In a study by the University of Colorado Denver Business School, the researchers analyzed studies and data from 6,476 trainees, to determine whether video games in training can lead to substantial improvements in performance.
The findings shared indicated that self-efficacy was 20 percent higher for learners trained with simulation games than for a comparison group; declarative knowledge was 11 percent higher, procedural knowledge was 14 percent higher and retention was 9 percent higher. Several other research and studies have shown that game-based learning improves engagement and learning.
In 2017, the global game-based learning market stood at $3.487 billion. By 2022, it is expected to grow and reach a market size of $8.532 billion. Since 2012, MLevel has been riding the wave and has rapidly grown to include some of the most fun and accomplished experts in learning development, user experience, technology, and solution and customer advocacy.
The Foundation
MLevel started as a division of Slalom Consulting with an initial focus on providing game-based learning and to solve three primary challenges in the world of corporate training. The first was an engagement to make training more fun. The second was the speed of creation and deployment of content and the final was to make it highly measurable by providing rich data back to the business on training performance.
In 2015, MLevel spun out with the assistance of BIP Capital in Atlanta, Georgia. It has since emerged as a digital learning platform that allows its clients to create, distribute, and measure training content to learners on any platform or device. Its product seamlessly integrates into any LMS, LXP, Portal, Collaboration tools such as Teams, Slack, Webex, Zoom, and others to allow companies to enrich their virtual training experiences.
An Expert at the Helm
MLevel Founder and CEO, Jordan Fladell has spent his entire career helping companies solve problems digitally. He started his career in the web design world back in the early ‘90s and continues to expand his experience by adding hosting, SaaS, application development, and infrastructure expertise to his resume.
When the opportunity came to help reinvent the training and education space, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to build a new way to deliver learning on a digital medium. His well-rounded experience in technology and experience in running and operating a business allows him to keep MLevel focused on what matters most to the businesses which fund their existence and drives our company to continued success.
Developing Distinctive Content
When developing content team MLevel focuses on a few key principles which are:
Keep it simple – The goal of training in a corporate world is different than in K-20. Learners need easy ways to access and consume content as unlike in school their job isn’t just to learn.
Keep it Short – Because their time is valuable, MLevel emphasizes keeping the message short and sweet.
Make it fun – Employees are under quite a bit of pressure these days so the company encourages its team to incorporate fun whether it be through a game or adding a leader board.
Ensure it’s measurable – Watching a video or an e-learning package isn’t learning if you don’t measure the output. As they say at MLevel ‘measure twice and cut once’.
Challenges and Opportunities in a Growing Market
While statistics might show a thriving market, the reality is while many companies talk about the importance of training and educating their workforce, L&D is still the last mile of funding in the corporate budget. As the economy shrinks so do corporate profits and often when they look to cut expenses L&D is often first on the list. Aside, it is a challenge to find L&D professionals that care about data as most have been taught to focus on pedagogy and user experience versus outcomes and performance.
MLevel has been seeing through these challenges by focusing on the benefits it delivers to its client. With MLevel, clients can easily measure the impact of their e-learning and determine what knowledge gaps exist with their associates. They can rapidly create and deploy e-learning content without needing to call IT and their training becomes more fun and engaging. Once clients realize that benefits outweigh the costs incurred, they are happy to associate.
Technology Experts for the Future
The e-learning space continues to evolve and will as the need for virtual education grows across the globe due to pandemics and the new work from home movement. Technologies VR, AR, and AI will continue to change how companies and K-20 deliver education to their learners and I expect data and measurement of these outcomes will become more rigorous as well. MLevel, as a technology platform, combines the power of data with e-learning by making all learning created in the world data-driven and not burden the designer with learning code.
Going forth, MLevel will continue to focus on areas of e-learning that need to evolve and incorporate data as a true measure of performance. It will also look to remove the dependency on coding to deliver new technologies to the HRTech community as the freedom from relying on IT empowers creative individuals to do great things.
