Last week we established a few baseline expectations of the benefits of a mobile learning strategy. We talked about how it affects your immediate team, your external stakeholders and how it improves the long-term success of your mobile learning efforts. With those points in mind, you’re probably ready to get your efforts underway in creating a strategy. Hold on there, partner. Before venturing in this direction it’s vital to get a good understanding of what components comprise a great mobile learning strategy, what you need to avoid, the basics on what it takes to get started and what resources are out there to help you on all of this.What’s in a Strategy?In essence, a strategy is a comprehensive high-level view of your mobile learning roadmap and technology landscape. The roadmap for a successful mobile learning should take in account your learners, their goals, the organization’s pedagogy and value on training/learning, the focus placed on just-in-time learning and performance support, and the companies views on augmentation. These topics should be considered in terms of where they are now, but also with an eye to the future, possibly thinking out 6 months, 1 year, or maybe 2 years. Planning much further out than that would be very difficult due to the constantly quickening pace of the mobile landscape. The practicality of estimating where technology will be that far out, when you yourself are not one of the technologists inventing it is a fruitless exercise. The technology landscape can be comprised of the Six P’s of a Mobile Technology Strategy, published by Float, here. These six P’s are: Platform, Procurement, Policies, Provisioning, Publishing, and Procedures. By carefully weighing your options in these areas, completing the necessary analysis, and then choosing a recommended path or paths in each of them, you will know you are making the correct steps to achieve success.A strategy is useless unless it can be implemented, so in that light, be sure to ground your planning in the practical and don’t get too theoretical. You’ll need to make sure that scope, schedule, and budget are always aligned with your business strategy, resources, and funding you have available to you.What’s Not In A Strategy?It should be clear that a strategy should be full of big ideas tempered with implementation practicality as a backdrop. A strategy is not an app, or really for that matter a series of apps (though it could potentially be, depending on your analysis outcome, natch). A strategy is not an edict of platform nor policy, though these are likely to be components of your larger effort.A strategy should not be a dead tree. This mobile world moves quickly. What was once unthinkable becomes reality with the next major keynote by a hardware or software vendor. What was once only the territory of an app becomes possible on the next OS revision’s improved webbrowser. Mergers happen, OSes evolve, consumers’ buying habits change.Speaking of consumers, your strategy needs to take into account the likelihood that your learners will be bringing their own devices into the workplace, and that this pattern is likely to increase as IT deals with pressure to support more and more smartphones, tablets, and other form factors. A strategy missing this point will be seen as having a gaping hole in understanding the learners’ profiles.BasicsMake no mistakes, an effort of this scale takes time and hard work. You’re going to need to dig in. Research the market place. Investigate where your competitors are going. Talk to other like-minded departments in your organization. Survey your learners. You’ll likely find common threads in your discovery process. It’s important to be expansive in your thoughts at this point.Then once you’re ready, start the analysis. We’ll go deeper into detail on this topic in a subsequent post in this series.Finally, you’re going to have to consider how to present your findings, curating, and then collating the important content. Keeping the deeper findings in order to back up your analysis and provide a sold foundation for the team that will implement your strategy is crucial. Business cases, estimations of the work to be done, and considerations on the skills and whether or not you will need to enlist outside vendors to produce the work should also be included in this body of findings.Until Next TimeWell, we’ve covered a lot of great ideas here. Be sure to come back next week, when we’ll discuss the effects you’ll start to see after you’ve created and begun the implementation of your strategy.

Well, alright. We have the rationale behind creating a strategy, we know what to avoid, and we understand what can happen when you fall of the tracks. What’s next you ask? It seems that it’s time to get started on the creation of the strategy!Creating the teamAs with any project, you’re going to need to assemble a team of experts that can assist you in the creation of the end product. In this case, the team needs to be dedicated, focused, and ready truly contribute. You don’t need experts in mobile, but you will need people with domain expertise in a wide variety of disciplines. Depending on your organization size and overall goals a typical team like this will be headed up by people from the following areas of your company:you (project management)senior management representative (aka project sponsor)learning and development (this may be you, but I recommend getting a backup)branding/marketing (ideally someone with a bit of UI/UX experience)legal/compliance (find someone looking to make a name for themselves)technology (pick a progressive, solution-oriented person with buying authority)Each one of these individuals may have a number of people working under them to assist with surveying, research, and resource or information gathering. That said, I would recommend not having any more than this core group of individuals at any single group status meeting. Plan for a recurring status meeting during the course of this project, with you leading the meeting and providing the agenda to the core team.If follow-up or "off-line" discussion needs to be done with sub groups later in the week, that’s great, but always keep those meetings focused and make sure that the agendas are always hashed out in advance. You don’t want drive-by meetings or sightseers popping in to these meetings. Everyone there needs to have a purpose.If there are "to-dos" from any of these meetings, you will also be ultimately responsible for sending the recap of the meeting along with the results or findings from any previously resolved content.Setting goalsWith your team in place, the first conversations should be centered around framing what a successful effort looks like when completed. How will you, your team, and their managers know when you have hit the target? Each group is going to have distinct priorities and your major responsibility will be weighing these and prioritizing them in overall big picture. Make sure these goals are largely quantifiable and can be distilled into talking points when you are called on to report on your progress.ResearchYou can’t create a strategy in a vacuum. You and your team will likely need to survey and *gasp* talk to people in order to learn more about where you need to go to achieve your goals. When framing up these discussions keep a few things in mind:1. People are usually terrible at articulating the best solution, but are great at identifying their problems. Get people to talk about how certain aspects of their job are painful and you’re destined to find some great nuggets you can build on.2. Keep implementation details off the table. People will inevitably start to say things like "We need an app for this," or "How will IT get that information to us?", but your job must be one of constant redirection.3. Keep things positive. If you can’t keep people from referencing a botched attempt that everyone remembers the last time your company tried something like this, you may need to preface the conversation or survey with a bit of a change management effort first. Remember, here, you are the dreamer of dreams and the makers of music… Not the harbingers of doom and gloom.4. Always use your bigger picture goals as a foundation for the survey. People’s time is valuable, don’t waste their time or your time on a lot of "What-ifs" that are never going to happen. Remember from our prevous post that this strategy MUST BE IMPLEMENTABLE. If it’s not realistic that your IT department procure 1,500 iPhones for your entire company, don’t hinge your strategy on that. If you have no competency internally in Android development and have no intentions to train or hire your developers to build apps, then don’t propose that.Off to the racesHere we are! Ready to get started? You have a solid team, have outlined your goals, and created a lot of great research, now it’s time to distill that information and make your pitch. You’ll need to find a way to weigh the pros and cons of what you’ve found and then turn it into something you can use. Don’t get hung up analyzing which "measuring stick" is the best, just line up some options, talk it over with your team, and then choose one and stick with it as you firm up for your results. Approach this step with confidence in knowing you’ve done your best work and always keep an eye towards establishing ROI and you’re bound to make a mark for yourself.It’s a big step, but you can do it! If you are looking for more information on how to build a mobile learning strategy, continue to read our posts at Floatlearning.com. We’re posting regularly on topics like this.-In closing, a note of thanks to the fine folks at Learning Circuits. It’s been great working with you over last few weeks.

