Sealund’s Serious Games Blog

The world of Serious Games and Simulations professionals has been investigating the real cost of “human in the loop” simulations, and it’s been an interesting discussion. The benefits of immersive sims have also been measured for several years now, and I think you’ll find that the statistics entirely validate our early sense that the more realistic the learning, the greater the performance improvement.

Clark Aldrich found that such sims for corporate purposes cost in the neighborhood of $100,000/finished hour to build. This makes rapid development methodology more important than ever if we want to reduce that cost! We’re hoping that our new mLearning rapid development methodology will make learning solution deployment to mobile devices very affordable.

But to consider the cost/benefits equation for immersive simulations in general…

The Value Propositions

Credit card ads to the contrary, nothing in the corporate world is really “priceless.” The right value proposition for realistic simulations and games balances the cost of development (usually high) with the cost of deployment (usually very efficient) and the value of the learning outcome (very effective). Here are some of the elements of the “benefits” side of that equation, based on broad industry experience and some of Aldrich’s findings:

• Reduced learner time to mastery - Sims cover twice as much “content per hour” as traditional eLearning, so a one-hour sim can accomplish what a conventional two-hour program covered. As an element of estimating the cost of a project, this represents a considerable ROI savings in terms of employees’ time-on-job versus time-in-training. The Training Oasis cites Gartner Group’s report that studies have shown that simulation can make a student proficient at a skill four to six months faster than those who took a training class but had no application of the knowledge. This accelerated learning is a key benefit of simulations delivered to any type of audience-executive, manager, instructor or agent.
• Dramatic increase in effectiveness - Sims actually transform real-world behavior and conviction, as measured six months after programs have been deployed, whereas some traditional programs often merely allow an organization to check off a box.
• Infinite scalability over space and time - No human coaches are present to limit use or to force students into awkward and hard to schedule synchronous virtual classes. Sims can typically be deployed world-wide because their interactivity and visual nature make the content natively global. Developers also create a look and feel that will not be dated in a year or two, and can be readily updated, which has always been a problem with video.
• Modularity - Sims can be built one hour at a time, and then linked together. This creates a manageable first sim, with room to grow into more ambitious curricula. Modules can be developed and deployed for just-in-time skill development as a new process is rolled out; the simulation training can mature with the business process.
• Customization - Sims can be highly customized to an organization’s unique requirements, from customized content within an engine to full customization of environment and tone.
• Innate measurement and tracking - Sims requires learners to demonstrate a working, dynamic ability to apply new concepts skills, a feature of great value for both legal and business operations considerations the require certification of capabilities.
• High user acceptance - Employees (across all generations, not only digital natives) rate sims highly for being engaging and for empowering their self-direction in the learning experience.

Hard ROI Data

The eLearning Guild’s March 2008 Immersive Learning Simulations surveyed more than 1000 Guild members from 320 organizations and reported these hard ROI data:

• ROI studies concluded that training costs dramatically dropped from $763 per employee to a mere $300, while average test results increased from 62% to 92%.
• Immersive simulations had these results: Phase 1 training time was reduced by 50%; Simulation-Based Training reduced onsite training time by 50%; Learning performance increased by 30%; and Overall reduction of training costs by a minimum of 50%.
• One company’s experience in switching from instructor-led training to immersive simulation for one course saw the measured training cost per employee drop from $763 for this course alone to $300 per head, a $463 cost saving per employee. A more detailed analysis of the time and costs benefits showed that the combined direct and indirect savings totaled nearly $10 million over 10 years.

Presenting Your ROI Proposal Effectively

It’s not just what you say but how you say it, especially to C-level executives who make the budget decisions, so consider these helpful hints for that pitch meeting.

Brandon-Hall Research suggests these tactics for presenting training solution proposals to C-level executives in “Learning C-Speak.”

• Decrease operating expenses: We’ve been delivering XYZ training using instructor-led classes to teach about 230 people per year. By moving the classes to simulations in e-learning delivery, we should be able to reach more than 1,200 employees without increasing delivery costs while decreasing travel-related expenses. We’ll get more training for each training development dollar spent.
• Increase revenue: Using modest projections and looking at case studies for other sales situations, we feel that e-learning simulations will result in closing $______ in additional sales next quarter.
• Improve employee performance: Our employees’ knowledge is what keeps us ahead of our competition. In this fast-paced business, e-learning simulations will help us ensure that our employees have the right knowledge at the right time, and have experience in applying it effectively through very realistic practice with feedback in the simulations.
• Less time off-task spend in training: With the proposed initiative, we can train our employees anywhere from 50-60% faster.

