Director of L'Atelier XR at Ubisoft Montreal, Olivier Palmieri is also the official trainer of the Rational Design Methods in the company. Expert in Gameplay, Game Design & Level Design, and Virtual Reality, he provided training programs in game design methods and levels for more than 600 Ubisoft designers already in position.
When it comes to learning, the term "engagement" is never far away. Since we often refer to it, we might think that it is clearly defined and that its mechanisms are well understood, which is not the case. Before looking for solutions to optimize the engagement of learners in training, it is necessary to know what it is and what the research says about it.
What does "learning" mean to you? Chances are your answer will differ from that of your neighbour. Indeed, contrary to what one might think, we do not all share the same conception of the learning process. Among those who have studied the issue, researcher Roger Säljö, who, with Ference Marton, is at the origin of the concepts of surface and depth learning, is the first to have identified different conceptions of learning among adult students.
"Any occasion is good for learning!" could be the motto of informal learning, this type of learning without structure or organization that we all do on a daily basis without realizing it and whose possibilities are attracting increasing interest, especially in the workplace.
In online training, gamification consists of integrating game-specific mechanisms into the course design: challenges, rewards, personal progression, etc. While gamification is not a new method of learning, the technologies that can now be used in online training, particularly those specific to video games, are increasing the possibilities of this approach tenfold. But be careful, don't confuse gamification with serious games!
Motivation is the momentum that drives us to act and think in one way or another, a process that is both cognitive and emotional, influenced by a combination of factors that are internal and external to us. In learning, motivation is a sine qua non-condition to get involved, to engage in a traditional or online training path.
University students can now learn game design anywhere, at their own pace, from some of the world’s best game developers. KnowledgeOne, Ubisoft and Concordia University are joining forces to bring the expertise of the video game development studio to campuses around the world.
The concepts of surface and in-depth learning emerged some 40 years ago, when two Swedish psychology researchers, Ference Marton and Roger Säljö, were trying to understand how a group of university students approached reading.
The average speech rate is 150 words per minute, while our writing ability is limited to about 27 words per minute... No wonder effective note-taking is not an easy exercise! In addition to requiring the ability to write quickly and concisely, it requires concentration, listening, analytical skills and the ability to synthesize.
Myths are those preconceived ideas, shared in droves, adorned with an aura of credibility, but which are false. They have a "tough skin" to break, despite the fact that we are collectively more educated and that the scientific method allows us to separate the wheat from the chaff, in other words, to distinguish a proven fact from an idea based on intuition alone.