In my last posting I mentioned the idea of "Gamification" and Anna thoughtfully pointed out that we need to " define what "gamification" means to learning development. " I couldn’t agree more and I have spent the last year exploring that concept to see what Gamification does mean to learning and development professionals. For more on this, see my posting In Defense ofthe Term Gamification as used by Learning Professionals on Kapp Notes, and be sure to read the insightful and provocative comments. So on this posting, let’s define Gamification."Gamification is using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems."Now, when most people think of "gamification" they think of rewards, points, and achievements and how artificially incentivizing people to do things based solely on rewards is a losing proposition (and most of the time it is), so let’s look at the characteristics of video games that are useful, exciting, and engaging in terms of learning and, it turns out, in terms of video game play.  Here are few examples of game-based thinking we can apply to our instruction, this is an abbreviated list. I explore many more in The Gamification of Learning and Instruction which will be out in May and in my talk at TechKnowledge 2012—coming up shortly. StoryGames are interesting and motivating because they have a story, they provide a context in which actions need to take place. Many learning courses provide no context, no reason for actions. We need to use story elements, plot, characters, resolution, scene setting to help put learning back into context. Training, and the educational system, has removed training or learning events too far from the actual application of the knowledge. Stories bring context back. Additionally, research indicates that people remember facts better when they are in a story than when they are presented in a bulleted list. FeedbackAnother element in games is immediate feedback. When you play Pac Man, you know right away how you are doing; you visually see the number of dots left to be eaten and how close the ghosts are to cornering you.  From a learning perspective, feedback is a critical element for facilitating learning. Providing frequent opportunities for students to respond during a lesson helps with learning as shown in research. Most of our learning courses do an extremely poor job of providing immediate feedback. Additionally, the feedback typically is not based on action or activity, it’s based on knowledge—how well the learner could "temporarily" remember what was covered earlier in the course. This isn’t meaningful feedback. Gamification can provide, in the form of points or "health" or "lives" feedback on progress. Games provide meaningful and immediate feedback far more effectively and efficiently than a classroom instructor. Game-based thinking and mechanics can help learning designers think about continuous corrective feedback.Freedom to Fail and ChanceIn an instructional environment, failure is not a valid option. In games it’s encouraged with multiple lives and attempts. Games overcome the "sting of failure" specifically by doing things like giving multiple opportunities to perform a task until mastery and through the introduction of chance or randomness (two elements that schools and corporations work hard to eliminate). In fact, research indicates that gaming uncertainty can transform the emotional experience of learning improving engagement and, more importantly, improving encoding and later recall.LevelsGames do a great job of providing personalized experiences. In many games I can choose an entry point of easy, intermediate, or difficult. Most online learning experiences are developed for "one-size-fits-all" with no consideration of different skill or knowledge backgrounds. Why can’t we design learning to accommodate different skill levels just like video games? Two things I’d like to mention before signing off for this post. First, notice I did not mention points, rewards, or achievements. We can apply game-based thinking without having the elements of points or rewards. We don’t need to use points or rewards as motivation—however, we can use points and rewards as feedback on progress. So, let’s not abandon all mention of points or rewards because we fear they may undermine intrinsic motivation, the research is not as specific on this point as many would like. In fact, some research indicates that intrinsic and extrinsic rewards exist side-by-side in classroom environments and that they are not, indeed, opposite ends of a continuum. Second, when I mention "gamification" people often caution me that we must "get it right" or we can cause a lot of harm and that getting gamification right is tricky. I don’t disagree but designing any type of learning event effectively is tricky and, unfortunately, learning professionals often mess that up. One example is the continued, unscientifically supported use of learning styles. So, I don’t believe the argument that we should abandon the use of gamification because it is hard to do and because we might do it wrong. If that was the case, 40% of all corporate learning could have to be thrown out because the objectives are wrong, the instructional strategies are wrong and the assessment of knowledge is wrong. You don’t throw out a method because in some cases it might be incorrectly used, instead, we need to educate people on the correct usage of the concept. Gamification is an exciting addition to an instructional designer’s toolkit but it should not be foreign or strange to learning and development professionals we have been using many of the techniques for years (check out the last link in the resources list).. OK, this post is already longer than I anticipated. Here are some resources to further your thinking on the subject and if you are going to TechKnowledge, look for my session on Wednesday, 01/25/2012 from 11:00AM -12:15PM, Room Miranda 7/8. The description title of the talk is What Research Tells Us About 3D Avatars, Storytelling and Serious Games for Learning and Behavior ChangeAdditional posts of interest:Great Gamification Video by Sebastian DeterdingCombining Zombies and Running…Gamification of ExerciseTwo Interesting videos on games from Google Tech TalksWhat the Gamificaiton of Learning and Instruction is NotGoogle Talk on Gamification: Designing the Player JourneyGamification Sounds Like What Instructional Designers Have Done for Years

In my posting on Learning Circuits Blog, a reader left a thoughtful and interesting comment about points and the use of the term gamification and the Blogger software won't let me write my entire comment (too many characters) so I am posting my comment here. See Kathy Sierra's comments under What is Gamification and Why it Matters to L&D Professionals.First, Kathy, as always, thanks for your thoughtful comments on the topic of Gamification. You always help to expand my thinking on the topic. Although, I have a couple of points of clarification that I'd like to make. You define gamification as "based entirely on operant conditioning, using +r in the form of rewards to reinforce behavior, especially the behavior of ‘engagement’."   Your definition reminds me of the old folk story that originated in India where a group of people in the dark all touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but each only one part and they come up with different descriptions. One feels a leg and says the elephant is like a pillar; and one feels the tail and says the elephant is like a rope, etc. Later they compare notes and are in complete disagreement because none of them has seen the entire elephant. (source)I think you are only feeling one part of the elephant. While points and rewards can be framed as operant conditioning and as a game-mechanic, it is only one part of gamification—one element, one piece. Not the entire definition of gamification.  If points or rewards were the single engaging element of games then the game Progress Wars  where you just click a button to get points would be the most popular game ever. In almost every legitimate definition of gamification the term "game-based thinking" is used. This term encompasses ideas like challenge, story, instructive feedback, levels, characters and freedom to fail. These are not elements of a Skinner Box or operant conditioning. These are elements of  engaging games like Angry Birds, Civilization V, Red Dead Redemption and Monopoly. All enormously popular games that do not rely on points for motivation or engagement.It is disingenuous to state that "virtually ALL game scholars, game researchers, and professional game designers are passionately against gamification." Serious and knowledgeable individuals like Sebastian Deterding and Amy Jo Kim and other well informed people are passionately for gamification—as properly defined. Sebastian Deterding discusses gamification in terms of meaning, mastery and autonomy—concepts closer to Self-Determination Theory (a theory of intrinsic motivation) than operant conditioning. (Source) Amy Jo Kim discusses gamification as the design of the player journey where the player progresses over time, giving people something to master and building in emotional engagement. (Source) Again, she is not discussing a Skinner Box approach to gamification, instead it is a thoughtful approach focusing on the overall experience and progress of an individual through some type of experience leading toward mastery.  Serious, well informed people are advocating for gamification beyond the concept of adding points to experiences.But even points are not all bad or DEmotivational. It is true that points can, in some cases, be construed as extrinsically motivating; but they can and often are intrinsically motivating as well. Research articles by Deci & Ryan, 1985 and Lepper & Henderlong, 2000 (some of the same researchers you mentioned  in your comment) indicate that in one sense something like desiring good grades can indicate that children are engaging in academic behaviors merely as a means to some extrinsic end.BUT in another sense grades provide useful information about competence and mastery, and desiring this sort of feedback may reflect an intrinsic interest in the material or activity rather than an extrinsic orientation.So are grades intrinsic or extrinsic? By extension then, are points, scores, and certain game rewards informational and, therefore, intrinsic and not extrinsic?  Giving points to someone (as a form of information about competence) is actually intrinsically motivating. Giving someone a reward related to a specific achievement that gives them information about their level of mastery related to the achievement is intrinsically motivating.  Informational-based points, rewards and achievements are intrinsic motivators, they are not operant conditioning.Another interesting concept related to extrinsic motivation is that, over time, it might be possible that extrinsic motivators actually become intrinsic motivators. This is called "internalized motivation." In the above mentioned article by Lepper and Henderlong, (2000) they state "One issue not addressed is the development of internalized motivation—those originally external motives that have over time become incorporated into one’s personal goal or value systems." They go on to state that there is some suggestion in the literature that internalized reasons gradually supplant extrinsic reasons for engaging in disliked behaviors (Chandler & Connell, 1987) and that there are specific teaching practices that facilitate internalization (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994)." Meaning that extrinsic motivations could eventually lead to intrinsic motivation—an area worthy of further study and a compelling reason not to dismiss points outright as dangerous. They, like almost any other instructional element, can be used appropriately or used inappropriate. Points are not inherently demotivational—it’s how they are used, it’s the design of the points system. Again, well designed systems of learning lead to positive results, poorly designed systems of learning lead to poor results. Just like every other instructional design element.Your argument against points as solely extrinsic motivation needs be more nuanced than simply stating points undermine intrinsic motivation. In fact, points may actually be intrinsic motivators in many cases thus providing an excellent tool for learning and development professionals to leverage for instruction and motivation of learners.Finally, given the idea that gamification is more than "operant conditioning, using +r in the form of rewards to reinforce behavior, especially the behavior of ‘engagement’" then adding game elements to something like negotiation skills is gamification. If I take the content associated with negotiation skills and I add the elements of challenge, a story, instructive feedback, levels, characters and freedom to fail in the form of "The Negotiation Game" then that is the gamification of teaching negotiation skills.  How is adding game elements to a serious topic like negotiation skills not gamification given that it includes game-based thinking? It is adding game-based thinking, game mechanics and a game-based approach to learning—that is gamification. (Notice, I didn’t even add any points or rewards.)Perhaps it’s just the word "gamification." So a growing trend now is to use the term "gamefulness" which may be less controversial as a term for discussing the concept of game-based thinking. Regardless of what you call it, more game-based thinking can only improve the current state of mind-numbing, page turning e-learning--not harm it. Thanks again for your thoughtful comments about the subject of gamification. References:Chandler, C. L., & Connell, J. P. (1987). Children’s intrinsic, extrinsic, and internalized motivation: A developmental study of children’s reasons for liked and disliked behaviours. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 357-365.Deci, E. L., Eghrari, H., Patrick, B. C., & Leone, D. R. (1994). Facilitating internalization: The self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Personality, 62, 119.Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum Press.Lepper, M. R., & Henderlong, J. (2000). Turning "play" into "work" and "work" into "play": 25 years of research on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J. M. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance (pp. 257-307). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

