< Lecturer’s Name and Course Number>
Introduction
The research topic is virtual reality on serious games in 2D. Virtual reality also referred to as virtual environment, refers to a computing technology that produces an artificial environment, which emulates the real world (Bennett 2014, p. 263). Serious games simulate reality in teaching and training environments (Crookall 2010, p. 898). The games play a role in enhancing the understanding of vital concepts, and the developing of cognitive skills. They are important pedagogic mediums since they are in a better position to encapsulate the imagination of learners than traditional teaching methods can.
Research Question: Does Virtual reality on serious 2D games help HR students and HR practitioners become more perceptive to their duties?
The aim of this research is to find out if serious games in 2D can be used in the sector of human resource to help meet companies’ strategic needs. The research will show how HR students utilize these technologies, and how they impact their studies. It will also show how the technologies impact the productivity of firms when utilized by HR practitioners.
Literature Review
Studies have shown that serious games are growing at a rapid rate in the education sector. Several studies have shown that serious games in 2D have helped students in their learning and practitioners in their day to day activities. Serious games are considered since they possess a carefully scrutinized and explicit pedagogical purpose and are not only meant for amusement (Bouki, and Economou 2015, p. 390). Innovative approaches are utilized when developing the games so as to enhance education and training. A market study conducted recently showed that the serious game market is growing at a rate of 100% (Mayer et. al. 2014, p. 503). This study is an indication that the world is rapidly shifting to virtual reality and dumping the traditional ways. Serious games differ from video games in that they have a main design objective and not just entertaining. Activity, modality, and interaction styles are some of the characteristics that are useful in the design of serious games (Hauge 2011, p, 5). Serious games have been applied in diverse areas. This proposal, however, aims at showing how the technology can be utilized in HR to help the students and practitioners achieve their goals.
Serious games can be utilized largely in the education domain benefiting all students, including the HR students. Many institutions are utilizing the success of video games to benefit them in the learning processes. Game plays are usually addictive, and players usually end up obsessed. This nature plays a major role in facilitating how the players learn. Serious games are seen as a strong and effective approach to learning and skills development. Serious games focus on achieving learning outcomes and serious, maintainable changes in behavior and performance (Economou et. al. 2015, p. 390). The designers of these games focus on creating gameplays which change skills, beliefs, and behaviors of the players. They at the same time strive to maintain the entertainment aspect of the games.
Incorporating serious games in the education sector can be challenging. It requires a story with fascinating characters so as to engage and capture the attention of learners (Girard, Ecalle, and Magnan 2013, p. 208). An effective serious game should have the ability to leave a memorable impression in the player’s mind. It takes an interactive smart virtual environment with fascinating characters to deliver a scene to the students in an immersive, engaging, and interactive manner (Wouters et al. 2013, p. 249). With such smart environments, learners can get an experience that enhances their learning positively through the provision of new pedagogical capabilities. The multimodal interaction offered by these games enable human resource students to attain skills they can utilize in their lives as HR practitioners.
There are several ways through which HR practitioners can utilize virtual reality on serious gaming. The games can be used to train, attract, develop, induct, retain, and engage employees. HR professional should comprehend well the idea of serious games and employ them in their workplaces so as to meet their firms’ strategic needs. Many institutions today are seeking for employees who are innovative. To achieve this, the companies need to develop recruiting techniques that can distinguish such employees (Good et al. 2014). Virtual reality can be utilized to assess the skills and capabilities of the candidates. The technology is used to assess remotely the skills and find out whether the candidates are up to the task. Through virtual reality, potential employees can get interviewed and also view the company and its operations from their homes. Using virtual reality to preview organizations is more reliable than simply using videos since videos do not allow interaction between the recruiter and the recruit.
Overworking in human resource departments can be reduced through virtual reality. Activities such as onboarding can be virtualized hence reducing workload. Through such technologies, employees can remotely connect with companies and interact too. Game elements can be very effective if utilized to get people on board. People inducted to companies through game elements develop competence and master concepts more rapidly (Laamarti, Eid, and Saddik 2014, p.8). A new starter is more likely to be productive in an enjoyable manner if they were inducted using game elements. Serious games also aid in teaching and developing employees, making them more productive. A company can support and employees journey to mastery through utilization of gaming concepts. For instance, Deloitte Leadership Academy utilizes virtual reality to develop leaders (Simpson and Jenkins 2015). The concepts of games can be utilized to train employees in various departments of a company. Employees in the customer service department can be taught how to greet customers, use body language, how to deal with unsatisfied customers, good listening skills, and how to manage an appropriate tone. Through the use of virtual reality technology, it becomes possible to simulate the real life experiences hence helping the employees to prepare adequately for such situations. Virtual reality on serious 2D games can also be utilized to retain employees. Retaining can be achieved through the encouraging of activities which employees deem meaningful.
During hard economic situations, the HR department of an institution can face a budget shortage limiting them to travel from office to office training people on how to deal with certain situations. A 2D web-based training module can be developed to deliver content effectively. It can be developed as a serious game allowing users to view situations as 2D animations then prompting the users with options allowing them to alter the outcome. The module can also ask users how they can handle certain situations then award points depending on the users answers. This will help in the training of the employees and helping them develop problem-solving skills.
