“The learning people derive from the experience is very powerful and because it is theirs the transfer to the workplace is so much easier”.
Simon Brocket, International HR Director at Twinings
First let me briefly define what I believe are the four key ingredients of an effective blended Simulation-based Learning (SbL) approach:
- Experiential
- Social
- Scenarios
- Gamified
Experiential means that people are learning by doing rather than just watching or listening; Social means that the experiences are shared and discussed with colleagues in teams (which requires facilitation); Scenarios means that participants face credible and challenging problems and Gamified means that participants can track their progress and compare how well these are doing against colleagues playing in other teams.
If such an approach to SbL is properly executed, it will result in three learning reinforcement phenomena which together make participant learning more satisfying, more personal and stickier:
- Self-Discovery
- Social Reinforcement
- Team Achievement
People much prefer learning by self-discovery to learning by being told.
Self-discovery occurs two ways experientially - finding out by/for yourself and conversationally - with/through others, in other words - social reinforcement.
The final aspect is the satisfaction in doing well in a difficult quest which is accentuated by sense of competing as a team – team achievement.
Conclusions
There are four key ingredients of an effective blended Simulation-based Learning (SbL) approach – Experiential, Social, Scenarios and Gamified.
If these ingredients are effectively implemented they will result in learning which is very "sticky" because it catalyses three important learning reinforcement phenomena : Self-Discovery, Social Reinforcement and Team Achievement.