As the doors open to a new era of mobile learning and performance support, it's a good time to step back and think about the new mindset required when designing for mobile.Although a mobile pedagogy will continue to evolve, we already know quite a bit about how people use mobile devices and some of the advantages of mobile learning.Mobile is SupportiveIt doesn't take much deep thought to realize that mobile devices are an ideal medium for supporting performance at work. When an employee runs into an unsolvable problem, requires information to complete a task or needs step-by-step advice, this type of need can often be filled through mobile performance support.Mobile is CollaborativeLearning and support at work can be provided through one's network of professional colleagues, both internal and external to the workplace. Using mobile devices, the geographically dispersed workforce can help each other solve problems and make decisions in real time when the desktop is isn't convenient. And of course, mobile devices can also be used for voice communication. That's an old-fashioned and highly collaborative approach.Mobile is GesturalThe gestural user interface (UI) for interacting with a smartphone or tablet seems like another universe when compared to one-finger clicking on a mouse. The gestural UI removes the intermediary device (mouse, pen, etc.) so that users can directly manipulate objects on the screen. Objects are programmed to move and respond with the physics of the "real world." This opens up a new world of design possibilities for creative imaginations.Mobile is Learner-centricLearner-centric experiences occur when a person seeks the answer to an internal question. At this moment of need, the individual is highly motivated to learn and remember. When this occurs, it circumvents the need for extrinsic motivational techniques. Instead, it demands more effective information design, to provide quick and searchable access to content.Mobile is InformalAlthough there are bound to be an increasing number of Learning Management Systems that track mobile learning events, the mobile medium seems better suited to informal learning. Because mobile devices are often ubiquitous as well as always connected, they are ideal for learning in a variety of ways to fit a particular time and place. Mobile is ContextualUnlike other types of learning, mobile learning on a smartphone or tablet can occur in context. Only 3D simulations come close to this. Mobile learning may be initiated in the context of a situation, such as a few minutes of instruction prior to a sales call or quickly looking up a technical term at a meeting.Mobile learning may be initiated in the context of a location, such as augmented reality to learn about a place while traveling or getting directions to the next technical service call. And if employees "check in" to a location-based site, they can find each other anywhere around the world.Mobile is User-GeneratedBy taking advantage of smartphone and tablet hardware, users can generate content by taking photographs and recording video and audio. Through these multimedia capabilities, your workforce can send and receive information from the field.A healthcare worker in a rural area can send photos of a patient's skin condition and ask for help with a diagnosis. An agricultural expert can create a photo album for farmers, showing conditions that indicate soil erosion. Rather than take notes, a trainer can voice record his or her thoughts on how to improve a workshop. Then use this recording back at the office.Mobile is FunThe most popular apps in iTunes are games. With mobile devices, games don't need to be limited to the phone. They can take in the larger world and be situational. For example, at a call center technicians receive digital badges through a mobile app for every satisfied caller. Badges are cashed in for various rewards. Think about ways to improve performance through challenges, team competitions and gamification.Mobile is Sensitive and ConnectedTake advantage of the hardware features of mobile devices. They have sensors for detecting touch, motion and device orientation. There is hardware for connecting through your carrier's network, and through WiFi and Bluetooth.Some mobile devices can be used for tethering, which involves connecting the phone to a laptop with a cable and using the carrier as a modem to connect to the Internet. Mobile devices are also beginning to use Near Field Communications (NFC), so that devices can transmit information by touching them or coming into close proximity.Conclusion How can we leverage all that's unique about mobile devices and their use and at the same time, avoid the pitfalls? It will take time, thought and a high-level strategy to get it right. Your thoughts?Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

Last week, we kicked off Measurement Month with a discussion of why measurement matters. This week, we’ll dig into connecting measurement and design to build the metrics in from the beginning.Throughout this post I’ll use an example from a training program I worked with earlier in my career to illustrate how the measurement models can be put to work in training.The Alaska Example: Job Training for TeensIn a my last job, I worked with Anchorage Youth Employment in Parks (YEP), a program hiring Anchorage teens to complete park improvement projects while learning job skills in trail building, construction, and habitat restoration. In partnership with a variety of community organizations, this program accomplished two key goals: Complete park improvements and train teens in in-demand job skills.As program partners secured public job training funds for this program, it was essential to ensure YEP was successfully developing employment-ready teens. After the program’s pilot year, program partners worked with a University of Alaska sociologist to create a data model to measure the YEP program’s effectiveness and continually improve the program.YEP used the Theory of Change model to guide the development of program metrics and evaluation. The Theory of Change model offers program designers a helpful guide for planning and measuring learning and development. The Theory of Change looks like this (from "How does the Theory of Change Process Work?"):Step One: Identify GoalsStart your program design with the basics: Goals. Ask yourself and your stakeholders straightforward questions: What skills must participants have when they finished the program? What new responsibilities will they be qualified to take on next? To develop specific and measurable goals, conduct stakeholder interviews and focus groups. As you design your program goals, make sure you have a thorough understanding of your target audience to design initiatives that meet both their needs and the professional growth they wish to accomplish for themselves.In the YEP example, the goals for the students were to develop competency in several professional outdoor skills: Forest maintenance, trail building and streambank restoration. Participating teens were required to demonstrate technical competence in these professional skills as well as leadership and teamwork abilities.Step Two: Connect the Preconditions and Identifying the ChangesEach program goal will have a chain of needed preconditions, which in turn require changes from the baseline data. The program design phase is an exploration of each step needed to achieve the preconditions necessary for the end goal.In the YEP example, program managers worked with experts in each of the subject areas (trail-building, forestry, and watershed restoration) to assess the competencies necessary to reach the desired end goals for the teens. We developed activities (both training programs and work projects) that would enable participating teens to explore different skills and apply them to real work environments. We made sure our summer-long program connected all of the dots between participating teens’ beginning qualifications and our desired end goals.Step Three: Develop IndicatorsThe next step is to create a data framework for the "before and after" states achieved through a training program. In the Anchorage example, this meant a case study of the target audience of our training program. We identified their likely background, education, and their desired outcomes from the program, and created scales to measure where an individual would stand within that range at the beginning of the program and the end.We included measurement of both teens’ soft skills, like leadership, communication, and cooperation, and their specific job skills, in trail-building, forestry, and watershed restoration. We developed detailed assessments for teens to complete at the beginning and end of the program and a shorter, simpler questionnaire that they filled out on a weekly basis. Teens were asked for both self-assessment and for qualitative feedback, to which we later assigned data values. We also asked teens for feedback about the program itself.In addition to asking the teens to assess themselves and the program, we asked both crew leaders (team leaders) and the program supervisor to complete detailed assessments of the teens’ skills and abilities at the beginning and end of the programs. All of these assessments were used to create our data framework.Finally, we created long-term goals and measurements for the teens’ success after participation in the program, including employment in our target sectors, college attendance, career-readiness and also advancement in the program in returning years. We designed annual surveys to check in with program alumni and assess their long-term progress.Step Four: Write the NarrativeThe final step in the program design phase of the theory of change model involves creating a narrative: A model describing how your initiative will create change to achieve your program goals. This is more than just a pretty story: This is your opportunity to test your logic in plain English. When you create your narrative, this is a document you will share with your stakeholders to make sure that the steps you outline make sense - and that the data measures you identify connect accurately to the program goals. (In the next post, I’ll share some sample narratives to help guide your program design process.)Step Five: Implement, Iterate, ImproveThis last step is where the really good stuff happens. Once you’ve designed a program, it’s time to implement it, collect data, and use data to make adjustments and improvements.In the Youth Employment in Parks example, program managers used the Theory of Change model to provide both structure in the program design and metrics to measure its effectiveness. We found the data invaluable in enabling us to continually improve the program, by adding training in specific areas or reducing or removing unneeded components. We ultimately reduced the time spent in content study and achieved greater mastery of the content. This was a positive feedback loop, and achieved improved results continuously as participant feedback enabled us to iterate and improve.Next week we’ll examine the process of building your measurement model.Further reading:"Making Your eLearning Initiative a Bestseller", Mark Sheppard"Measuring the Impact of Training and Development", Paul Bernthal"Project Superwoman Theory of Change", ActKnowledge (must create account to access free download)

