On behalf of everyone at Designing Digitally, Inc. we just want to give you all a heads up that there will be a bit of commotion during the end of April here at the Designing Digitally, Inc. office. As you may know Designing Digitally Inc. has steadily grown year after year into the innovative company that we are today. Due to our innovation and growth we have come to realize that we now have outgrown our current office location, as a result we will be moving our office headquarters to a new and larger location. If you are a current client, or have been in communication with our team, understand this will not affect your deadlines or meetings. Once the dust has completely settled, and our entire team has been migrated over to the new office location, we will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a social mixer at the new location. Stay tuned for more information on when the ribbon-cutting will take place! Please update your address book with the following address for Designing Digitally, Inc. Designing Digitally, Inc. 8401 Claude Thomas Road, Suite 30 Franklin, Ohio 45005

The Work World & Serious Games - What MyScienceWork Has to Say on the Subject MyScienceWork is an interesting website (www.mysciencework.com) chock-full of fascinating research, news and reporting an all manner of scientific studies and findings - ranging from agriculture, archaeology & astronomy to computer science, political science and psychology. We came across a very timely piece on their website not too long ago and thought we’d share a distillation of that article’s main points with our dedicated readers. Titled Gaming and Working: When Two Worlds Collide, the sub-title of the article is what first clued us in to the accuracy and understanding that these guys (just a phrase here dear readers - we’re not implying that only men are writing for this site!) are imparting via online reporting. Video Games as Training Tools is that sub-title, and it sounds like the kind of blog post we’d routinely write for our blog. Yes, yet another online entity out there that really gets it about serious games, and boy do they have some affirming facts and statistics to pass along to their readers! While the article starts out by pointing-out that children and video games can be a bad mix if overdone due to onscreen violence concerns, the writer quickly switches gears and explains that specialized professional skills such as surgical hand-eye coordination in adults can be enhanced with serious games, and from there the article really gets interesting. As the article goes, "This raises the question of the evolution of teaching and training, not only during formal education, but also in a professional environment. Nowadays, there is a real market for games called serious games whose primary purpose is not pure entertainment, but training, advertising, simulation, or education. They took off in the mid-2000s, when small game companies needed to find a new way to survive, as they couldn’t compete with their big competitors on the pure entertainment market. Several companies, public administrations and the defense department use these kinds of games." Some of the highly affirmative and exciting information in the article on serious games includes these details: In 2003, C. S. Green and D. Bavelier showed that playing action video games was able to radically alter visual attention processing. Since then, gamers have proven to have better reflexes, spatial attention and hand-eye coordination. On February 27, 2013, G. Patrizi, D. Giannotti, G. Di Rocco, A.R. Vestri and C.P. Semproni showed that a Nintendo® Wii™ training program had a positive impact on laparoscopic surgical skills. The doctors who regularly played three Wii™ games requiring visual concentration and hand-eye coordination for one month performed surgery more successfully. Scientists at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, led by lead author Dr. Sam Kilic, reported that teen gamers are "better at virtual surgery than medical residents." As the quoted Dr. Kilic observed furthermore in the article, "As we see students with enhanced visual-spatial experience and hand-eye coordination that are a result of the technologically-savvy world they are immersed in, we should rethink how best to teach this generation." At Designing Digitally, Inc., we couldn’t agree more, which is why we’ve invested a great deal of technology and staff hiring in the direction of serious games development, which we feel is the next wave of employee training and empowerment for the technical and digital age we find ourselves living within today. Give us a call or contact us using our form fields and get your company or business started in serious games for training and education. We can help you to understand their value and efficiencies for the 21st century workplace. Read the full MyScienceWork article on serious games here.

