Anyone with a sweet tooth knows exactly how difficult it is to resist unhealthy foods that taste great. Countless diet programs have been established over the years to try to train people to choose healthier foods and avoid empty calories that pack on the pounds. However, the secret ingredient diet plans may be missing is game based training that has shown promising real-world results that lead to additional weight loss.
Can game based training help fire fighters deal with house fires? Yes. At least this is the answer being put forward by a team of engineers at New York University Tandon School of Engineering. They have developed and deployed a residential firefighting module with the help of five urban fire departments.
Acknowledging a growing need for a digitally literate workforce that uses technology in a safe and secure way, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security created a program that highlights the potential of game based training to educate young students in cybersecurity.
Game based training has caught the interest of colleges across the country. The different ways in which gamification could be implemented on campuses has not gone unnoticed. In a recent PRNewswire article, some gamification companies are meeting the new demand. According to the article an organization called ATIXA (Association of Title IX Administrators) is working in conjunction with an educational quiz based training company called Trivie to create some very useful resources for colleges.
The United States Army Special Forces Qualification Course is a multi-phase training event that produces the most storied and versatile Soldiers in the world. The principles of game based training percolate throughout the course, and the end result is irrefutable.
On the theory that the best way to learn “business” English is by reading the Wall Street Journal and other publications of Dow Jones & Co., the WSJ has launched an online video-driven educational program called Newsmart. A subscription based service, Newsmart proposes to use game based learning to teach business English to non-English speakers by exposing them to actual WSJ articles and videos drawn from the general areas of business, finance and technology news. Once the learner has read or viewed the media, she is guided through an array of exercises intended to test comprehension and to both teach and improve vocabulary and grammar. A beginning user is also offered the opportunity to self-test on a TOEFL interface presumably to assist the student in determining the proper entrance level.
Few environments present training challenges more difficult than those encountered in disaster management. The elements of any particular disaster – including location, severity, duration, the extent of damage to infrastructure, and existence of any continuing threat – are unique. Even so, and regardless of the exact nature of the event, one thing is certain: public agencies and first responders need immediate access to accurate data regarding conditions in precise locations. That not only allows the correct first responders to be deployed to the places where they can have the most impact, but it also reduces the confusion inherent the same conditions being reported by different people in different media.
In 2010 President Obama signed the Plain Language Act. This act requires all federal agencies to use clear and effective language that the public can understand easily. The intent is for the government to stop using jargon and overly complex sentences that make it difficult for the everyday person to participate. The act lists no less than 30 specific rules and several other guidelines that are now required of government employees. Unfortunately the task of training them has been less than successful up to this point. Mike McClory, a professional working on writing training said “Five years later, only about one government employee in 10 has even heard of the law, and very few have participated in any meaningful plain writing training.” So McClory and his colleagues are introducing game based training in the skills of Plain Writing.
The U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) put out a request for information last month entitled, “Games for Training (GFT) Next Generation Game (NGG).” In the release, the division made clear that a push towards updating their game based training programs is an absolute priority and that the search for interested vendors with applicable technologies has begun.
In 2014 Notre Dame chose to switch faculty and staff over to Gmail and Google Calendar. At first, they were aiming to train 120 IT professionals how to provide support for the new system. This would enable students and the rest of the faculty and staff to get help when needed.
