Our intention to share with the world what we know about game-based learning took us to Germany in the second week of December, and not even the Siberian cold snap stopped us from enjoying our adventure.
The Gamelearn team returned from the 19th edition of Online Educa Berlin laden with ideas and new companies and institutions to get to work with. The result was an enriching experience, from which the conclusions we drew include the following:
- The numbers themselves establish Online EducaBerlin as the most significant global e-learning conference in the corporate and educational sector: 2,951 attendees from 91 countries, with 318 conference speakers and 84 exhibitor companies. The programme of parallel sessions and workshops once again covered the full range of issues connected with e-learning from the perspective of innovation and constant research.
- Gamification is on an upward curve which is here to stay, including in the field of corporate training. All the evidence indicates this is no passing fad: we are talking about a market which, according to some estimates, will reach about $2.8 billion by 2016.
- Game-based learning exerts huge pull. Hundreds of visitors over the course of the three days of the trade fair approached our stand to form a clearer idea of how the whole ‘learn as you play’ concept works, as gamification arouses more curiosity in individuals than any other dynamic.
- Training managers are looking for innovative solutions because their employees demand them, tired of traditional study methods. This need for fresh ideas, renewal, reinvention and change was palpable throughout OEB.
- Those environments where human resource training is more professionalised are more permeable to new ideas, more open to innovative solutions, and they are the standard-bearers for gamification. Ramón García, Training Director at CaixaBank, personified this during a conference at OEB in which he shared his experience with Gamelearn simulators.
- Most gamification products are tailored to a specific need of a specific client. There are currently scarcely any off-the-shelf products capable of meeting the needs of a company or institution in such generic spheres as negotiation and time management without the cost skyrocketing. Merchants and Triskelion remain the most advanced simulators of this kind.
- There is a tendency among suppliers to divorce technology from content. Those handling one side typically ignore the other, with very few companies combining both elements as we do at Gamelearn.
The event was followed on Twitter under the hashtag #OEB13 and narrated by @OEBConference. Our thanks to everyone who took an interest in what we do and came over to our stand to share a little of their time with us. We are already looking forward to meeting up at the next edition!