Games boost project management training

With more than 5,000 downloads of its apps in 60 countries, e-learning specialist ILX Group is seeing an increase in the uptake of games as part of its students’ learning strategies.

Games such as Snakes & Ladders and Inca Treasure, which use project management knowledge from the PRINCE2, ITIL or MSP Foundational courses, have seen a surge in popularity over the last year as more students use mobile devices to help them revise what they learn throughout the course.

“Each ILX digital learning course includes multiple choice questions incorporated into an examination simulator. It seemed like an obvious progression to take the content one step further and weave the courses’ content into a games format as an entertaining extension to learning,” said Michelle Phillips, head of Asia Pacific for ILX.

The digital learning experts noticed that students chose to work collaboratively to study the content via the games portals. “The games are designed to accommodate either single or multi-player preferences and are therefore easily adapted for use in a classroom environment,” added Phillips. “This has contributed to the creation of digital learning communities, or groups of people learning collaboratively in their pursuit of program and project management qualifications.”

One student, principal consultant for Strategia Management Consultants Sally Castle, said the games were “a fun and practical addition to the exam simulators” and “added to my overall enjoyment of the course and were very helpful in consolidating the knowledge I gained from the learning modules”.

Other Australian organisations currently using the games include the Queensland Department Project Services, Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.