See below for the entire list of tour stops!The blog book tour has started as ASTD and I kick-off a 25 stop blog book tour for the ASTD co-published book The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. The book is available at the ASTD Book Store. The tour includes stops at several ASTD chapter web sites including Philadelphia, New York and Houston, Texas. You are welcome to join the tour, no...you are urged and encouraged to join the tour. Leave a comment on this posting linking to your blog and it will "officially" become part of the tour. The tour currently includes some well known bloggers and some bloggers you really need to know but we want to expand it with your input, ideas and concepts related to Gamification. Here are all the tour stop dates. The blog book tour is a virtual tour so you can just follow along stop by stop. If you don't have the book yet, stop by the ASTD book store a pick up a copy. The Twitter hashtag for the tour is #gamiLIThere is a Pinterest page for the tour. And a Facebook page for the tour, stop by and give it a LIKE:)Here are the tour stops, the day of the stop and a link to the stop are indicated below. You can follow along by going blog to blog and leaving a comment. If you stop at every stop and leave a comment, you will receive a free whitepaper "The First Five Steps to Gamification of Content, Curriculum and Courses."Also, on April 26th, Join Karl at the Houston ASTD Chapter's Webinar for a live chat and presentation by the author. Week One:Oops, already had a change in venue as my scheduling abilities appear to have been less than stellar, please see below for today's stop. April 16: Learning Circuits Blog. April 17: Gamification Facebook PageApril 18: Jane Bozarth's Bozarthzone April 19: Kevin Kruse, Keven Kruse Blog. He is NY Times bestselling author of We: How to Increase Performance and Profits through Full EngagementApril 20: Rich Mesch Performance Punctuated and he will be joined by Judy Unrein OneHundred Forty Words .Week Two:April 23: Clark Quinn LearnletsApril 24: Karl Grieb ASTD Philadelphia ChapterApril 25: Webinar Presentation for Houston ASTD Chapter "What Research Tells Us about Games, Gamification and Learning" Join the webinar.April 26: Debbie Richards Take an e-Learning Break And a live appearance by Karl at the NY ASTD Chapters combined SIG Meeting. If you are in NY, you may want to register and attend.April 27L Connie Malamed The eLearning Coach.Week Three:April 30: Amy Lui Abel New York ASTD Chapter Blog. May 1: Cammy Bean Learning VisionsMay 2: Tom Kuhlmann Word of Mouth May 3: Koreen Olbrich Learning in Tandem May 4: "Surprise Blog Appearance" Week Four:May 7: Mike Qaissaunee Frequently Asked QMay 8: Larry Hiner drlarryhinerMay 9: Catherine Lombardozzi Learning JournalMay 10: Brent Schlenker Elearning Development May 11: Zaid Ali Alsagoff Zaid Learn Week Five:May 14: Andrew Hughes Designing DigitallyMay 15: John Rice Educational Games Research May 16: Christy Tucker Experiencing E-LearningMay 17: Justin Brusino ASTD Learning Circuits Blog (we come full circle to discuss the tour and the gamification concept) May 18: Karl Kapp Kapp Notes. The author provides reflections and lessons learned from the tour. So join us for this exciting tour and social media event to discuss the pros and cons of Gamification and what it means to learning and development professionals. And follow us on Twitter at #gamiLI.Gamification of Learning and InstructionPromote Your Page Too

Week One Recap The first week of the blog book tour has ended and it has been a fantastic week with informative blog posts, information  and opinions about gamification and even a bit of controversy. The week opened with a posting of the tour stops on the Learning Circuit’s Blog and the Kapp Notes blog and then introduced everyone to the Facebook page for the book and then the discussion really ramped up with Jane Bozarth talking about the how the book takes a common sense look at the subject. Next, New York Time’s bestselling author Kevin Kruse told us how articles appearing within the last year in notable publications such as BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune and even the Harvard Business review are talking about how gamification is impacting marketing, service and employee satisfaction (notice training seems to be absent.)Then on Friday Judy Unrein discussed how the book can benefit instructional designers and Rich Mesch made us all hungry when he reminded us that just like Chocofication (adding chocolate to everything) is not a good idea, neither is gamification of all content a good idea. In some areas it doesn't work or even make sense to add "Gamificaton". We need to be careful how we apply "Gamification." It is not a universal cure-all. Issues with Gamification and It’s ImplicationsAnother guest on the tour, although not a scheduled stop, has been Kathy Sierra who is a self-confessed gamification curmudgeon and author of a widely popular series of test preparation books to help people pass Java tests to become certified and not only does she prepare people to pass those tests, she has created certification exams that are used to certify programmers. Her test preparation books are some of the best selling on the topic. Kathy has brought the perspective that gamification is not good--at all. She doesn’t like the word "gamification" and she had her "heart broken" because so many people that she respects are involved in this tour talking about gamification. She is worried about my insistence on using the word "gamification" (including my urging of others to "take back the word")." She states that "nearly every game scholar and professional game designer (real games, not just Zynga game-like things) is adamantly opposed to the word for many reasons including how misleading it is by including the word 'game'".She was also "offended" that during the tour I offered a whitepaper for anyone who wanted to leave a comment on every blog entry. She felt that was a crass use of gamification and that I was clearly using an extrinsic reinforcer offering a reward in a feeble attempt to market the book. She felt that in an industry where knowledge is valued that withholding knowledge to shape behavior or action was wrong. Kathy felt that technique was "LEAVE a COMMENT for POSSIBLE WIN scheme" and that it appealed to the basest aspect of Gamification.In Defense of the Term GamificationHer concerns are not without merit but I think there is another perspective to consider, especially with her dislike of the term"Gamifiaction"  While "nearly" every game scholar and professional game designer is against gamification and some who initially were proponents of the term have backed off, these people are not controlling the discussion about gamification within businesses and corporations. The CEOs, Vice Presidents, executives and managers are not tapped into the game developer industry; for the most part they don’t attend the Game Developer’s Conferences, they don't read game developer magazines or blogs.  Instead, they read reports from Gartner that indicate 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application over the next five years. And reports that say the overall market for gamification is predicted to grow to $1.6 billion in the next ten years. (we all know Gartner analysis are fabulously optimistic in their predictions but someone is reading those reports and paying for the analysis).Additionally, as NY Times bestselling author Kevin Kruse told us, CEOs, VP’s, executives and managers read Forbes, the Harvard Business Review, BusinessWeek and Newsweek which all within the last year have carried articles about gamification. Like it or not the "Gamification" term is out of the bag and it’s not getting back in or disappearing or falling out of favor with executives. The gamification message is targeted toward the major decision makers within organizations and is not being lead by major scholars or figures within the game industry. It's being lead by vendors, marketers and others who can, and are, getting  the word out about gamification and its working.Learning and development professionals must now react to requests for Gamification, we are not driving the discussion--we are forced to react. And many times we are not even in the discussion at all. In fact, many proponents of gamification feel learning and development professionals have nothing to contribution to the conversation about gamification at all. Actually we have the most to contribute. We understand human motivation and how people process information and how they learn and how to shape behavior so it lasts. We should be in the conversation or it will go in unhealthy directions and have negative consequences for us.Two ChoicesNow we have two choices, one is to "Just Say NO to Gamification." We can ignore it, we can rally against it, we can talk about how no "serious" game developer believes in gamification but, at the end of the day, business leaders are bombarded by gamification messages in magazines they read religiously by organizations that have the funds to spread the gamification message.The "anti-gamification" tribe has little funding, organizational structure or reach into CEOs and VPs. So waging a war against the term "gamification" will, ultimately, not be productive. We will just be ignored or bypassed when "serious" gamification issues need to be discussed--you know the kind mentioned in the Harvard Business Review. We may not like it but it’s already happening.In fact, if we learning and development professionals turn our back on gamification, refuse to take part in this narrowly defined if/then extrinsically motivated movement, then the CEOs, the business managers and executives will go somewhere else. My fear is that a CEO will walk into a training department after having read an article in the Harvard Business Review about Gamificaiton and demand that the training department create a gamification program to train sales reps. Then the training department either doesn’t know anything about gamification (because learning and develop professionals refuse to use the term and its not talked about by the major voices in the field) or they say "no" we don’t do gamification under any circumstances.The CEO shakes her head and then goes to the marketing department and says, "Can you create a sales training program around gamification?" and they say "Of course!" Now non-learning and development professionals are using gamification, perhaps at its most extrinsic level to create training. And, if it works or even appears to work, the learning and development professionals lose credibility and relevance. We will be out of the loop and away from business discussions.We can’t sit with the C-Suite people or in meetings uninformed about this thing called "Gamification." Sure, we can decide to name it something else like "Gamefullness" or "Activityification" but then learning and development professionals will be speaking a different language than executives. We already have this problem by the ton. We can't decide to make it worse by creating a substitute word for "gamification." Learning and development professionals should have learned by now that we have to use the language of business to work with the leaders of business to obtain credibility to have influence.Inventing another term or refusing to discuss that low-brow "gamification" concept doesn't help the profession one bit because we  appear out of touch or not in sync with the business units.The other choice, the one I have chosen, is to educate ourselves about this thing called Gamification and to expand and broaden the definition—not so that the definition or term is meaningless—but so that when the CEO comes to us and says "can you do gamification of a sales training program", we can say "yes." And then we intelligently add story elements, challenges and the main tenants of Self-Determination Theory autonomy, competence and relatedness to the training.. The elements of games that actually make a difference, that actually add intrinsic value instead of a crass use of points, rewards or badges. And we can still call it gamification.We have then met the needs of the CEO and created a meaningful learning experience. Additionally with this approach, we are not left out of the loop. We can shape the gamification discussion about the sales training to be more instructionally sound than if we were not involved or left out. By learning about gamification we become part of the conversation and are not isolated on the sidelines. Why Respected Individuals are Talking About GamificationThe reason I enlisted so many respectable people in the learning and development field and the reason I think they agreed to participate is because we can’t hope the term gamification goes away. We need a general discussion within the field of the term, its positive and negative aspects. The term won’t go away no matter how much some of us hate it.We must talk about Gamification and examine it and see how it can fit into what we are doing. We must be participants in the conversation about gamification and try, in some way, to shape the term. If we don’t, the entire concept and application it will go into a direction that, from an instructional standpoint, is untenable.We have the ability to influence the application of gamification in the field of learning and instruction right now. If we wait or hesitate we will loose our opportunity. It’s not too late as some would have us believe.Gamification Resources for L&D Professionals In fact, before "The Gamification of Learning and Instruction" was released, the learning and development field had no book about gamification that focused on the learning theories behind gamification or a listing of what gamification is or is not from a learning perspective.  The purpose of the book is not to "glorify" gamification or to get people to be "quotable for having said useful, positive things about gamification." The purpose is to have a measured, civil discussion about gamification and how it applies or doesn’t apply to learning situations.The goal is to create competence within the learning and development community to be able to speak intelligently about gamification and decide when it is appropriate and when it is being used to manipulate people and, at times, the distinction can be tricky.For example, Kathy Sierra rightly pointed out that I was using an extrinsic motivator in terms of proposing a reward (a whitepaper) in exchange for an activity (leaving a comment). I agree that creating that type of arrangement was a crass use of extrinsic motivation. I admit my error and will make the whitepaper available freely to anyone (of course I have to write it first—it will be available end of May).Helping me to see and correct my use of extrinsic motivation is the point of having open, civil conversations  about things like external motivators. Sometimes we need others to point out how we might unwittingly use external motivators to influence behavior and we might not even be aware of it. Certification Exams as External MotivatorsEven the most intelligent people can unwittingly fall into the "trap" of relying on extrinsic motivation to spur learning results. For example, I wonder how consciously aware Kathy is of her use of  strong external reinforcers in her creation of certification exams and in her creation and marketing of test prep materials that support those exams.When people study for these extrinsically motivating events known as certification tests (or in gamification parlance "badges") do these people perceive that that they've been manipulated into preparing to pass these tests? Do they realize their intrinsic motivation to learn a programming language is being systematically and methodically undermined because, as Kathy has suggested, the result of rewarding someone for something they would have done anyway is ultimately de-motivating. In fact many believe the original intrinsically motivated behavior will disappear after the extrinsic reward is removed.To paraphrase a wise and informed person on the topic of extrinsic motivation: while the programmers Kathy urges and encourage to read her books to earn the badge/certification are all smart, savvy, brain aware people it makes no difference because that knowledge does not protect them from the damaging effects of putting such weight and value on the EXTRINSIC reward of certification. The negative, undermining effects all happen at a level of conscious processing for which Kathy’s poor readers lack the "security clearance" to access let alone override.This If/then proposition inherent in Kathy's test prep books is the exact same offense Kathy correctly and accurately accused me of committing with my whitepaper. Kathy is extrinsically motivating people to buy her books so they obtain the reward of certification. She isn’t marketing these test prep books as a way to learn programming or as a way to develop a love of programming or as a way to build competence in programming; she is marketing them as a way to obtain an external reward--to pass a test.So I urge Kathy to do the same thing I have done. I divorced the reward from the action; I am offering the whitepaper freely on the web for no cost. Kathy, please seriously consider offering anyone who wants certification a free copy of your book. Or consider dropping the certification. Or, only write books which tap into intrinsic motivation. I urge you to become the model for which you want others to follow—don’t use external rewards as a motivational tool. Show learning and development professionals how to use only intrinsic motivational techniques so that your readers develop a competence level in programming that is so high, no certification is needed.Abandon your test prep books and write more books fostering the love of programming through intrinsic devices like autonomy, competence and relatedness. Stand up and no longer present the proposition to your readers that if they buy your book, they will ace the certification exam and receive the extrinsic reward of certification. Be the change you hope to see in others.SummaryThis week has certainly been a great first week for the tour and next week is a great line up as well. I have learned a great deal and hope you have too. The interest in the tour is growing and next week we’ll be announcing new tour stops, webinars and other events that have joined the tour.This upcoming week, we have Clark Quinn who I purposefully asked to be one the stops because he doesn’t like the word "Gamfication" and I wanted everyone to know of his concerns and perspective. And, in light of this discussion it will be interesting to read what he thinks. We have the Philadelphia Chapter of ASTD with Karl Grieb making an appearance as well as Debbie Richards of Texas with her blog Take an e-learning break.I am doing a live appearance in New York at at Special Interest Group meeting and my friend Connie Malamed of The eLearning Coach will discuss her view of the subject of gamification.I look forward to their postings and hope that you too decide to post as well. Now that the LEAVE a COMMENT for POSSIBLE WIN scheme  has been removed (and I do apologize if that offended anyone), I urge you to freely post your ideas and thoughts.Let the community know what you think,  Should we ignore the term "gamification"?  Should we denounce the term as crass if/then behavioral reinforcement? Should we attempt to shape the term and concept or should we find another term?See you on the tour and if you want to learn more, pick up the book at the ASTD Book store or check out the Pinterest page for Gamification Happenings.

