I often take for granted that readers of the blog and our customers know the different types of roles available through Visual Purple’s training simulations. It wasn’t until we re-crafted our website text that I began to realize we had never really spelled it out publicly. So here it is officially on the blog and also showcased on our newly designed website.
An often-overlooked critical aspect of simulation training is the best manner in which to train: individual or collectively. Visual Purple offers three modes:
1) Single Player, Single Role – The trainee will always play one role; synchronous interaction with live players not supported or desirable due to intelligent simulation world. Available: Decision-Based, Virtual World, Hybrid, Embedded
2) Single Player, Multi-Role– The trainee may select from available roles and play the simulation from the unique perspective afforded by that role; synchronous interaction with live players is not supported or desirable due to intelligent nature of simulation world. Expect longer production time than single player, single role simulations but per role production time and costs will be lower. Available: Decision-Based, Virtual World, Hybrid, Embedded
3) Multiplayer– Playable by several trainees at the same time with the ability to choose from a variety of different roles. Live interaction supported for collective training but not required through use of intelligent Non-Player Characters (NPCs) that fill-in for trainees that may not be able to participate as expected. In other words, the training can always occur if even only one trainee shows up. Expect increased production costs to craft and support a custom, intelligent persistent virtual world. Available: Virtual World
It’s no mystery that the human race always relates to other people better when they know them or have had more of an introduction to a person. That’s why movies spend quite a bit of time developing the storyline and characters, before jumping in to the “edge of your seat adventure”…well, the same holds true in simulation development. The trainee is better able to relate to the training program when the storyline and character development are presented in an in-depth matter rather than just seeing “Joe Schmoe” walking around the environment. Not only is character development an important factor in simulation design, but also realistic looking and acting characters are crucial to simulations replicating all of the complexities that the real world offers. Believe it or not…When developing simulations each character’s move is purposefully planned out by the developer- a simulation just doesn’t randomly have a person raise their hand for no apparent reason. I believe that the feeling of immersion and realness are the keys to drawing people in and making training stick.
All too often a client gets confused with all of the different types of training available, from E-Learning to CBT and Decision-Based simulations to Virtual Worlds (and now Hybrid Simulations)… the possibilities just seem endless. For those unfamiliar with the different styles of training available on the market today the task of choosing the right training method can be daunting. In the end it all comes down to utilizing the right tool to get the job done, in the most cost efficient and timely matter.
Let me highlight a few differentiating factors that an organization should consider when looking into employing a new type of training, you’ll notice that Visual Purple offers checkmarks in all of the below boxes.
• Highly interactive
• 3D
• Intelligent World – trainees don’t have the luxury to just ‘play’
• Compelling storyline
• Character development and quests
• After Action reviews
• Aptitude screening
• Realistic scenarios
• LMS reporting
• Reduced cost
• Short development time
• Easily updateable
• Reference documents
The obvious choice here is a modern approach to workforce training whereby an organization can cost effectively build an efficient training tool that is proven!
I once attended this great school that had a mantra of “Learn by Doing.” Which I thought was pretty cool back in my college days, but as life has progressed I realize more and more each day just how important this mantra is (no matter what age you are). Each of one of us has gone through training that has been better than others, whether it was a driver’s training course when you turned sweet 16 or a training course for your job. Although you may sit through 8 hours of training it’s what you take away from it that counts, not that you were just a warm body filling a seat. It all boils down to Passive vs. Active Learning. So what’s that you might ask? Well the passive type of learning would be reading and hearing words (see graph below to see the low, low percentages of what is actually retained from passive learning). Whereas active learning involves doing the real thing or simulating an experience, just like what can be done when training through simulations. So I will let the graph below sell you more on the idea.
