A Space Themed Learning Adventure
December 14, 2021 2022-09-13 15:36A Space Themed Learning Adventure
The Need
The Learning and Development team at Akamai India was looking for a learning experience to help their employees master the behavioral skills or competencies needed to take charge of their development and grow in their careers. This experience was to be a part of their annual week-long career development event, Akamai People Experience (APEX), and in line with the theme ‘Own Your Career’.
Additionally, being in the midst of a global pandemic, the team wanted a learning experience that was easily accessible, relevant and engaging, in an all-virtual environment. It needed to be something that was insightful, yet light and fun, in a world where digital fatigue was quickly becoming part of the new normal.
The Solution
After a few rounds of detailed discussions, a gamified, space-themed learning micro-site was created. Learners had to ‘capture’ different planets and UFOs to complete their quest.
A space-themed portal
Each planet was a short simulation, in line with the ‘Own Your Career’ theme – building your personal brand, owning your development and mastering the tools of self-leadership.
The simulations could be played any time during the week. Certain parts of the simulations linked back to various Akamai India learning resources and templates – like the individual development plan template, the digital learning kits for various competencies and a career map that showed the competencies required for different career paths.
This helped connect the learning to the larger organizational context and made the learning resources far more accessible and ready-to-use than they otherwise may have been.
Immersive simulation games
The UFOs were daily quizzes – short knowledge level quizzes launched once a day to ensure employees kept coming back for more. The quizzes also helped to encourage spaced learning. By repeating the same set of concepts in different formats, across the 5 days, it was more likely that employees would retain this information and apply it back at work.
Daily challenges
The Leaderboard
A live leaderboard was also created to build a sense of healthy competition amongst the employees and keep them engaged. At the end of the week-long event, gift vouchers and prizes were awarded to the top scorers.
The Impact
More than 250 employees registered on the micro-site, with over 100 of them registering within just an hour of it being launched. Being a non-mandatory event, this impressive number is largely credited to the eye-catching teasers and launch emails sent out prior to the event to create a sense of curiosity.
Program branding
Learner feedback
Feedback from employees suggests that the simulations were very interactive, engaging, and a nice way to make learning fun.
Some said it helped them realize that there were a lot more opportunities and challenges available beyond just the work that they had been doing.
A Senior Security Architect said that the simulations and quizzes were something he kept looking forward to and coming back to everyday, thereby helping him take charge of and own his career.
Employees also mentioned that there was a good mix of skill sets covered (for both personal and professional growth) with varied complexity, keeping employees engaged and on their toes at all points of time.
In the words of one of the leaderboard top runners – “some simulations required brains, some required agility, while others needed just common sense – all in all, a perfect combination.”
