The Science of FUN for L&D

by Jonathan Peters, PhD - Chief Motivation Officer, Sententia Gamification

https://www.vecteezy.com/members/twilightmoon

I overhead this question during the July 4th holiday, and I've been thinking about it, “Why do we, as adults, still take a break from learning in the summer?”

That thought germinated as I read the book Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture by Johan Huizinga. (I don’t recommend the book; it’s old, not written in English, and very academic.) 

And that’s what prompted me to create this video series about fun in Learning and Development. 

There are four videos, all about 30 minutes long. And each investigates scientific studies of fun and what it means for Learning and Development. Specifically: 

• The first video looks at some cool neuroscience into why story is such an effective teaching tool

• The second video dives into types of fun, specifically, those based on the 16 Core Desires we all have 

• Next, we deconstruct games to discover what makes them engaging if not addicting, and ask, “Are there aspects of games we can use in our learning programs?”

• Which brings us to the final video about gamification, but from the psychology perspective instead of game design

As we continue to research methods to entice and engage learners, we like to share with our community. I hope that you will find these videos helpful and practical so that you can create and deliver more successful learning programs. 

You'll also find a couple other documents that you might find useful and interesting. The first one is about the 16 types of fun you can apply to your learning programs (plus a couple more). That one comes at the second video in the series.

The videos are spaced out so that you have time to consider applications before rushing into more information. To start the series, Click Here.