I enjoyed primary school, I didn’t enjoy high school quite as much, I was successful at the extra-curricular stuff, sports, music, art… was that the fault of the school, the lesson planning, the teachers? We all get quite passionate about our schooling, particularly those with children currently at school. Change is happening in the UK classroom, there is less: “sit still, stop talking!” and more collaborative, joined up and creative approaches being adopted. Is the change happening quick enough?
I do not profess to be an expert in education or in educational tactics, I do however see a slow evolution that is better preparing our children for the modern workplace. Is Sir Ken Robinson still correct, is the western school system set up entirely to feed our Universities and no more?
In May 2017 I started supporting a company: Games Without Frontiers (GWoF) who have redeveloped the idea of simulation for education. You will recall that flight pilots and astronauts are trained via simulations and have been for years, as are F1 Drivers and it’s a technique that can be seen on X-Box and Playstation. At Universities they have been used for years, as they have for large enterprise businesses to adopt new software, simulations are great for adopting a cultural change within organisations.
Games Without Frontiers have taken the bold step of entering into an existing marketplace and have redeveloped the idea of simulation for education with their first product Rocket. Those familiar with business simulation would do well to witness this version, it is quite different from those that precede it.
Rocket is focused on the education of business and existing business teams. The company started in January 2017 with 2 people around a kitchen table, now with 10 and clients ranging from Lloyds Banking Group to KPMG and a division of Scottish Enterprise as well as a number of SME’s. The feedback from those attending and buying is exceptional and is providing a plethora of quotes for marketing purposes – so much that it is starting to look false.
What does it actually achieve?
What happens?
As a software platform Rocket is adept at answering the call of the business that buys it. Do you need to heighten commercial skills in your business, is there a lack of purpose and productivity in your management team, would your company benefit from getting a full 360 degree view of everything that happens in the business… it does this and so much more.
As an activity, Rocket works best with 12 people in a room together, over one day. The conversations that create “light-bulb” moments are annotated by the facilitator who saves them as learning points and plays them back to the team to implement in their own business. The company reviews of culture change and an ignite of passion for the job are plentiful.
What of gaming for education in schools?
The bigger purpose for Games Without Frontiers is to influence the way we better prepare our children for the workplace. To have Rocket and the countless other games (simulations) that are in development be rolled out to our High Schools. Young Enterprise Scotland has already endorsed Rocket to be rolled out to all 600 High Schools across Scotland. Wouldn’t you have enjoyed maths or the sciences more if it were played out in a game with levels?
This business has a deeper purpose than making money, I believe due to the reactions it is getting from business customers that the potential for our schools is staggering – who doesn’t enjoy playing games?
ps. Games Without Frontiers just won the Business Innovation Award at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.