How do you captivate learners that aren’t necessarily interested in what you teach? Use one of the most powerful tools: play. Make knowledge stick! Find out the benefits of using immersive storylines, interactive elements and well-designed mechanics.
Here’s something to think about
The average cost of data breaches caused by employees is more than €7.3 million per company per year. According to current research, human behavior is one of the top 3 causes of data breaches, preceded only by malicious or criminal attacks. So, in order to turn the end-user from the biggest risk to the first line of defense, they need to be educated in cybersecurity awareness. That’s a fact.
Making learning fun
But here’s the thing. Learning is hard. Anyone with a degree (or without) will be able to recount in great detail that one subject they spent a night or two, or even a full week studying for, only to barely pass the exam. But one thing that’s even harder than learning something you chose to learn is teaching something to someone else who had no choice in the matter.
Cybersecurity is extremely important. There’s no doubt about it. But how do you teach this very important subject to people who never chose to study it, and then make sure it sticks?
Infosequre’s own art director, Bojan Marcus, heard clients ask the same question. He reacted by saying: “Some of our products are very knowledge-driven, but in order for that knowledge to be taken in, it needs to be engaging and fun.”
Enter playing
Game-based learning and gamification are fairly new but are tried and tested approaches to training. In simple terms, they take cybersecurity awareness training and make it fun. Instead of long-winded, boring video-lectures and articles, Infosequre takes a more natural and friendly approach by using immersive storylines, interactive elements, and well-designed mechanics to engage and educate your employees.
“We engage people before they start learning. We draw attention to the subject in a fun and interesting way. Like in the security awareness escape room, employees have to work together to solve puzzles and cooperate, and that’s something that sticks with them.”
Benefits of game-based learning
We believe in the power of play when it comes to activating people. When doing things in a playful way, we have an active attitude and learn faster. When compared to traditional training methods, where learners are only taught theoretically, game-based learning can yield some unexpected benefits. Studies have shown that conceptual knowledge is improved by 11%, while learning retention can reach up to 90%.
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” Carl Jung
The fact of the matter is, when learners have fun learning, they retain the information better. The more invested in the content, the better the result. By putting your employees in the center of the action, be it by immersing them in a compelling storyline, or enveloping them in a virtual environment in a VR headset, we create a real-life connection between security risks and how they can affect people and companies.“What we add is engagement in our audience. That’s how we use our VR game, where we put the learners in a completely new experience,” Bojan explains. “Most people haven’t experienced anything like this before, so they’re blown away by what they see. This energizes them, and they remember the experience better. When they’re home, they will talk about what they’ve done, and what they’ve learned, and what the subject was.”
Is e-learning obsolete?
Currently, next to e-learning (which in itself contains interactive videos and elements, as well as immersive storylines), Infosequre offers a selection of other tools such as the VR game and escape room. But does this mean that the age of traditional learning is over? “No, definitely not,” says Bojan Marcus. “E-learning is still the most important tool, but you can’t just do e-learning and say I’m done. You have to look at the complete package. So, in order to learn correctly from e-learning, you first have to engage and motivate your people to learn. They need to have an interest in the subject so that they’re actually interested in what they want to learn.”
According to current research, human behavior is one of the top 3 causes of data breaches. But imagine if we took that immense power, fueled by curiosity and creativity, and using game-based learning, turned it into the biggest strength against cyber risks.
