THE OPPORTUNITIES OF GAMIFICATION IN BUSINESS PLANNING TRAINING

Abstract

The attitude of society towards education change due to changes in the needs for education, shifts of young people's attitudes and preferences, the dynamism of life, the demand for “ad hoc” learning that saves time and practical applicability of the acquired knowledge, and the pursuit of quick professional realization. This means that the conventional training methods should either be modified or replaced with new methods that would meet these requirements. Such a new method is the gamification – an educational approach to learning by using video game design and game elements. Its goal is to maximize enjoyment and engagement through capturing the interest of learners and inspiring them to continue learning. This paper investigates some of the most popular types of computer games whose logical structures can be used to develop training games. Gamification is compared with the case-study approach in terms of automated computing, student feedback throughout the training process, changes that may be made in the course of the game to create new situations to which trainees are required to respond, achievement rate feedback, gradual increase of the game difficulty level by setting increasingly difficult tasks. The comparison clearly outlines the advantages of the new approach, viz. greater learners’ enjoyment of the learning content, improved engagement and more active participation in the learning process. The paper presents six models of computer games that can be used for training in the field of business planning in both secondary and higher schools (forecasting a company's market share, organizing production at minimal cost, profit maximization, risk mitigation, sales and output planning, and optimization of return on equity.) Each game is described in terms of the input data that should be provided to the participants at the beginning of the game, parameters that will be changed in the course of the game, restrictive conditions, and the role of the player/trainee.