Some of you may be familiar with CMT’s (that’s Country Music Television for those of you that don’t know) once popular show called “Trick my Truck” whereby an innocent semi-truck owner is surprised by a complete truck makeover: which got me thinking about tricking out training. While some may never think of this, or the makeover of training may only happen when a new decision maker joins the training efforts… what about doing it to deliver the best possible training to employees/ students and making your training material “sticky?” So you may be thinking “My training works…it may just be a little (or lot) outdated.” Or on the other hand, you may be seeing dollar signs because a lot of training types on the market today take a lot of money to get off the ground and even more money to update and keep everything current. Well one thing you may consider is the possibility of taking an existing training program and transforming it into a completely different training type. Oh yeah- Visual Purple can do that. View this short clip to see an e-learning training that we transformed into a private virtual world environment, complete with Non-Player Characters.
All too often we tend to forget what we are really doing. Like many types of businesses where the end result is all about pleasing the customer… well we here at Visual Purple take it one step further than just pleasing the customer. We are building simulations for the LEARNER. That’s right…I said LEARNER! Meaning every training simulation produced is obviously centered around the customer’s content but it is produced around pleasing the learner and making sure that they actually learn what they are being taught throughout the simulation. So now we have a learner-centric high-engagement environment that the learner (otherwise known as the trainee) feels comfortable enough in to explore and the ease of use/ navigation is easily understandable. A learner (trainee) must be interested in what is being taught in order for engagement to be sustained. The focus of the training spotlight ultimately always circles back to the learner.
• Total training spending (in 2008 dollars) increased just 1.5% from 1986 to 2008.
• Spending on training staff (in 2008 dollars) decreased 14% from 1986 to 2008.
• Overall spending on training products and services (in 2008 dollars) increased 232% from 1982 to 2008.
Notice that for the 26 year timeframe comparison of overall spending it increased 232 percent! Note that A Consumer Price Index of 158 indicates only 58% inflation since 1982, so there is 174 percent increase when not accounting for inflation.
Once again it is that time of the year for the hype cycle projections to be released by Gartner. At the beginning of this year I highlighted a few thoughts on what virtual worlds held in store for 2010, while looking back at 2009. Click here to look back at last years predictions.
While the year has yet to come to a close the graph below represents public virtual worlds coming out of the trough of disillusionment and towards the slope of enlightenment with an overall projection of 5 to 10 years for mainstream adoption. My thought is that they will take less time to become mainstream, but I guess time will tell.
It’s finally out! Video games are actually highly effective training tools, something that Visual Purple and I have been lamenting all along- but nevertheless a reputable study is now out to back it up! The news broke in October in a write up in Science Daily – yes, we are remiss in not getting this out in front of you sooner.
Although in my mind the term ‘video games’ would throw most off from reading the article, I persevered and would rather change the title from reflecting ‘video games’ to that of ‘serious games.’ In the article entitled “Video Games Can be Highly Effective Training Tools, Study Shows: Employees Learn More, Forget Less, Master More Skills” a study from the University of Colorado Denver Business School established that those trained by video games do their jobs better, have higher skills and retain information longer than that of workers learning in a less interactive environment.
According to the article “Sitzmann spent over a year examining 65 studies and data from 6,476 trainees and discovered those using video games had an 11 percent higher factual knowledge level, a 14 percent higher skill-based knowledge level and a 9 percent higher retention rate than trainees in comparison groups.” The findings further confirm that video games/ serious games really do have a purpose in the workplace and can provide a great level of value to any organization that utilizes them to train.
All too often organizations make the same age old mistakes when choosing and implementing a training program. Below is a list of 10 common training mistakes that organizations make time and time again.
1. Trying to fit too much content into the simulation
2. Trying to encapsulate too many different storylines/ perspectives
3. Addressing too many topics
4. Not having designated subject matter experts in the organization
5. Changing the course of the project near the end when management finally looks at it
6. Being unrealistic in what to train on and who the training is for
7. Being too general in the target audience
8. Not being able to fit a training program in the budget
9. Skimping on training now that could have prevented accidents/ poor job performance later
10. Not thinking ahead by building to a matrix that cross-leverages content and makes future changes or updates easy and inexpensive
Active in a number of key simulation and training markets, Visual Purple offers you the possibility to change the way people train, through its state-of-the-art technology platforms in Virtual Worlds, Embedded Training and Decision-Based Simulations. Learn more...