In the training industry the word virtual trainer is often used loosely. Some refer to the narrator as a virtual trainer and some see virtual trainers as actual people training online. But what does it mean to have a virtual trainer in an e-learning project according to Designing Digitally, Inc.? I know you all are very eager to hear our explanation, so let’s get started. In the realm of e-learning development, Designing Digitally, Inc. views the virtual trainer as a reliable replacement for the Instructor Lead Training (ILT) you will currently find in most classrooms. Often with ILT, lessons are planned consistently, but rarely delivered as planned. By using a real live instructor, there will be variables regarding how well the experience went for each individual. Much of ILT is dependant on the instructors themselves. Each learning experience will be determined by the instructor’s effectiveness in the classroom, their delivery of the lesson and their personal health and mood. These variables can lower the learning experience of each person in the classroom if the instructor is sick, grumpy or late to class. By using virtual trainers within E-Learning Designing Digitally, Inc. those variables and inconsistencies are blasted away. The virtual trainer will be there to present information, and guide you through the learning experience just as an instructor would, but without human error. The virtual trainer will never get sick, never get tired, and will never be in a bad mood. The virtual trainer is designed within the E-Learning environment using 2D or 3D animations and Artificial Intelligence (AI), providing dynamics to the virtual trainer never used before in our industry. The virtual trainer within the programs created by Designing Digitally, Inc. not only presents information, they determine what you have done right or wrong and suggests the best strategy to move forward in the learning experience. This is not an easily created linear e-learning program. Our complex systems such as serious games and training simulations incorporate AI technology to ensure it’s not the simple "hints and tips" brand of virtual training. AI technology provides a more true to life training experience using decision making capabilities to determine what the virtual trainer will do next based on your decisions. In conclusion, we’re not stating ILT is being replaced by our virtual training systems we build into e-learning. What we are stating is that you can have a development created with a complex AI driven virtual trainer that will never get tired, or have a bad day. This will keep the learning consistent for each and every learner throughout the organization. Overall, we are not suggesting the virtual training systems we build into e-learning are replacing ILT. We are simply stating you can have a program created using a complex AI driven virtual trainer that will never get sick, tired, or have a bad day, thus maintaining a consistent learning experience for every learner throughout an organization.

As more and more young people in high school and even middle school find themselves in possession of cell phones, tablet computers and notebooks, it’s not surprising that the more enterprising students among them are using their mobile technology for learning applications whenever possible. Like every generation before them, teenagers are adept at jumping onto trends at their onset and don’t require nearly the learning curve that older adults do when it comes to appropriating new skills and technology. A recent report we came across on Cellular-News.com highlights the growing popularity and zeal among young people to use their personal handheld devices for educational enrichment. The survey and report, created by the national education nonprofit known as Project Tomorrow as well as the learning management system company called Blackboard, reveals, among other details, that access to smartphones by American high school students has more than tripled since 2006. The survey report also declares that many students now consider their inability to use their own electronics devices in school as their primary barrier to a healthy digital education. According to the report, "’We are beginning to see mobile learning take shape in pockets around the nation where a small but growing number of innovative educators are finding ways to leverage the once-banned mobile devices for learning,’ said Julie Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Project Tomorrow. ‘Educators have an opportunity to help students learn more effectively and deeply by leveraging students' preferred learning tools and strategies.’" The survey report also goes on to discuss the shifting views of both parents and teachers when it comes to allowing the use of personal mobile devices for learning in the classroom, as well as the innovative edge some schools are developing as they make broader accommodations for Wi-Fi and technology-based education and enrichment. As Senior Vice President Brett Frazier of Blackboard explains in the article, "We see mobile as a transformative technology for engaging students. As these results show, educators and parents have an opportunity to leverage students' growing interest in mobile devices to engage them in a more personal learning experience that doesn't end when they leave the classroom." To read the entire article about high school students and mobile learning interest, please click here. You can also learn more about mobile learning development from Designing Digitally, Inc. - one of core areas of expertise, as well.

Due to rapid growth within the company, Designing Digitally, Inc. has recently expanded into a new office! Based right here in Franklin, we’re an award winning development company specializing in creating E-learning modules, 3D training simulations, and virtual worlds for businesses and government agencies. Our mission is providing top-quality services that ensure our clients’ goals are met. We invite you to join us for our Ribbon Cutting and Open House event on Tuesday, July 16th from 4:00pm-5:30pm. You will have the opportunity to see our new office firsthand and meet the team who made this expansion possible. Samples of our past work will be available for your viewing enjoyment, and we will provide alcoholic and nonalcoholic refreshment as well as light appetizers during the event. We look forward to seeing you on July 16th. If you know you are attending, please RSVP by the end of the day on July 11th. To RSVP, just follow this link (no registration required): http://www.evite.com/event/0077CIYT2I2JAACHKEPC3EATQLYWRQ. For more information, please call (513) 698-8142 option 8 to speak with our administrative assistant, Rae Niehaus. Our new location is: Designing Digitally, Inc. 8401 Claude Thomas Road - Suite 30 Franklin, Ohio 45005   For all of you that cannot attend. Please feel free to click to view some of the panaramas taken at the new location below:

