Since the addictive Snake game was released on the first generation of Nokia phone, our culture has welcomed mobile gaming with open arms. Of course, we have come a very long way from original Snake, and today’s gaming experiences are rivalling games consoles regarding quality and experience.
These days, mobile games are also providing a new way for people to enjoy learning. For example, apps that monitor how safely a person is driving and provides a point scoring incentive. Learning a new language through apps like Duolingo, and getting rewards when you pass each new level, is making learning a lot more fun than traditional learning methods.
For those lucky people who had to study before the internet was available, learning anything involved a long trip to the library and hours of searching for relevant content to use as references for assignments. Now that was not much fun at all!
One of the really beautiful things about mobile learning is that you can do it from anywhere at a time that suits you. You don’t have to wait for a building to open or for a certain time of the day; it is available 24/7. You don’t even have to go into the study/office room to turn on a PC and wait for it to load up, you’re just there within seconds of clicking on the app.
Games are a fun escape for a lot of people which is why people go to them, it is better than alcohol and drugs for sure. You can make characters and name them after your favourite things like looking at a star wars name generator if you love star wars.
Incentivised games and learning is becoming more and more popular with companies turning to gamification to engage employees to encourage them to complete mandatory training and tests. If you’ve ever worked in a highly regulated business, you will be familiar with the annual mandatory training calendar that bored people to tears with pages and pages of questions. Technology and web design have moved on so far that this is no longer the case for many companies.
E-learning developers can create truly fun and engaging learning modules that are more effective in getting employees to understand key information, as they are more willing to learn about it. Learning styles have evolved over recent years now that we have access to creating content such as video quite easily and as such, the way people expect to learn has changed.
Remember when revising for a driving theory test meant reading the Highway Code book from front to back, day after day, asking a family member to ask them questions from it? If you don’t, then you’re probably part of the younger generation who have never known anything different than using technology. These days you can simply visit a website like TopTests.co.uk to practice questions.
The progress that has been made with smartphones and apps means that you can learn pretty much anything with a few touches of a mobile screen. What a great opportunity that is to embed learning, especially when you know that the incentivised game style of learning is so popular and effective right now. It’s pretty safe to say that mobile gaming has opened new and more engaging learning opportunities.
