...in a fun and engaging way, of course. 19. Assuming that the game is relative to the topic... simplicity in directions and implementation. Practicing them helps to find the trouble spot. 20. Base our games on actual experiences from the work place. 21. Be prepared - have teams, if you are using them, identified ahead of time, have everything you need prepared and ensure your instructions are clear and understood by everyone 22. Be sure to make instructions for the players explicit -- the more clear the instructions are the easier it is for the players to play. Sometimes this requires repeating the instructions and/or providing them in writing. 23. Build them into rich worlds that people will return to even after the class is over. 24. By catering to the learning needs of gender, ethnicity, age that may be represented in the group. It helps to know some background knowledge about the group also. 25. By effective we are looking at making the concept "stick" for the participant. First, there should be a frame of reference from which the game generates it learning. Something the participant can relate to. So the game is simply taking the new concept and either attaching it to an already learned concept to enhance to behavior/skill/ability/ or one is creating a link to act as the trigger for the desired new behavior/skill/ability 26. Debrief. 27. De-emphasize the fun part and emphasize the learning part. Follow up the game with debriefing that stresses principles and procedures. 28. Enable capacity to include graphic elements, or do graphic drag/drop matching. 29. Ensure that participants know the purpose of the game before it begins and

afterward they have sufficient time to "digest" what has happened and why. 30. Ensure their impact is life relevant. 31. Germane Active Magical Engaging Simple 32. Get participants to suggest work situations related to the game, have a practice at putting the game learning into practice and then other participants contribute suggestions for improvement. 33. Getting more people involved and contribute good ideas 34. In my opinion, training games are more effective when using the following guidelines: 1. Directions that are easy to understand. 2. The game is related to material covered in the class/lecture. 3. Adaptable to different group personalities. 4. Leads the group to new ideas or reinforces material covered. 35. Integrate links to learning applications. 36. Let learners participate and feel that they have some control over the outcome of the game. 37. Look at the elements in processes we train on and compose games based on parts of these processes. 38. Make sure that the game fits into the culture or environment of the audience. E.g., if there is a step that requires touching others and it is not deemed acceptable in the agency, then change that step or use another game. 39. Make sure there is immediate feedback in the form of correct answers or a "yes"/"no" in response to actions; include humor as part of the game/training. 40. Organize and present training games so that they provide a contrast to the preceding activity or activities: Experiential/Intellectual, Pairs/Teams, Standing/Sitting, Studying/Practicing, Absorbing/Teaching, etc. 41. Provide means for participants to gain, share, and utilize insights as the game progresses. 42. Provide participants with very clear instructions for how to play. Make sure that you have not asked participants to move too far from their comfort zone before trust has been established. 43. Remember the hand is connected to head and the heart. Have the player get up, move around, and handle tangible objects.

44. Training games should take relatively little time to prepare. They should not require hours of typing, printing, and preparing.

Your Choice?
The most popular ideas in this list may not be the most useful ones to you. Review the list at your leisure and select 3 5 ideas that make the most sense to you. If you want, combine related ideas into one big idea. Once you have selected your personal set of practical ideas, implement them in your training games.