Serious game and simulation developer Designing Digitally, Inc. will use HTML5 and the Unity Development Platform to design serious gaming to teach and expose students to home assessment skills which are difficult to teach in traditional classroom formats. Franklin, OH June 21, 2013 - Designing Digitally, Inc., a full-service interactive design company, has partnered with Rutgers University (formerly The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey) to create an interactive serious game utilizing the award-winning Unity3D development platform that will allow learners to edit virtual homes to be barrier free. Rutgers Professor Dr. Karen Huhn is spearheading this effort in collaboration with the team at Designing Digitally, Inc. When talking about this effort, Dr. Huhn stated, "This serious game will provide the opportunity to practice a skill (home assessment) in several simulated environments in a fun, interactive manner." This effort will allow students to interact with elements within virtual homes so they can be converted into barrier free living spaces. The learners will be able to walk throughout the virtual homes and select features of the home that need to be remodeled to be fully accessible. For instance, in some of the homes learners will be able to change the height of the countertops or even change the width of the doorways to accommodate a person who uses a wheelchair. Andrew Hughes, President of Designing Digitally, Inc., indicated that they "...partnered to create this serious game because it is a skill that is difficult to teach in traditional classroom format. Using 3D gaming allows us to simulate multiple home environments in real time and allows the learner to test his or her strategy in a safe, cost effective way that could not be done in the traditional classroom setting." Once completed, the 3D serious game will be available for purchase from OpenSesame for integration into school's learning management systems. The game will be available sometime during the fall of 2013. About Designing Digitally, Inc.: Designing Digitally, Inc. is a full-service interactive design firm and serious game developer. Located in Franklin, Ohio, Designing Digitally, Inc. has developed a number of serious games and simulations, virtual worlds, and E-Learning solutions for companies around the country and the globe. Designing Digitally Inc.’s overall goal is to add value to the clients that they serve by creating engaging, educational, and entertaining learning solutions. Contact: Andrew Hughes Designing Digitally, Inc. 513.698.8142 http://www.designingdigitally.com About Rutgers (Formerly UMDNJ): Rutgers University is a leading national public research university and the state’s preeminent, comprehensive public institution of higher education. Rutgers is dedicated to teaching that meets the highest standards of excellence; to conducting research that breaks new ground; and to turning knowledge into solutions for local, national, and global communities. Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) is the health care education, research, and clinical division of Rutgers University, comprising nine schools and their attendant faculty practices, centers, institutes, and clinics; New Jersey’s leading comprehensive cancer care center; and New Jersey's largest behavioral health care network.

When the Serious Game conversation turns to dollar and cents the chatter around the design becomes muted. Designing Digitally, Inc. knows the two are mutually exclusive and need to be addressed prior to investing some significant coin. We already know that stakeholders and decision makers must factor in the value of the investment with any learning programs created, and Serious Games are no different. We also know that we need metrics and artifacts to help inform our client of the true value of their educational product. However, the metrics we can glean from a Serious Game are far more data rich than what we could expect from just a regular E-Learning module residing in an LMS. This provides an opportunity to delve more fully into comprehending how the current design of a Serious Game is improving transfer of learning and where it may be hindering it. The goal of a Serious Game is to impart knowledge, facts, concepts, and processes in a contextually meaningful way. The design provides opportunities for the learner to move through levels and/or reach goals. This typically occurs through interactions with the game elements such as other players, the environment, and/or objects. The standard goal and hope is for learners to apply their newly acquired skills and/or information outside of the game and in appropriate situations. For example, a sales representative practices objection-handling techniques inside the game with various customers. The goal behind the Serious Game is to get the sales representative to actually utilize those techniques in their real-life sales calls. Are increased sales of the representative the only method of showing the game was worth the investment? It could be, but it wouldn’t be looking at all possible analytical options. So where can you go to gather data? You can start with their Learning Management System (LMS). Any LMS can show you a few things about Serious Gamers, such as the gamers’ start and end times for the game as a whole or levels within the game and what was achieved (passed or failed). This can provide you with a surface comprehension of game use, but it still doesn’t tell you if game use was meaningful towards achieving the goals of the Serious Game. Gathering additional metrics on social interactions, routes that users took to achieve a goal or how a user leveraged an acquired game item to reach a goal or level would inform designers and stakeholders about the value of the investment. These new data points move away from just showing achievement, by actually capturing how something was achieved. This additional information provides insight into the ROI discussion. Was the investment into this game worth it? Did the learners not only achieve what they should in the game, but did it also translate those achievements into actual accomplishments outside of the game? Given the previous example on objection-handling, what if the sales representative never used many of the techniques in real-life that they learned in the game? If you only had start and stop times and pass/fail information you might be at a loss for why the Serious Game did not yield the result you had wanted. On the other hand, having the extra data points may tell you that cues from the game to socially interact with a peer or manager did not occur. Another example may be that perhaps the use of a game item, such as a clinical study to support a sales approach to objection-handling, was not leveraged. Determinations can then be made on whether the design of the Serious Game needs adjustment. How can you get at this type of useful data? An upcoming option for gathering the more finite details from a Serious Gaming system is to use TinCan API which can be used in conjunction with an LMS. It does everything we just discussed with respect to data collection. It provides the ability to record any learning experiences of a learner or group of learners and their individual and collective learning paths. This translates into the ability to compare job performance to training data to determine effectiveness. When deciding whether or not to go with a Serious Game make sure the conversation includes a balanced discussion around ROI, first from the perspective of the learner and then the investor. Ask what defines success for the learner when using the Serious Game. Then outline a strategy that will engage the learner and provide the/an opportunity to achieve each identified "success" in the game. Within that strategy, flag all aspects of the learner’s engagements and interactions that will help to build a data set for analysis. For the investor side of the ROI, delineate what success looks like in a contextual sense. By this we mean, given the Serious Game, what do you expect the learner to be able to do with what they achieved? Is it to be more efficient, increase sales, heighten awareness, or decrease accidents? Revisit what was flagged for data collection and determine if more elements within the game need marked to ensure that all ROI specifications have attributable metrics. As a final point, our discussion here focused mostly on what could be quantified from the Serious Game and from future performance of a learner. However, much is to be said about gathering qualitative information on the experiences of the users in the Serious Game. Aspects of motivation, self-efficacy, decision making, and other components of human behavior are difficult, if not impossible, to quantify as they are subjective and tend to be individually driven. These facets may be just as vital to the design of the Serious Game and the future performance of the learner.