TODAY'S STOP:April 27: Connie Malamed The eLearning Coach: Are you a Gamification Wizard This week promises to be an exciting second week of the Gamification Blog Book Tour. Here are the stops for this week.April 23: Clark Quinn LearnletsApril 24: Karl Grieb ASTD Philadelphia ChapterApril 25: Webinar Presentation for Houston ASTD Chapter "What Research Tells Us about Games, Gamification and Learning" Join the webinar.April 26: Debbie Richards Take an e-Learning Break And a live appearance by Karl at the NY ASTD Chapters combined SIG Meeting. If you are in NY, you may want to register and attend.April 27: Connie Malamed The eLearning Coach.

TODAY"S BLOG STOP:  May 4: UL EduNeering Online Compliance Training BlogThe blog book tour has been a lot of fun, with interesting comments and exciting dialogues and some in-person stops. Here are the stops for week three (with a few changes) and a recap of week two.April 30: Enid Crystal New York ASTD Chapter BlogMay 1: Jeanette Brooks Word of Mouth blog.May 2: Cammy Bean Learning VisionsMay 3: Koreen Olbrich Learning in TandemMay 4: I am appearing "live" at the Eduneering Knowledge Summit in Baltimore, MD. Complete with book signing. The blog for the day will be UL EduNeering Online Compliance Training Blog which will have slides and information from the session.Recap of Week TwoClark Quinn started the week off at Learnlets with a discussion of the word "gamification" (he would prefer a more meaningful term like "engagification" especially since "gamification" does seem to carry some negative connotations. He provided a balanced and well described critique of the book. You can read Clark's post Kapp’s Gamification for Learning and Instruction.Next Karl Grieb of the ASTD Philadelphia eLearning SIG provides a description of the content of the book. He describes the break down of the elements of games and points out the section describing ADDIE versus Scrum as a development process. He also highlights the writing about different types of motivation including John Keller's ARCS model. Read the post here.Then Debbie Richards from Take an e-Learning Break wrote about four themes from the book including "matching game results with game design. She also talked about the Cisco Binary game. I also did webinar for the Houston Chapter of ASTD arranged by Debbie. You can see the slides here.The week ended on a fun note with Connie Malamed of The eLearning Coach creating a game/post called Are you a gamification wizard? Play the game. See how well you can do. There were also some live appearances. New York City I traveled to New York City and presented at a joint ASTD Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting of the NYU Higher Ed SIG and the eLearning SIG. It was a great time and I met some wonderful folks. Here are a few pictures of our interactive session. I'd like to thank Amy Lui Abel and Enid Crystal for making that meeting happen. Here are some pictures from the event.You can see the slides for the presentation here.Lehigh ValleyAs part of the tour, I severed on a panel about gamification for the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals. The title was "The Computer Game Industry: Not for Kids Any More." We had a great panel discussion with lots of questions and engaging conversation. The panel included myself, Jason Brozena of Caronet which is a hosting company that provides data center services to organizations, including numerous game companies. Having a data center's perspective helped to broaden the attendees understanding of how games are being hosted and other back-end services/technologies. And Larry Wolfe of LiquidInt. Larry will introduce Liquid Mobility Bridge™. This tool was designed to work across various mobile platforms. Larry will also discussed the concept of gamification of business applications. I'd like to thank Mary Rasley, Steve Steven Weitz and Thiep Pham for including me as a panel member.

