Fail-Free Playing Environments
Online gaming is a familiar environment to Millennials, allowing exploration and a networked learning experience. Creating fail-free play environments builds confidence and reinforces exploration and inquisitiveness. Games offer the opportunity for entertainment while subtly infusing fact-based memorization, visual recognition, workflow practice, and skills enhancement into a meaningful learning experience. Looking to the gaming world for a direction forward, instructional design will need to mirror the elements of highly effective games.

A review of online forums offers consistent information about the attributes of compelling games:

• Graphics. High-definition, fast-loading, and three-dimensional graphics are absolutely essential. User expectations about the quality of graphics are constantly on the rise. Therefore each generation of graphics must improve on the last.
• Storylines. A strong storyline with good character development and subplots makes for a compelling experience that not only draws learners in but also keeps their attention.
• Multiple players. Although many games are single-player experiences, the ability to play remotely with users around the globe cannot be equaled. It fosters a competitive spirit, recognizes specific talents, and offers learners the opportunity to meet colleagues in a fun virtual setting.
• Character creation. The ability for players to select attributes that better prepare them for challenges is a feature of many popular games and one that translates to corporate training. Perhaps an employee wants to take on the persona of a customer who has been denied a claim or a rainmaker salesperson known for selling large, lucrative policies. This allows employees to apply real-world roles to a game.
• Levels. With most training, we seek advancement—and the gaming world is no different. As we learn, the ability to progress to new levels provides continuing challenges; recognizes players' expertise; and, if networked, places them in the category of more skilled players. Learning games should be no different: Progression and expertise should go hand in hand.
• Ending. In the training world, the thought of a never-ending course would be ludicrous, despite the mantra of continuous learning. However, in the gaming world, the concept of revisiting an environment, improving your outcome, and moving on to a future challenge compels a player to seek a never-ending experience.

In fact, many gamers will identify themselves by their game of choice and their expertise level in it. As we develop learning games, we need to consider whether an end or continuing learner engagement is appropriate. There is no single answer to this question; rather, this is more a philosophy to consider based on learning objectives and instructional design.

Social Animals
Communities of interest, sharing opinions, ratings, pictures, and constant feedback have become powerful learning models for Millennials. The ability to informally and openly ask questions; receive immediate, multiple points of feedback; and access images and video that convey new information is now a standard. Social networking has become a preferred delivery method that corporate trainers must embrace and actively participate in. As organizations evaluate this medium, they must consider two lines of thinking: creating an engaging environment and managing the environment. As you design a learning environment to attract Millennials, consider the following:

Know the learners. Understand the demographics of the audience: organizations represented, roles learners play in the organizations, and their geographic distribution. This will provide insight into the development and display of your learning content and will help align it to preferred learning styles, as follows:

• Aural – Use sound, music, and narration.
• Social – Foster group learning by engaging in dialogue.
• Verbal – Employ language-based content using speech and writing.
• Visual – Share pictures, images, and video to tell stories.

Social networks are a perfect environment to address these multiple styles by integrating content in various forms. The integration of media establishes a community dialogue, and sharing becomes a resource for learners searching for similar information. This ultimately creates an engaging learning community network.

Design to engage. Social learning is all about a simple interface that enables collaboration. Keeping important content on the main page allows the learner to scroll through posts. Offer as much relevant learning as possible within a single click. Present images as thumbnails to use valuable real estate and offer zoom capabilities for greater detail. A clean, simple, and intuitive learning environment will allow exploration and increase understanding about how to participate without instruction.

Another aspect of design is the tone of the dialogue. Because the community participation is voluntary, the language and flow of information needs to be friendly, informative, and encouraging. Community management is best established by self-selection, not corporate dictate. Having a passion for the topic and actively engaging in the dialogue is the best method for identifying a manager for a successful community-learning network.

Be easy to find. Use search-engine optimization to leverage search as a tool to locate the gaming network. Deploy RSS feeds as a continuing flow of information to subscribers. Display all sharing tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ for learners to share with others to extend the learning experience. Liking and re-tweeting information promotes the environment from the learner perspective; it says, “Check this out; I think you will like it.” Endorsement from a trusted source will do more to extend the information than the current model of course assignment and reminder emails.

As we integrate these new learning tools into our training programs, we must recognize that time, trial and error, and advancing technologies will influence the journey. It is important that we keep the end customer in focus; make sure you engage Millennials in your research, planning, and pilot programs. Use available solutions such as Twitter and WordPress in your R&D efforts. Last, do not inhibit innovation by trying to make the first release perfect. As any Millennial will readily tell you, that is not what software versioning is all about.