Announcing An Online Workshop by Thiagi

NOTE: At the end of the November session, we will take a break for a couple of month during which we will revise the course drastically. We will start again in February 2004.

I have designed and developed an online course on designing face-to-face training games called

How To Design An Effective Training Game In 10 Minutes, Version 2

Judging from the reactions during our pilot test, participants enjoy working through the course and end up mastering a valuable set of principles and procedures.

The course is created with a flexible tool called Moodle. Our thanks are due to www.moodle.com and Martin Dougiamas for the excellent technical support.

Target Audience

This course is designed for trainers, facilitators, and instructional designers. It does not assume any prerequisite knowledge and skills. (If you are already familiar with the design of training games and the concept of framegames, this course will deepen your understanding and provide you with new insights.)

How Much?

You can take the course for a small fee of $65. Considering the amazing amount of content, interesting interactivity and practical skills that you acquire, the return on this investment is very high.

Learning Objectives

The objective for the course is exactly what its title says: to design an effective training game in 10 minutes.

In the course, you will learn to:

Deconstruct a framegame called ENVELOPES.
Learn the powerful framegame principle that enables you to create several games by changing the content (and keeping the activity) of a framegame.
Create your own training games by plugging new content into the ENVELOPES framegame.
Create a game for a client by plugging in her content.
Explain how you can apply 21 different types of framegames to create new training games. Classify these framegames into three major categories.

Limitations

This course is not about the design of online games. It is about the design of face-to-face games conducted in a classroom setting by a facilitator.
Yes, you can design an effective training game in 10 minutes. But if you want to write it up for use by others, it may take you 15 more minutes.
We assume that you know your training topic before you begin to design the training game. If you are working on an unfamiliar topic, it will take additional time for you to master the topic and then design the game.
Even though you can design a game in 10 minutes, it may take you up to 4 hours to work through the course and learn the relevant principles and procedures. (However, we do show you how to zoom through the course in 30 minutes if you are in a real hurry.)

Format

Online courses come in a variety of formats. This course is different from typical online courses that you might have suffered through recently. This course treats you as a motivated, self-directed learner. While we recommend a sequence through the sections and activities of the course, you can jump around any way you want.

The game contains the following learning units:

Reading resources present the content of the course. They are written in an easy-to-read format without intruding questions. The course includes 25 resources featuring articles, examples, instructions, and job aids.
Web games provide an immediate check on the mastery of the facts, principles, and procedures. You can play different types of these fast-paced games (complete with score boxes and count-down timers) repeatedly because each time you play the game, you get a mix of old and new items presented in a different sequence. You can also play these games in three different levels of difficulty. The course includes five web games featuring three different formats (CATEGORIZE, SEQUENCE, and HANGMAN).
OQ (open question) exercises present questions that provoke higher-order thinking. You respond to the question and review how experts and other participants have responded to the same question. The course includes five OQ exercises.
Forums enable you to post your own questions and participate in an asynchronous discussion with your fellow participants.
Assignments require you to design real training games for yourself and for a client. I will grade your assignment and provide you with personalized feedback.

Schedule

In 2004, sessions of the course will begin on the 1st of each month. You will have 2 weeks to complete the course.

Our current session (November 15 - 30) is "sold out".

The next session will begin on Sunday, February 1, 2004.

Enrollment to the course will be limited (to help us provide personalized feedback to the assignments). Registration for each month will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Time requirements for the course depend on your personal learning style and your personal path through the course. On average, participants spend about 4 hours to complete the course. If you are an impatient Mensa member, we show you how to zoom through a lean-and-mean version of the course and absorb everything in 30 minutes (and use it for the rest of your life). If you participate in the discussion forums and work reflectively through all assignments, you can spend 12 hours or more on the course.

Navigation

You can hop around the course resources and activities in any sequence you want. The Moodle structure makes it easy for you to do this. If you prefer external guidance you can work your way through the recommended sequence by clicking the "Next" button at the end of each resource or activity.

Unique Features

This course is not like the typical spoon-feeding e-learning courses that you might have suffered through. Instead, we treat you as a motivated and self-directed adult learner. You can read through valuable resource materials without being interrupted by pesky little questions. Any time you want some action, you play a variety of web games (all directly related to the course content), respond to OQ (open question) exercises, participate in discussion forums, and complete design assignments. Since the course is on game design, the assignments require you to design games in an authentic, real-world context.

The course contains lots of reading resources. Each resource comes with a suggested reading strategy: skim, read reflectively, or use it as a job aid during the design of your games.

Course Outline

The course consists of five sections. Each section includes reading resources and activities:

The introductory section helps you get acquainted with structure and the content of the course. It also gives you tips on how to learn best from the course.

The first section presents you with the learning goal and clearly specifies the limitations of the course. (For example, this is a course about designing “classroom” games and not about designing web-based games.)

The second section lets you vicariously experience a corporate training game. It then carefully explores the different elements of this game. To reinforce your learning, you play web games and respond to an OQ (open question) exercise.

The third section is the heart of the course. It presents the concept of the framegame approach that makes it possible to instantly load your content into the framework of a generic game template. This section presents you with 22 different games—all created from the same framegame—at varying levels of detail. This section contains an assignment that requires you to design your own training game.

The fourth section presents methods for adjusting your game to suit the constraints in your situation and the preferences of your participants. For example, it shows you how to handle too many participants or too little time. This section includes two more assignments, one to design another game for yourself and the other to design a game for a simulated client.

The fifth section expands your understanding of framegames by discussing 19 more strategies and organizing them into three convenient categories. You play more web games and help us create another web games.

Our Guarantee

If at anytime you don't feel that you are mastering useful skills and knowledge, you can drop out of the course. We will return your $65 without any questions.