TODAY'S BLOG BOOK TOUR STOP:May 11: Zaid Ali Alsagoff Zaid Learn And if you missed a couple of recent stops, check out Mike Qaissaunee's post Gamification of Learning and Instruction and Koreen Olbrish's The Shamification of Gamification . And Larry Hiner at drlarryhiner as well as Catherine Lombardozzi at her Gamification Whistle Stop.The Gamification of Learning and Instruction blog book tour has been a lot of fun, with interesting comments and exciting dialogues and some in-person stops. Here are the stops for week four and a recap of week three.Week Four:May 7: Mike Qaissaunee Frequently Asked QMay 8: Larry Hiner drlarryhinerMay 9: Catherine Lombardozzi Learning JournalMay 10: Brent Schlenker Elearning Development May 11: Zaid Ali Alsagoff Zaid Learn Recap of Week Three During the week, there was a review of the book published at Learning Solutions Magazine. You can read the review here. Enid Crystal of the New York Chapter of ASTD started off the week by summarizing my in-person visit to the joint NYU Higher Ed and eLearning SIG joint meeting. The meeting was a lot of fun. We started the evening by playing a game to get everyone familiar with the various elements of games such as challenge, roles and feedback. We then discussed various examples of gamification. You can read the posting here.Next, the tour stopped by the Word of Mouth Blog, sponsored by Articulate. The tour stop was titled Using Gamification To Transform Your Learners from Angry Birds into Learning Ninjas. The post had to be moved from its originally scheduled date because of the long awaited release of Articulate's Storyline which was scheduled on the same day as the original blog tour stop on Word of Mouth. So we did a little switch. The posting is great with several clever examples of using game-elements to enhance instruction.Cammy Bean at Learning Visions was the next stop. Cammy, as always, gave an insightful look at the subject of Gamification in her stop called Karl Kapp Book Tour: The Gamification of Learning and InstructionWe then skipped a stop. Hey, it happens.And moved right to Friday which was an in-person tour stop date.  I stopped by the UL Eduneering event known as the Knowledge Summit and spoke about busting e-learning myths as we played a game called "Fact or Fishy". A link to my slides and resources from the presentation was posted on the UL Eduneering blog in a posting titled Busting Learning Myths: Fact or Fishy Here are some images from my in-person book signing.If you are interested in the book, you can purchase a copy at the ASTD Book Store.

TODAY'S BLOG BOOK TOUR STOP:May 1: Games Teach!Also, today would be a good day to revisit some of the great posts of this week. Stop by and see the post at Designing Digitally about the book.Check out John Rice's stop on the tour, I want to thank John as I included some ideas on understanding elements leading to higher learning in videogames which he outlined in a paper published a few years ago in the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education. And don't forget Christy Tucker's stop Research in Gamification of Learning and Instruction and also check out her posting Ruth Clark Claims "Games Don’t Teach" part on an interesting debate I plan to weigh in on tomorrow.Stops for Week FiveMay 14: Andrew Hughes Designing DigitallyMay 15: John Rice Educational Games Research May 16: Christy Tucker Experiencing E-LearningMay 17: Gamification Happenings at PinerestMay 18: See my post, "Games Teach!"Plus we have added a few new dates and stops (stay tuned) we are also having a webinar event with Dan Bliton who challenges attendees to the game "Are you smarter than Karl Kapp". Dan will be hosting the game and conducting an interview with me on the 24th of May during BAH open webinar at 1:00 ET.Recap of Week Four Week Four was an exciting week. We had many activities going on related to the tour. We had a very interesting stop with Mike Qaissaunee's post Gamification of Learning and Instruction. Mike gave the perspective of a technology educator and someone who is not an instructional designer and explained how gamification impacts him and the difficulties associated with gamification when your teaching load is heavy.  Koreen Olbrish's The Shamification of Gamification  posting discussed how we should "focus on the challenge of educating the market, not vilifying a word." She also commented on the chapter she contributed to the book.Larry Hiner at drlarryhiner talked about the Intersection of games, learning, and organizational psychology providing an interesting and thought provoking perspective.Catherine Lombardozzi at her Gamification Whistle Stop discussed what someone will learn when they read the book and what people mean when they talk about "gamification" and the factors that transform engaging learning into game play.Zaid Ali Alsagoff created a post called Gamify to Amplify the Learning Experience. He talked about gamification to of personal learning and sharing and the gamification of teaching. As always, he provided great graphics and visual insights.We also had two book reviews one by Connie Malamed at eLearn Magazine and another book review by Jennifer Neibert of Learning Solutions Magazine. Allison Rossett mentioned Gamification in her interesting post titled My Commencement Address for the Workforce Learning Class of 2012.And I somehow missed this before but Ruth Clark wrote a provocative piece called Why Games Don't Teach which discusses one research article that found the game used for learning didn't teach what it was supposed to teach. There are other studies, of course, that show that games do teach (many are cited in the book) and even serveral meta-analysis studies (studies of studies) that show games do teach. So, right now I say it depends on the study and research design as well as game-design as to how effective the game is for achieving desired learning outcomes.One thing that Ruth Clark did bring up that I think is important is that "we [need to] cultivate a more refined approach to categorize the features of games that best match various instructional goals." I agree and have put such a hierarchy into chapter 8 of the book. That is where I identify types of games and which type is best for teaching which type of content. It's a start. If you have a chance, read Ruth's article. It is good to keep a balanced perspective when thinking about games for learning. They are not the answer to every instructional problem.

TODAY'S BLOG BOOK TOUR STOP:May 24: Webinar event with Dan Bliton who challenges attendees to the game "Are you smarter than Karl Kapp". Dan Bliton will be hosting the game and conducting an interview with me on the 24th of May during BAH open webinar at 1:00 ET.Stops for Week SixMay 21:Games Teach!Encore stop from last week. May 22: Bruce Walsh Can video games help us learn? May 23: Jeanne Meister Gamification: Three Ways To Use Gaming For Recruiting, Training, and Health & Wellness Great examples and a quote from the book in Forbes.com. May 24: Webinar event with Dan Bliton who challenges attendees to the game "Are you smarter than Karl Kapp". Dan Bliton will be hosting the game and conducting an interview with me on the 24th of May during BAH open webinar at 1:00 ET.May 25: (These two entries are not "official stops" but great reading on the subject) Julie Brink, Game-Based Learning for the Corporate World and Mark OehlertAn Amplification of the power of Game-Based Learning in the Corporate World Plus we have added a few new tour stop dates in June, a few more interviews on the tour and an article appearing in the June issue of T&D.Recap of Week Five Week Five was a great week with some interesting postings about the book. Over at Designing Digitally, we had the stop: The Gamification of Learning and Instruction. John Rice, who contributed to a great deal of the thinking and ideas in chapter 7, was a stop on the tour with his post New Book The Gamification of Learning and Instruction. We had a stop with Christy Tucker who, herself, was passoinately defending games as an instructional medium in her posting Research in Gamification of Learning and Instruction. The tour also pointed to the Gamification Happenings Pinterest page which has over 82 pins and is growing. Also, don't for get the Facebook page for the book.And if all this has gotten you curious to read the book, you can pick up a copy at the ASTD online book store or just stop by and read the first chapter.

TODAY's BLOG BOOK TOUR STOP: June 6: Live appearance at the 8th ANNUAL INNOVATIONS IN e-LEARNING SYMPOSIUM.I am speaking on the topic of Getting Lost in a 3D Virtual World: Selecting and Evaluating Appropriate Virtual Worlds for Learning.Here is a brief description of the presentation.This presentation details the trials and tribulations of selecting, implementing evaluating and teaching within a 3D virtual World. The presentation is based on the experience of DAU as the organization journeyed down the road of 3D virtual world implementation. From cataloging hundreds of virtual worlds to working with a vendor to create a browser-based virtual world solution to preparing learners to enter a virtual world, you'll gain an understanding of the entire process from start to finish. Join your tour guides who will describe the process undertaken to choose a vendor, work out technical details, prepare instructors and conduct a pilot program learning within a 3D virtual environment. This engaging, exciting session highlights lessons learned from a real live implementation. You will be provided with tips and techniques for selecting your own 3D virtual world for learning, advice on conducting a pilot and a few pointers about what to avoid during the process. If you are there at the conference, please stop by and say "Hello." I am speaking at 10:00 AM ET.

The audience for mobile devices wants to be able to learn from any device at anytime, anywhere. This creates a challenge, as we have to plan, develop, and deliver tools and content that can be used in all facets of learning, as well as work on the range of devices we use now and will use in the future. This e-book shows the reasons why mobile learning has seen such recent growth and what areas are best suited for this type of learning.With this 20 page e-book you will be able to answer: what is mobile learning?how mobile learning differs from e-learning?what are the benefits of mobile learning?why you should consider mobile learning?when is mobile learning appropriate?how to Design successful mobile learning programs?what are the ingredients for a successful mobile learning strategy?what is the future of mobile learning?Download your free copy today >>

The audience for mobile devices wants to be able to learn from any device at anytime, anywhere. This creates a challenge, as we have to plan, develop, and deliver tools and content that can be used in all facets of learning, as well as work on the range of devices we use now and will use in the future. This e-book shows the reasons why mobile learning has seen such recent growth and what areas are best suited for this type of learning.With this 20 page e-book you will be able to answer:  what is mobile learning? how mobile learning differs from e-learning? what are the benefits of mobile learning? why you should consider mobile learning? when is mobile learning appropriate? how to Design successful mobile learning programs? what are the ingredients for a successful mobile learning strategy? what is the future of mobile learning?Download your free copy today >>

