A Guest Blog from Jessica Barrett Halcom TechnologyAdvice.com You’ve likely already heard that 2018 is the “year of the customer.”  While this trend certainly appears to be where things are headed, it’s natural to wonder, then, what companies plan to do about it. Well, if the customer is to be the focus, the key is figuring out what the customer wants. More importantly, companies must figure out what the customer wants and deliver it through a superior customer experience (CX). The first step in delivering a superior customer experience is figuring out who specifically interfaces with y ..read more

What is a Digital Badge? The new Sententia Gamification Badges are digital credentials that represent your skills and achievements as a gamification strategy designer, earned by you through a specific portfolio of evidence for each level of certification. The learning ecosystem behind these badges make them powerful and connected credentials. As a badge issuer, Sententia Gamification has worked closely with recognized HR and Learning and Development Associations to identify credentials which demonstrate a mastery of skills and achievements. These credentials are of particular value to the HR ..read more

Image created by Javi_indy - Freepik.com It’s probably no surprise to you, but investing in employees pays off. Research shows the more a company invests toward developing employees, the higher its stock value goes the following year (Bassi). Learning opportunities result in higher levels of employee promotion, retention, satisfaction, skills and knowledge, and this translates to better organizational performance. Yet how often as a learning professional, are you excluded from a seat at the table with senior leaders to identify, beyond smiley sheets, ROI or ROE that are linked to the organ ..read more

A Guest Blog by Taylor Burke* Employee engagement is dismally low. Just 33 percent of U.S. employees report being engaged at work, and that number hasn’t changed much since Gallup began measuring for it in 2000. Unrest of that level can only lead to one thing — revolt. And that’s exactly what’s occurring. More than a third of people now work for themselves and that number is expected to near 50 percent by 2020. Seventy-six percent of workers are actively looking for or open to new jobs.   Business leaders, looking to place blame somewhere other than on themselves, might argue th ..read more

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.&nbs ..read more

We all know that stories are a great way to engage an audience, yet it seems so few people actually study and use the tool in a manner that truly impacts their audience. So what does it actually take to create a story that is not only engaging but also a highly effective training tool?  Storytellers often use one of seven basic plots identified by Christopher Booker, in his Jungian-influenced analysis of stories and their psychological meaning: Overcoming a Monster – the hero(es) must overcome a dark evil creature, person, or entity that has exerted an evil destructive force over a ..read more

Let’s go back for a moment… What are your favorite memories of summer from when you were a kid that make you smile? What were you doing? Who were you with? Some of my favorite summertime memories from growing up were riding bikes with Mindy and Joe, swim team, and visiting state parks with my family… every state park in Pennsylvania… it was my dad’s mission in 1972. ? I also remember the summer classes offered by our neighborhood school and recreation center. There I learned how to create unique and colorful potholders with a simple loom and cotton strips, weave plastic lace key ..read more

Why earn a Gamification Certificate? Is there value in earning a Gamification Certificate? Is it worth the effort? We’ve asked some CEOs, L&D, and HR professionals to share their impressions of the value of a gamification certificate. Maybe what they had to say will give you the answers you need. “Monica and [the Sententia team] were wonderful. The course was fun and informative. They took you through a journey and explained the reasons for each step in a easy to follow format. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who would like to be on the gamification forefront.” -  ..read more

By Jonathan Peters, PhD Sententia Gamification, CMO www.SententiaGames.com In his seminal work describing flow, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi discusses the frustration we feel when a challenge is more difficult than our abilities, or how boring a task will be if our skills surpass the challenge. Flow, he says, comes at the balance between challenge and ability. The more skilled we are, the more we enjoy challenges. At the beginning of a training program, skills are low. Even if we are accustomed to other learning programs, and even if this program should be beneath our skill level, the fact ..read more

by Jeffrey Riley ​Practical Learning Concepts, LLC There are several people I follow in the learning and development world. I hope listing their blogs or websites here will help you as well. Tom Kuhlmann The Rapid eLearning Blog A must for Articulate users but of benefit to anyone who wants to know more about eLearning and design. Did I mention Tom is a PowerPoint guru? Cathy Moore's Blog has a lot of great ideas. She may be best known for Action Mapping and Scenario Design. Christopher Pappas eLearning Industry covers many concepts in eLearning so expect to find a lot when y ..read more