Session+2.2


 * 2.2 – Casual Games, Serious Learning**

Ben Katz, Daniel Fu, Jack Schaedler, Enspire Learning Thursday, September 25, 1:15 pm – 2:30 pm

When the mechanics of game play don’t directly correlate to learning objectives, the training isn’t effective, and worse, the game isn’t fun. The game industry still has quite a bit to teach us about how to design effective learning experiences, and in this session, we’ll examine what we can learn from the genre known as casual games. Casual games have simple rules, require no long-term time commitment or special skills to play, and have low production costs. We’ll look at some examples of casual games from the entertainment space, and then cover how some of those same game mechanics have been used to successfully support a variety of real-world learning objectives. We’ll then look at how instructional designers and trainers can use simple metrics to assess the learner and examine the efficacy of the experience.