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ADDING FUN AND GAMES TO TRAINING PROGRAMS Nathan Carpenter Chris Ritzo University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign October 24, 2007

HOW WE ROLL at CITES HELP DESK 35 student consultants, 4 hourlies, 8 FTEs 60 hours/week phone, , walk-in, fax, and chat 5,000 tickets/month more than 100 IT services supported We’re more than just passwords!

HOW WE ROLL at CITES HELP DESK MOTIVATE TRAIN ENTERTAIN

SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?

TRAINING PROGRAM CHRONOLOGY Meager beginnings Self-guided PPTs on *most* core supported services Quick, individual training on ticketing system, phones Sporadic, inconsistent supervision Training content outdated, not managed Training Coordinator Tasked with managing & improving training program Worked with subject area experts to improve, update and manage content Moved to online, modular, self-paced training

TRAINING PROGRAM CHRONOLOGY Changing when and how we train Training used to be ad-hoc, now is planned New employees hired in Spring, trained in late Summer for Fall semester In-person training day builds on self-paced program, focusing on peer mentoring & shadowing New / Future Ideas Involving seasoned employees in training Training team is now developing content Leverages employee talent, provides unique growth opportunity for employees More formal peer mentoring program

LAYERS OF LEARNING Training happens all the time Wide swath of employee training – broad focus, many services, changing services – Monthly student meetings Initial new employee training Student training team – leveraging seasoned employees to mentor & train new – Supervisor review & mentoring

THE ORIGIN OF HELP DESK GAMES Began by rewarding a job well done Evolved into a way to fill in content holes and improve soft skills Became a training method that catered to a variety of learning styles

“Traditional” online training xx Student meetings x Ongoing training sessions xx Supervision & mentoring xx R eading A ssessment I nteraction L istening

VIDEO GAMES IN THE WILD Marketed specifically as entertainment Meaningful goals Originality Dramatic, compelling situations or stories

VIDEO GAMES IN THE CLASSROOM “Edu-tainment” A familiar tool Modeling environments and systems Presenting complex information in a different way

WHY DO WE CREATE GAMES? Have you ever played a *good* customer service oriented video game? We can tailor content to specifically suit needs Games build Help Desk culture

HOW DO WE CREATE GAMES? The five restraints on any project: 1. Money 2. Time 3. Staff 4. Resources 5. Management

HOW DO WE CREATE GAMES? CONTENT What skills are you trying to teach? What knowledge are you trying to impart? PRESENTATION How to use available resources? Maximize the skills of your staff.

WHAT GAMES HAVE YOU CREATED? Student Incentive Program Help Desk Survivor Consultium Island Adventure Escape From Bloodridge Manor Dockside Mystery Stump the Chump

LESSONS LEARNED The five restraints sometimes get in the way Not everyone plays into the systems Still haven’t found the magical formula

HOW DO YOU CREATE GAMES? Know your situation Integrate different learning styles Take a page from “real world” games Create games that can be archived, updated and reused with ease.

QUESTIONS? ANSWERS!

Copyright Nathan Carpenter, Chris Ritzo, This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.