Due to rapid growth within the company, Designing Digitally, Inc. has recently expanded into a new office! Based right here in Franklin, we’re an award winning development company specializing in creating E-learning modules, 3D training simulations, and virtual worlds for businesses and government agencies. Our mission is providing top-quality services that ensure our clients’ goals are met. We invite you to join us for our Ribbon Cutting and Open House event on Tuesday, July 16th from 4:00pm-5:30pm. You will have the opportunity to see our new office firsthand and meet the team who made this expansion possible. Samples of our past work will be available for your viewing enjoyment, and we will provide alcoholic and nonalcoholic refreshment as well as light appetizers during the event. We look forward to seeing you on July 16th. If you know you are attending, please RSVP by the end of the day on July 11th. To RSVP, just follow this link (no registration required): http://www.evite.com/event/0077CIYT2I2JAACHKEPC3EATQLYWRQ. For more information, please call (513) 698-8142 option 8 to speak with our administrative assistant, Rae Niehaus. Our new location is: Designing Digitally, Inc. 8401 Claude Thomas Road - Suite 30 Franklin, Ohio 45005   For all of you that cannot attend. Please feel free to click to view some of the panaramas taken at the new location below:

"We will transform the way we train people by giving real-time access via their smartphone, tablet or laptop to this 'gamification' concept to heighten and speed up learning and training at all levels." That, according to technology forecaster Daniel Burrus, is one of the main points to ponder for the future of business and one of the big firework explosions in an amazing article we found on CNN about serious games and mobile learning. It’s a very exciting time for our industry, as the proliferation of gaming, the appreciation for mobile apps and all they can accomplish, and the ascendancy of technology in the workplace are all coming together and giving the collective business world an epiphany about what IS possible with the virtual world for the future of Business. And we’ve known it all along. When major news players like CNN are able to cover our industry and report on practical insights and potentials, you know that a tipping point has been reached. It’s taken a bit of time - since the 1930s in Russia when a war game was adapted for their business practices according to the article - but we’re seeing interest and enthusiasm from both the education and economic worlds about the use of serious games and mobile applications for E-Learning. People are experiencing the "light bulb" moment of insight that is needed for real transformation to occur. A few of the sparkling "revelations" in the CNN article include: "’Games can be an amazing leadership tool,’ says Steffen Lofvall, senior consultant at Copenhagen Business School (CBS). ‘And there are quite a few studies documenting that you learn at a deeper level when you add the digital element,’ he says." "At CBS, there is a focus on expanding the use of games in their masters and executive programs. Currently twenty games are being used or have the potential to be used; some are virtual strategy games while others are simple board games like ‘The Leadership Casino,’ which challenges the leadership abilities of the students. After the first semester of use the games resulted in an average class improvement of 14% and an 8% improvement in the perception of the leader, according to CBS." "In a study on the link between education and employment, global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company suggested that serious game simulations could become the apprenticeship of the 21st century. It says games and simulations can offer detailed, practical and real-world scenarios to large numbers at relatively low cost. ‘The future of hands-on learning may well be hands-off,’ the report notes." We are delighted and super excited to see serious games, E-Learning and mobile learning being reported upon with deep understanding and vision by vetted and respected news organizations like CNN. It’s a very exciting time to be in our industry, and we look forward to sharing our expertise with both academic and business organizations that want to take their organizations to the next level of evolution and efficiency. If you’re ready to get going with various E-Learning applications for your enterprise, please contact Designing Digitally, Inc. and we’ll answer all your questions succinctly and professionally. We’re here for you in the 21st century!

