Overview

“Games satisfy one of our three innate psychological needs- namely, the need to experience competence, our ability to control and affect our environment, and to get better at it.” - Sebastian Deterding, game researcher and academic.

The banking bootcamp learner is provided with just that; the ability to feel as if they are the hero of a game. The learner first confronts an issue they must tackle. Specifically, they are provided with two imperfect options that both lead to failure.

The learner then acquires new knowledge (the Reserve Requirement) and then are given a renewed opportunity to tackle the issue, hence, “improving at the game”.

Ultimately, the learner walks away from the learning experience with a feeling of capability and clear evidence of growth.

In Design for How People Learn, (2nd ed.), Julie Dirksen suggests creating interesting dilemmas to foster a sense of urgency. She notes that “it’s much easier for learners to allocate attention if they can use what they are learning right away…we are wired to pay attention to urgent things “ (132).

The banking bootcamp learner is forced to contend with two imperfect options, creating an interesting dilemma of whether or not to extend a loan to our customer, Lilly.

Extending the loan could result in a potential profit, but runs the risk of a depositor being angry if money is not handled correctly.

The new material becomes instantly more “sticky” because the learner is forced to engage with an intreresting dilemma prior to learning about the solution.

Gain attention and simulate recall: The scenario first begins with a thought-provoking question that also stimulates recall: when banks loan, where does the money come from? The opening question forces learners to first examine their own prior knowledge about the banking system.

Provide guidance, elicit performance and provide feedback: Learners experience the content in a multiplicity of modalities such as reading, listening, calculating, and even drag-and-dropping.

Then, they are given the opportunity to practice their newfound knowledge. They are given “descriptive feedback” every time they give an incorrect answer, which provides the learner with guidance to help them improve their performance.

Enhance transfer: At the end, the learner then revisits the same dilemma (do I give Lilly a loan?) to reinforce the knowledge gained during the learning experience.

As learners mature, they move from focusing on subject-centeredness to problem-centeredness. While we cannot control the learner’s motivations, the applicability of a training should be eminently clear. Thus, adult learning is not just about knowledge building but should also contribute to problem-solving.

The banking boot camp provides the learner with a clear problem: do I extend the loan, and what is the optimal amount for the loan? Ultimately, scenario-based learning, rather than a knowledge dump, is an excellent way to teach problem-solving in a safe environment.

Psychologist Winston Sieck ran a series of studies that showed subjects had stronger confidence in their decisions when they explored the consequences of their decisions by writing about said consequences prior to making a choice. Exposition enhances one’s decision-making ability.

This is tied to Dirksen’s suggestion in Design for How People Learn (2nd ed.) when she suggests e-learning designers must avoid simply saying the learner is “incorrect”. Instead, e-learning experiences should include an illustration of the negative consequences of an incorrect decision, which forces the learner to engage more with the content.

I followed this strategy by forcing the learner to connect the dots themselves when the learner inevitably and incorrectly extends a loan to Lilly in the beginning of the module. The learner sees the consequence: an angry customer (Josh), who was unable to withdraw his deposit. The material instantly becomes more sticky because the learner is not simply told they are “incorrect”.