Over the weekend, Mission to Learn quietly slipped into its third year. As befits such occasions, I’ve been trying to spend a bit of time reflecting on how the site has changed over time and where I’d like to take it going forward. One thing that occurred to me is that, in spite of this being a site about learning, I’ve never actually offered a definition here of what I mean by "learning." So here’s my definition: Learning is the lifelong process of transforming information and experience into knowledge, skills, and habits. I might add to that: It is not dependent upon classes and courses - though these can be very useful tools for learning It does not require a degree, certificate, or grade to prove its worth - though clearly these have social value that most people would be unwise to ignore It does not always - probably not even most of the time - happen consciously - though I think that those who strive for a more conscious approach to learning throughout their lives - whether at work or otherwise - tend to be more successful in pretty much whatever way they define success. I think that pretty well sums up the view of learning that drives my efforts here at Mission to Learn. What do you think? Does this capture your view of learning? What would you add or take away? Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. - Please join me on the ongoing Mission to Learn. Subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

With the 6th Annual Games for Change Festival under way (Twitter: twitter.com/g4c), I decided to revisit the post on learning games for change that I did last year and add new games I have found. The original list of 26 is now up to 36, and I expect to add more over the coming weeks. If you have suggestions for games to be included, please comment or contact me. Link to updated original post Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. - Follow Mission to Learn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/missiontolearn

My previous post, To Learn, To Lead, highlighted McGill professor Henry Mintzberg’s criticism of traditional MBA programs. That inspired me to go through the archives of the Free Learning Monitor to dig up all of the free self-learning options for business education that I have published in the past year. So, here they are. I may come back and add to them, as they don’t currently include selections from the Human Resources and some other categories in the Monitor. Comment or contact me to let me know if there are others you would like to see here. Categories here include (anchored links coming soon!): General Collections and Libraries Planning & Starting Nonprofit Sector Marketing Green Business Strategy Accounting & Finance Odds & Ends General Collections & Libraries Small Business Administration - New Courses New courses include:* Finance Primer: Guide to SBA’s Guaranty Programs * Technology 101: A Small Business Guide * Marketing 101: A Guide to Winning Customers * Global Enterprise: A Primer on Exporting * How to Prepare a Business Plan * How to Prepare a Loan Proposal *** OPEN Forum by American Express OPEN A wealth of resources for business owners — videos, articles, blogs, and expert advice to boost your business, sponsored by American Express OPEN. *** Management Methods | Management Models | Management Theories Management portal explaining 250+ methods, models and theories on strategy, performance management, finance, valuation, change, corporate governance, communication, marketing, leadership and responsibility. Value Based Management. *** Free Management Library The Library provides easy-to-access, clutter-free, comprehensive resources regarding the leadership and management of yourself, other individuals, groups and organizations. Content is relevant to the vast majority of people, whether they are in large or small for-profit or nonprofit organizations. Over the past 10 years, the Library has grown to be one of the world’s largest well-organized collections of these types of resources. *** American Management Association Free Learning Resources *** IRS Small Business Video and Audio Presentations These short presentations are dedicated to helping your small business. In addition to these video and audio presentations, please visit the Small Business Tax Workshop Video page for instructional lessons. *** Free Business Training Keep your employees up to date on today’s important skills & requirements.Test out the best business training system available online by taking one of our free business training courses. Simple course authoring, student administration & branded for your company. *** Businessballs Free online learning for careers, work, management, business training and education. **** How to Get a Valuable Education Without Mortgaging Your Life From The Personal MBA - Skip business school: get a world-class business education by reading the 77 best business books available. (Visit your local library to make this one free!) *** read it for (dot) me A growing collection of business book video summaries. *** Brain Trust: 100 Ivy League Business & Entrepreneurship Courses You Can Take for Free *** 5 Minute Management Course 6 lessons with morals. Tongue-in-cheek, but with a dose of wisdom as well. Planning & Starting Free Business Plan - Start a Business Free business plan to download. Read basic core knowledge about how to start business and how to run a business. Be an entrepreneur. *** Learn Online | SCORE Learn your way. Take these courses anytime. Try these useful & interesting courses to help your business get started and grow. *** Learn how to Start A Business, how to Write A Business Plan, and all about Business Start Up The Internets Top Free Start A Business Course. Learn how to write a business plan, pick a business, sign a lease, do small business accounting and much much more! Nonprofit Sector Wild Apricot Blog : Social Media for Non-Profits: 26 Great Slideshare Presentations You Can Use Great new presentations on social media are coming out almost daily, and many are directed specifically to the needs of non-profits. But it can be time-consuming to search out those that are up-to-date, actionable, and appropriate to nonprofits. Here’s a list. *** The Free Nonprofit Micro-eMBA Free Management Library’s Free, Online Nonprofit Organization and Management Development Program Marketing Free Marketing Courses | IttyBiz Starting a Home Business | Home Business Ideas | Work From Home, Starting a home business? Legitimate home based business advice, tips, and ways to work from home. (Note: Some readers may take offense at Naomi’s language, but she knows what she’s talking about!) *** ShoeMoney Xtreme Internet Marketing Guides (Registration Required.) I’m Jeremy "ShoeMoney" Schoemaker and for 13 years I’ve been building successful online businesses. For the past five years I’ve been working hard writing a book to help others get started online. I recently decided that there is just too much great information in my book to exclude people from reading it. I have now backed out of my major book deal and turned it into a completely FREE 12 week guide to Internet marketing. No strings attached. Enter your email and start receiving the weekly guides directly in your inbox! *** The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II (eBook) The creator of BzzAgent, co-founder of WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) and author of THE GRAPEVINE, Dave has a new book out. It is entitled THE WORD OF MOUTH MANUAL: VOLUME II, and in an rather unorthodox move, he has decided to self-publish it. The physical edition costs $45.00, but he is offering a digital edition to you free of charge. *** System Seminar TV: Internet Marketing Education (Videos) The world’s greatest Internet marketing seminar presents the world’s greatest TV channel for entrepreneurs *** Marketing Webinars from HubSpot Download free on-demand Internet marketing webinars / videos about blogging, SEO, social media and more. *** J.S. Gilbert : Referral Marketing Tips for Voice Actors Join Voice Over Expert J.S. Gilbert in his lecture, "Referral Marketing Tips for Voice Actors". J.S. discusses the importance of referral marketing and how some strategic planning can prepare you for success, both in the realm of business and artistry. Learn how to get business and referrals from people you already know, develop an elevator pitch and get in touch with your prospects. (Podcast) Green Business EcoSector Method: Free Online Course for Green Startups Steps to a successful green enterprise - a short online course! Strategy Corporate Strategy A video lecture of corporate strategy from the Life ning. Accounting & Finance Simple Studies - Best Free Online Accounting Lessons Free online accounting lessons on simplestudies.com explain accounting principles in a simple way. They include accounting tutorials on introduction to accounting and accounting exercises with solutions. Intro to accounting is presented in simple accounting terms! *** Free Accounting Course - Bean Counting 101 Bean Counting 101 is a free accounting course for non-accountants that covers debits, credits, general ledger, payroll, inventory, depreciation, accrual accounting, double-entry bookkeeping, etc. *** SMExcellence :: OFFICIAL WEBSITE SMExcellence is a free online learning system that helps you improve your small business and financial management skills. *** Financial Management Training Center "Fast Free Learning in Business Finance" Odds & Ends Trump University (The Donald throws a bone to free learning with this one promo course.) Real Estate Investment Strategies, Foreclosures Investing and How to Buy and Sell Investment Properties - Learn from Donald Trump’s experts. *** Improve your personal networking skills This basic networking tutorial will show you the advantages of networking, how adult social networking can help your business and how to use social networking sites to your advantage. *** IRS Small Business Video and Audio Presentations These short presentations are dedicated to helping your small business. In addition to these video and audio presentations, please visit the Small Business Tax Workshop Video page for instructional lessons. *** Free Business Training Keep your employees up to date on today’s important skills & requirements.Test out the best business training system available online by taking one of our free business training courses. Simple course authoring, student administration & branded for your company. *** Business Change Management Library Check out our sample video covering The Change Agent. You’ll find it to be a lively presentation that gives cutting-edge insight, and pragmatic tools - all proven methods that have produced world class results in organizations all over the planet. *** Play Kebab Van Online Kebab Van Sim Game Review Hints Play Kebab Van sim game free online. No download. Serve kebabs in busy area make big profit. Kebab Van game review hints. tips, cheats. *** Free Online Courses Open to Business Professionals Affected by Down Economy SmartDraw.com, maker of SmartDraw, the software that helps you work smarter by communicating visually, has announced a free, three-part series of e-Courses entitled, "Recession Proof Your Business." This timely series, accessible through SmartDraw’s Working Smarter blog at http://blog.smartdraw.com/ or through the series overview at http://www.smartdraw.com/Recession-Proof-Overview-PDF, is divided into three 20-minute online e-Courses that include printed materials and video instruction. *** Strictly Business The American Society of Media Photographers provides this forum to encourage the development of critical skills and to foster new ideas. Our goal is an informed and savvy professional photography community. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