Research Approach
Approach to the research can either be inductive or deductive. An inductive approach shall involve collecting all data that is relevant to HR gamification then studying it to try and find a pattern (Heit and Rotello 2010, p. 805). This pattern will help in the development of a theory about the use of serious games in learning institutions and companies. Data collection, in this case, may involve collecting information from articles and other relevant material about how people utilize serious gaming. It shall entail focusing on HR gamification to find out how individuals fare after they employ it, then come up with a general point of focus. This approach, however, is time-consuming since it shall involve collecting all available information available, some of which shall not be of any use in the research.
The preferred approach to this research is an inductive one. This will involve observing how institutions perform their activities then formulating a theory towards the end of the research. This means the research will not be tied to a specific objective, and a conclusion will be made after all data is analyzed. Observations and results from previous researches shall be examined with the aim of finding a pattern. During the research, there will be no clear hypothesis in mind, rather, coming up with a hypothesis or conclusion from the collected data will be the main aim of the research. Data from institutions about how they operate and how they perform shall be collected to aid in this research. The process shall involve gathering information from companies which utilize serious games in their HR departments to see how they perform. The performances of these companies shall be compared to those which do not utilize serious games in their operations. The performances of schools which utilize serious games in the learning processes shall also be compared to those of schools which don’t. All these will be a bid to try and find a pattern on the impact of serious games in these institutions.
Proposed data collection
An inductive approach to the research will call for a qualitative data collection method. It shall involve making observations and taking measurements which are substantial. Data shall be collected through interviews and observations. It shall also be gathered from academic journals and other articles. It shall involve going through previous researches reports and trying to come up with a pattern. Structured interviews shall be conducted with concerned parties during this phase. Lecturers shall be interviewed to find out the methods they utilize when they are teaching. Managers shall also be interviewed to find out whether they utilize serious games in their institutions, and also whether the HR practitioners in their companies help in meeting the strategic needs of the company. Both telephone and face to face interviews shall be utilized. Observation shall be utilized to get a snapshot of the situation in institutions. Written descriptions and video recordings shall be used as the techniques during observations.
In this phase of data collection, random sampling shall be used. The use of this method will help ensure that all the targeted population is represented. Institutions from which data will be collected shall be randomly selected, hence eliminating sampling bias. This method of sampling shall involve listing all the associated companies then randomly selecting a sample from the list. Random sampling requires a lot of time and effort before it is completed. Data collection shall take approximately a year since it shall be done in stages to ensure consistency. For instance, data about the performances of schools shall be collected after every semester, for about three semesters so as to make sure the collected information is consistent.
Conclusion
The use of serious games can prove to be a useful strategic human resource management approach. It is possible to achieve objectives in organizations since the technology impacts positively the human resource department. This research will aid in determining which individuals have more chances of success between those who utilize serious games and those who do not. HR professionals should make it their business to utilize this valuable tool so that they can be in a position to argue the strategic values to their organizations.
References
Bennett, E. E, 2014, Introducing new perspectives on virtual human resource development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 263-280.
Bouki, V. and Economou, D, 2015, Using Serious Games in Higher Education: Reclaiming the Learning Time, Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments, vol. 19, pp. 381-387.
Crookall, D, 2010, Serious games, debriefing, and simulation/gaming as a discipline. Simulation & Gaming, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 898-920.
Economou, D, Doumanis, I, Pedersen, F, Kathrani, P, Mentzelopoulos, M and Bouki, V, 2015, Evaluation of a dynamic role-playing platform for simulations based on Octalysis gamification framework, Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments, Vol. 19, pp. 388-395.
Girard, C, Ecalle, J. and Magnan, A, 2013, Serious games as new educational tools: how effective are they? A meta‐analysis of recent studies, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 207-219.
Good, T, Farley, C, Tambe, H and Cantrell, S, 2014, Trends reshaping the future of HR, Accenture Institute for High Performance < http://www. accenture. com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Future-of-HR-Digital-Radically-Disrupts-HR. pdf. >
Harwoodn, E. and Hutchinson, E ,2010, Data Collection Methods, Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, vol. 36 no. 5, pp. 476-481.
Hauge, J.B, 2011, State of the art of serious games for business and industry. In Concurrent Enterprising (ICE), 2011 17th International Conference, pp. 1-8
Heit, E. and Rotello, C.M 2010, Relations between inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, vol. 36, no. 3, p.805.
Laamarti, F, Eid, M. and El Saddik, A, 2014, An Overview of Serious Games. International Journal of Computer Games Technology, pp.1-15.
Mayer, I, Bekebrede, G, Harteveld, C, Warmelink, H, Zhou, Q, Ruijven, T, Lo, J, Kortmann, R. and Wenzler, I, 2014, The research and evaluation of serious games: Toward a comprehensive methodology, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 45, no. 3, pp.502-527.
Simpson, P. and Jenkins, P, 2015, Gamification and Human Resources: an overview.
Taylor, S.J, Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M, 2015, Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons
Ulrich, D, 2013, Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results, Harvard Business Press.
Wouters, P., Van Nimwegen, C., Van Oostendorp, H. and Van Der Spek, E.D., 2013. A meta-analysis of the cognitive and motivational effects of serious games. Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 105, no. 2, p. 249.