The adage "cart before the horse" seems appropriate in a few conversations that you can have around E-Learning developments, but there is purpose and value to these seemingly backwards conversations. In particular, Designing Digitally, Inc. prefers to discuss Return on Investment (ROI) during project initiation. Analyzing this prior to creating an award winning product means post-product deployment data collection and analysis should move along a bit easier, giving you those ROI answers you are seeking. However, two things must happen: 1) the initial conversation on what constitutes ROI for your company and 2) the administrative and logistical aspects of collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. One of the best ways to drive an ROI conversation in the beginning is to look at the objectives of the learning program. The objectives of the E-Learning development should culminate into one goal that the learner is to achieve. For example a company may seek to improve safety or yield better production numbers on the manufacturing floor. A learner that cannot reach the objectives will impact the projected ROI. This means the design of the training must ensure that the objectives are being met during design and development and after implementation. To achieve success in meeting objectives, strive to create contextually meaningful scenarios and activities. Bedding the learning in a familiar manner improves retention and transfer of learning to an actual work environment. However, it’s important to make sure to align roll out to maximize transference. Deploying new training on Friday provides little opportunity for the learner to demonstrate application until Monday. Retention rates diminish after 48 hours, so make sure consideration is given to the timing of deployment. We would be remiss if we did not discuss the most popular form for gathering data: surveys. However, surveys are not just for post-implementation; they can be used while designing and developing the educational product as well. They do not have to be complex or overly in-depth. They can be targeted and simple and be just as effective. Let’s use our example of creating contextually meaningful activities. Say we have just provided you a prototype of your Serious Game and are encouraging you to have some of your SMEs or learners test it out. A basic question of, "Does this relate to the work you do on a daily basis?" with a scale of agreement (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree), and a follow up text-based inquiry of, "Share up to three aspects of this training that relate to your job," will give insight into whether or not the objectives are being met through the design created, as well as if the learners are, in turn, identifying with this design. Even the design of the E-Learning development can incorporate a pre- and post-survey into the training to gather information on perception, value to the learner, established knowledge versus learned knowledge, and so on. Just remember, surveys do not have to look like surveys. They can be part of a storyline or in the form of a quiz or game among other things. Obviously a vital area to examine for ROI is skill development. After all, this is one of the main reasons for the investment to improve or enhance the learner’s capabilities to perform their job. We can have all of our metrics revolve around the creation, implementation, and post-learning, but we would be missing the mid- to long-term metrics that may tell us more than the immediate data we collect. However, much like our encouragement of starting early with gathering metrics, this aspect only provides as much useful data as what was put into it prior to the training. That’s right; we need baseline data on our learners so we can see the difference in performance post-learning intervention. Not just immediately after, but months after and even up to a year after. Lastly, as you begin to create your plan for ROI analyses, don’t forget other variables that may greatly impact your numbers. Some of the more key factors to consider are: the time of the year when the training was deployed, if the company has undergone any major changes or even within the learning group that will receive the training, the company’s culture and attitude, dynamics of teams and groups within the learning audience, and lastly, the economy. These factors can all have a positive or negative impact on the learning experience and on the ROI. For example, if the ROI was intended to measure sales growth and the economy is weak for this particular market it may be hard to expect the results that were intended. Another factor is timing the training deployment. Disseminating training after the high season for sales may only show marginal results as opposed to the project ROI. Even tension between colleagues and team members or the uncertainty of a company’s stability given changes can impact intrinsic and extrinsic factors of the learner and ultimately the ROI bottom line. So, even if you have your ROI cart selected, just be sure to pick the right team of horses to pull it through to success!