Bottom Line

“In games, learning is the drug.” (Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design.) In business, where change is constant, employers need employees who are addicted to learning.

What do you think? How do these stats compare with your experience? How do you plan to use the data and presentation suggestions to pitch your next learning solutions projects? Please share your comments.

Mobile Learning technology has matured beyond the “wow” factor to the point where it can be fully integrated with your LMS and deliver content in truly engaging formats, with interactivity including simulations and games, and assess comprehension.

Still, you may ask whether the cost of formatting and delivering courseware through mobile devices is worth it. If we can push entire courses and updates to employees’ desktops, laptops, and Web books, don’t those get the job done well enough? The answer, of course, is that for many types of content, yes, they do. You have to consider the cost of the media of any knowledge transfer experience in relation to the purpose and value of the learning outcome.

For your highest-value learning outcomes, when the type of information and skills you need employees to mobile media is a great solution… Another example is field employees such as sales and service teams, where customer-interaction simulations can deliver:

• New and updated product and pricing information
• Customer service alerts
• Just in time solutions to the field

With content templates and learning engines in the hands of content experts and instructional designers, you can deliver soundly constructed learning experiences for the latest information and skills to your employees more quickly and more effectively than ever. The power of mLearning works amazingly well with the way our brains are wired for learning, particularly for things we need to apply right away and want to develop into habits.

Immediacy, Just-in-Time

Even traditional classroom learning has scheduled course delivery based on the just-in-time principle. eLearning has been able to push delivery closer to the critical application time. But mLearning tools put the “media” in immediacy for just-in-time, at-your-fingertips learning experiences. A simulation with a video demo of a new product or of a product defect being fixed, along with an avatar-driven simulation to model your employee’s related customer interaction, engages employees in learning not only the facts but the interpersonal skills for using those facts most effectively. It’s all about engagement in the learning experience when you most need success in the learning outcome.

Iterative Reinforcement

Sure, immediately applying something you just learned about is a rush, but what about those good habits you really want to develop … but keep forgetting to act on? Send in the reinforcements - mLearning to the rescue!

mLearning can push timely reinforcements in interactive formats to your employees-for example, games or simulations or videos rather than calendar reminders-and for behaviors that show your employees you care about them as well as about your customers. You can send a work-specific skill refreshing simulation or game related to instructor-led or eLearning experiences they had the day, the week, or the month before. You can also show employees you care about their well-being with a video of stretches to do at your desk or in an airplane seat, or a simulation for selecting healthy lunch options on-the-go, or eye-refocusing graphics to prevent optical strain, or a brain-teaser game to kick-start creativity.

…And They Like It

The iPass March, 2010 Mobile Workforce Report on “Employee Device Preference” showed that 63% of respondents required WiFi to keep on top of business activities, and in-flight, where 96.1% preferred a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, 32% would most often use their smartphone, “showing a trend to dual device needs.” It’s no surprise that a growing number of business travelers turn to their smartphones for work-related tasks because it’s so much more efficient than finding a WiFi hotspot and booting up their laptop computers. They can engage with smartphone-based learning, among other business activities, whether they’re in a lobby waiting to see a customer, or standing in line for lunch, or on a commuter train work- or homeward-bound.

You know the leadership truism - It’s easier to lead in the direction they want to go anyway. And smartphones and other mobile devices are certainly that direction. Turns out, those smartphones can help make their users smart, too!

Because our clients and their employees are so smart, Sealund’s mTeam is developing custom mLearning applications and introducing m-Learning versions of our existing courseware, based on our new mLearning Methodology to ensure learners of the instructional soundness for which Sealund & Associates has earned recognition since introducing our eLearning methodology in 1985. Our M-Learning Methodology supports rapid prototyping for a variety of mobile platforms.

Our new mLearning apps for your iPhone, Android, and Blackberry include:

• Alaris™ Financial Literacy Curricula’s “Reducing and Eliminating Debt” curriculum that’s so in-demand for its original platform. The mLearning version includes rich graphics on every screen as the mentor walks learners through the effective strategies and habits, and another avatar engages learners in a relatable story to practice those habits and strategies. It also provides an interactive calculator for instant and repeated application and reinforcement of new skills.
• The Smart Shopper’s tool that helps you calculate the real cost of big-ticket items by factoring in the interest you’ll pay at the rate and number of months you enter.

What do you think? Please share your comments.