This is a guest post from Karen Schweitzer. The Internet has made the lifelong pursuit of knowledge easier for nearly everyone in the world. There are tons of websites dedicated to providing free courses, reference books, education apps, and other learning materials. Here are 25 stand-out sites that would be useful to almost any lifelong learner. Clusty - This unique search engine sorts results into clusters of related information so that it is easier to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant. Schoolr - Schoolr is a fully-customizable search engine that can be used to search Google, Wikipedia, and other popular sites. It can also be used to translate text, convert units, and cite sources. MyStickies - This site offers an alternative to bookmarking. Instead of saving URLs and page titles, MyStickies allows you to place digital sticky notes with annotations around the web so that you can retrieve previously viewed pages and understand immediately why they are important. Diigo - Diigo is a handy research tool that can be used to highlight and annotate pages on the web. Anything that is marked with Diigo can be accessed later on from any PC. Hooeey - Hooeey is a unique tool for people who like to surf the web. It records browser history, measures productivity, and offers tips to help you better understand your browsing habits. Internet Public Library - The IPL is a free public library for the Internet community. Resources include books, magazines, reference materials, subject collections, a physical library locator, and an "Ask the Librarian" section. RefDesk - This award-winning, family-friendly website is a great place to find reference materials online. RefDesk also offers one of the best fact checkers on the Internet. SparkNotes - SparkNotes is an incredibly useful resource. In addition to an enormous literature section, the site also offers study guides and discussion forums for a wide range of academic subjects. Schmoop - This free beta site makes it fun to study literature, poetry, and U.S. history. Schmoop features include easy-to-read study guides, homework helpers, and other educational materials. History.com - The official History Channel website is one of the best places on the web to learn about a broad range of history topics. You can read articles, watch videos, and explore many other resources. Wolfram MathWorld - This extensive math resource contains contributions from all over the world. Entries include information about algebra, geometry, calculus, applied mathematics, discrete mathematics, number theory, statistics, and other math topics. OpenCourseWare (OCW) Consortium - The OCW Consortium is a collaboration of more than 200 higher education institutions. The Consortium’s website is an excellent place to find free courses and course materials from some of the world’s best colleges and universities. Lecturefox - Lecturefox is an online directory of free audio, video, and text-based lectures from universities like MIT and Yale. LearnOutLoud - This Internet catalog contains more than 20,000 free educational materials, including books, videos, audio lectures, and podcasts. The Online Books Page - The University of Pennsylvania’s Online Books Page is one of the best places to find free unabridged books online. The site lists more than 35,000 books that can be downloaded or viewed at no cost. The Free Library - Farlex’s Free Library contains more than five million books and articles that can be viewed online for free. The site also allows you to create your own home page with your favorite bookmarks and RSS feeds. BookMooch - This book swapping site makes it easy to get rid of the books you don’t need and get books you want in exchange. Membership is free and books can be exchanged worldwide. wePapers - This site is geared toward college students, but it is also an excellent resource for lifelong learners. At wePapers, you can find academic papers, study groups, and a venue to share your knowledge. Livemocha - Livemocha is an international community of foreign language learners. You can use it to study almost any world language at your own pace. VerbaLearn - VerbaLearn is a good place to practice English vocabulary. You can review words, make flashcards, and customize the way you learn. Class Marker - At ClassMarker, you can create online quizzes that test your knowledge on any subject. No software or download required. Mikogo - This free screen sharing tool makes it easy to share your computer screen with other people who are online. Mikogo works well for online meetings, presentations, and collaborative learning. Bloglines - This web-based tool makes your home page look like a newspaper. It allows you to assemble all of your favorite sites and blogs amidst information like local weather, sports, and other items of your choosing. ThinkFree - ThinkFree offers Internet-based file sharing and storage as well as a Microsoft Office compatible application suite that allows you to access documents without opening the necessary application. Guest post from Karen Schweitzer, the About.com Guide to Business School. Karen also writes about online colleges for OnlineCollege.org. *** P.S. (from Jeff) - Any other resources you’d like to see here? Please comment and add them. Also, if you are interested in submitting a guest post like this one, or like the earlier 5 Tips to Lean Towards Lifelong Learning, please contact me.

As I have time, I am continuing to reflect upon two years of Mission to Learn, and part of that reflection is to spend some time going back through old posts to try to understand how the site has evolved, and what I may have learned along the way. It occurred to me in doing this that I should pull together a post that reflects some of the major themes and resources. So, here it is. I’ll keep coming back and revising and adding to this one as I think it will serve as a good guide for new visitors to Mission to Learn. A Definition of Learning This is a very recent post and one that was long overdue: a blog about learning should offer a definition of what learning. I won’t claim there is anything relelationary in this one, but it serves its purpose. A Definition of Learning Perspectives on Learning The following posts offer thoughts on how we learn, how we might learn better, and what has changed about learning in a hyper-conected world. 5 Themes for the Web 2.0 Learner 5 Tips to Lean Towards Lifelong Learning (Guest Post from Katie Wilson) Is Your Brain In a Box? What Have I Learner at Work and the related When’s the last time you asked why? Taking Notes(s) Learning Tools The following posts offer some great tools you can use to enhance your learning efforts. 10 Tools for Tracking a Topic or Issue 7 LinkedIn Tactics for Lifelong Learning 25 Free Online Resources and Web Apps for Lifelong Learners (Guest post from Karen Schweitzer) Learning Experiences The following posts offer a wide range of places to learn on the Web - most of them free. And don’t forget you can follow Mission to Learn on Twitter and subscribe to the Free Learning Monitor to get more resources on a regular basis. 36 Learning Games to Change the World More Than 100 Free Places to Learn Online and Counting 20 Language Links from the Free Learning Monitor 35+ Free Online Business Education Sites (And see also Learning to Do Business - And Other Things: 4 Models) More Than 50 Web Widgets for Your Learning Mix Customer Education: 25 Sampler Sites The Organizational Perspective I don’t write quite as much in this vein here anymore - I tend to do it more over at Hedgehog & Fox to the extent I do it at all. Here, however, are a couple of posts that may be of perennial interest. Learning 2.0 for Associations Learning in Context - From the Bottom Up Well, that’s it for now. Please let me know any comments you have about the items above or about things you might like to see here on Mission to Learn going forward. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn

This is a guest post by Caitlin Smith Learning a language on your own can be done, but it’s much more fun and potentially easier to learn through communicating with others. The Web provides a great forum for this, with tools of all kinds that let language learners talk to one another and learn from direct, immersive communication. Here are a few collaborative language learning tools you may want to try: LiveMocha: LiveMocha offers a wide ranfe of self-paced language lessons, but the real power of the site is in its focus on social language learning. The site features real-time text and audio chat tools that let users converse with native speakers to build skills and confidence in the oral and written practice of the language. Babbel: Many people learn well with the aid of flashcards. This site lets users create and share their own flash cards through a slick and user-friendly interface. That isn’t all that the site has to offer, though. Users can also chat with others in the language that they’re learning and take advantage of a  host of other useful tools. Right now the site is limited to English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. italki: If you’ve got Skype you can take advantage of this great language learning add-on. Through the italki interface you can find other users to talk to, chat with them using Skype or a host of other online chat tools, find language resources, and communicate with other learners through the online language forums. Busuu: Busuu features language tools at all levels that incorporate both writing and speaking practice. Once users have completed a few lessons and built up a general knowledge, the site offers video chat as well so learners can test out their new skills with someone who speaks the language. LingoPass: LingoPass is like a bartering system for those willing teach their language to another person while also having the opportunity to learn a new language of their choice. Everytime you lead a one-hour discussion class in your language of expertise, you earn credits to participate in all other language discussions on the site for a week. If you want to keep learning for free, you have to keep teaching! This post was contributed by Caitlin Smith, who writes about associates degree programs. She welcomes your feedback at CaitlinSmith1117 at gmail.com. Interested in writing a guest post? Contact Mission to Learn.

A while back I highlighted a visual explanation of the global financial crisis created by Say It Visually! The company has recently released a "visual explanation" of Skype, the popular Internet telephony application, that also seems worth highlighting. Here it is. (Click through to the post if you don’t see it.) Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

I’ve become increasingly fond of Twitter as a tool in my learning mix. I use it as one way of making notes on my travels across the Web and sharing them with others. I also use the hashtag functionality as one of the ways to track various topics of interest or to "channel" topics or issues I am finding into a single stream. For example, I have created #learningmonitor to tag items that I am considering for the monthly Learning Monitor newsletter. Not sure what a hashtag is, or for that matter, how to send out a "tweet"? Check out the excellent presentation below from Jane Hart. And when you are done, consider adding Twitter to your learning mix. (If you don’t see the presentation, click through to the original post. I also recommend clicking the "full" icon toward the lower left of the Slideshare box to view the presentation in full-screen mode.) (Note: Jane has embedded video from Commoncraft in this and Slideshare seems to set it autoplay - at least in Safari.) Click forward a few screens until you get to the video and hit "pause" to stop the audio. A pain, but worth it for the content.) Twitter Workshop  View more presentations from Jane Hart. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. Follow Mission to Learn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/missiontolearn