April is financial literacy month, and we’re celebrating at The Game Agency with, you guessed it, a game! Our friends at Sony have provided us with a special Jeopardy!® game on financial literacy composed of clues from previously aired TV shows. Try it out!
April is Financial Literacy Month
In 2004, the United States Senate passed a resolution to make April financial literacy month by a unanimous vote. A congressional report outlined a series of outreach and education goals aiming to help Americans better understand how factors such as credit management, savings, and home ownership can impact their financial standing.
Since then, governments, non-profits, and training organizations – like The Game Agency! – have embraced April as a time to educate Americans on how to best manage their finances.
Remember, play our Jeopardy! game on financial literacy if you haven’t already!
Learning with Games and Gamification
It’s no secret that games and gamification have the power to educate and motivate.
By gamifying the learning experience, learners are motivated to engage with the material and, according to our study, repeated the games on average 2.9 times. As we all know, repeat engagement with the material is our best tool for beating the “forgetting curve.”
Whether your training material is on financial literacy, sales enablement, an onboarding process, or how to make a decent chili, incorporating those materials into a game like Jeopardy! increases engagement and retention of the material.
Using Games to Teach Financial Literacy
Using games in training and education can make certain topics more approachable. Only 57% of Americans consider themselves financially literate, and even more say they don’t ever speak to their children about finances. With a reluctance to even approach the subject, games can help make this topic more accessible for everyone involved.
Games provide a safe space to fail while also being engaging and fun. Especially when it comes to finances, learning through real-world experiences is something that most people can’t afford, both metaphorically and literally!
Using a game provides the ability to experience real-world situations without real-world consequences. This can be particularly useful when teaching something like financial literacy.
Examples of Gamification in Financial Training
As the lead instructional designer at Barclaycard, Walter Gill is responsible for 17,000 domestic and international phone agents. “It’s challenging to try to make the material exciting and engaging,” he said.
After some searching, he discovered games and gamification as a solution. He was able to harness the power of games to educate and motivate by leveraging The Game Agency’s DIY game-authoring tool, The Training Arcade®.
Gill knows this new training is a hit, as 85% of agents who play the game and pass on the first try play the game again. And again. “That was something I did not think was going to happen,” he said. They did this not only because it’s fun, but because they are competitive and want to get on that leaderboard. A spot on the leaderboard gives the international crew bragging rights, while the game itself is engaging and challenging.
Check out the full case study to learn more about how Barclaycard capitalized on their new gamified training program.
Use Games in Your Financial Training Today
If you didn’t play our JEOPARDY! game on financial literacy at the beginning of the blog, make sure you do and see for yourself how games can educate and motivate! Good luck getting to the top of the leaderboard!
By incorporating the mechanics and goals above, you will be well on your way to empowering your learners with gamification. Whether you want to gamify your classroom, educate your sales team, or improve a virtual meeting, games will boost engagement, effectiveness, and your learners will have fun.
Check out our do-it-yourself gamification platform, The Training Arcade®. Click here to schedule a demo and start your free trial today.
