At the last DSEI in London, QinetiQ was invited to chair a panel on ‘The impact of games technology on how we learn’. This subject is close to the hearts of our people in Training and Simulation Services (TSS). It’s becoming increasingly obvious that successful training of the next generation must have an entirely different focus.
When Grand Theft Auto V was launched last month it took a record-breaking £496 million in just 24 hours. The US social gaming market will reach $5 billion by 2015, and video games are expected to generate more revenue than both video and music combined this year. And statistics show that 97% of teens aged 12-17 play games, 46 million children between 5 and 17 play games, and 54% of social gamers are female.
While military training struggles to keep up with this rate of change, placing students in training environments that are fixed in location and delivery style is most definitely not the answer.
Junior gamers’ skill sets
It may be ‘just a game’ to those not familiar with them, but even our junior gamers are learning a host of useful skills: basic programming, how to install texture packs and make ‘skins’ (i.e. individualise their ‘characters’), using multiplayer servers, emails to set up group sessions, in-game communication using Skype/Face time, and sharing their lessons learnt – and learning from others – through YouTube videos … and they’re playing live games in a virtual world.
What this means for military training/learning
Forces management appreciate that the people they need to attract and retain to meet Future Force 2020 requirements are ‘digital natives’; born from the late 90s onwards they’re classified as ‘hyper’ learners, i.e. they have the preference to learn a lot very quickly, but not in great depth. They don’t learn successfully through traditional in-depth reading or being lectured at in a static manner. Their training needs to be varied, and they need to feel in control of it, almost as if they’re ‘learning by stealth’.
Evidence suggests that game-based learning can improve problem-solving skills, broaden knowledge acquisition, motivation, and engagement. While we should avoid a total reliance on games to improve attainment – there’s still a lot we don’t know about the impact of games on learning – it appears that the best way to integrate gaming into teaching is by using it within a clear pedagogic process.
From gamers to warriors
Gabe Zichermann describes ‘Gamification’ as the craft of deriving all the fun and addicting elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities. We recently gave a presentation to the military on how the learning environment is changing and adapting to technology and what, as trainers, we need to do to keep up to date.
- What can we exploit from the world of gaming?
- What training and learning needs are driven by the changing military requirement?
- How can we learn from gaming to deliver ‘game changing’ and effective learning content?
As an example of how we approach training form a different angle, here’s a graphic we designed to tell the story of what military training might look like to a potential new recruit … and how it might appeal more to their frames of reference.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Get more information on how our people who know how are developing innovative strategies to help train the next generation.
