Monthly Program | Play to Learn

The Fundamentals of Learning Game Design: Playing to Learn

Facilitated by Sharon Boller

Friday, August 18th, 2017

Can we really play to learn? When are games the right learning solution, and what kind of games should you consider? How does the fun we might have playing a game enable us to learn and remember more or better? In this session, we'll begin with some game play and connect the fun of games to the learning process. We'll also try our hand at tweaking a game to improve how it functions for our learners' needs and preferences.

By attending this session, you will be able to:

• Recognize the fun in games and how it engages us.
• Connect what's required for us to learn and remember to the components of a game.
• Evaluate what game elements will match your specific learning and job needs.
• Evaluate commercial games and consider elements you can repurpose for a learning game.

Meet Sharon:

Sharon Boller is president and chief product officer of Bottom-Line Performance (BLP), a learning-solutions firm she founded in 1995. Sharon has grown BLP from a single-woman sole proprietorship to a $4 million company with 36 team members. Under her direction, BLP created the Knowledge Guru learning game platform, which has received numerous industry awards, including a Brandon Hall ‘Gold’ Award for best innovation in gaming and technology (2014). Sharon is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on learning trends, technologies, and learning science topics. She also co-facilitates learning game design workshops with Karl Kapp for ATD and eLearning Guild events. Sharon and Karl’s new book, “Play to Learn: Everything You Need to Know About Designing Effective Learning Games,” will be released in March 2017 by ATD Press. Sharon earned an MS in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University. She is a past board member and president of ATD-CIC.

Session Details:

7:30 - 8:00 a.m. Registration and Networking

8:00 - 9:30 a.m. Presentation

9:30 - 10:00 a.m. Open Networking