Gamification and Training – The Perfect Match for Oil & Gas Skills

Gamification. It has long been the buzzword in the world of e-learning and professional development, but until recently, for many employers and HR managers in oil & gas, the idea of gamified learning has seemed unrealistic, and the necessary technology out of reach. The last two years has seen a major acceleration in digitalisation and today gamification is not only here but is expected by most learners.

For the energy industry, the gamification training solutions that exist today are being leveraged to help solve long-standing problems: how to increase interest and engagement in safety critical training, how to measure that engagement, and how to assure that personnel understand how to make decisions that prevent major incidents?

Training needs a re-think

It’s an inescapable fact that learning often involves getting things wrong and learning from the mistakes. In the upstream oil and gas sector, real-world mistakes can have disastrous consequences.

Traditionally, organisations have relied on sporadic classroom training that misses this basic need to try, practice, learn and improve.

Blended learning methods using digital training solutions, such as Norwell EDGE, have been proven to improve knowledge retention rates by up to 50% and allow training to work around operational requirements. When it comes to technical, real-world skills training, gamification training methods as part of a wider digital programme seem to hold the solution.

What is gamification?

Gamification is the addition of elements of game playing and technology to training scenarios, in order to make the training more engaging. For highly technical training and preparation for high-risk scenarios, gamified learning now provides a central element of an effective blended learning approach.

Using real-world problems to drive home abstract principles, gamified training engages the learner in problem-solving, asking them to navigate problems that reflect job-specific technical scenarios or decision making situations that reflect the workplace, as opposed to training that only involves absorbing content.

It really works, too. Incorporating gamification into everyday work and training helps make learning fun and is also reported to increase skill retention by approximately 40% (Silicon).

Companies can develop training around realistic offshore and onshore environments, with employees receiving immediate feedback on decisions made in a safe environment.

For Oil & Gas technical training, the often safety-critical and complex subjects covered in training require full engagement. In one survey, 83% of employee respondents who underwent gamified training were more motivated at work (Talent LMS). Gamification makes the training something that colleagues will enjoy and re-use when they need reminding.

Indeed, gamifying real-world scenarios allows the learner to see in real terms how learning relates to their own job and development. The more you can tie learning progress to career goals, the greater sense of satisfaction the employee will derive from training.

Learn, fail, improve, remember

Training will continue to centre around a combination of technical skills and wider operational awareness to ensure job-specific knowledge is coupled with a wider understanding of safety.

In the modern environment, classroom training is no longer the most effective or efficient method to develop technical skills or give workers this multi-level understanding of operations. Instead, an approach that allows workers to learn and apply new skills and knowledge in a realistic, virtual environment provides a much more effective solution. Workers can fail safely, and learn in their own time.

Platforms such as Norwell EDGE now provide 3D scenarios where learners can freely walk around a virtual wellsite and explore the layout, equipment and systems needed to drill wells before being put through their paces with a range of tasks.

Giving workers the opportunity to undertake training in their own time and at their own pace does wonders for engagement in topics where employers rely upon a strong grasp and understanding.

Non-virtual, real-world practice of the same techniques and demonstrations would incur impractical levels of time spent away from operational activities and huge costs incurred. Digitally training an entire workforce through virtual, gamification training methods can incur little or no operational disruption at all, removing the need for ineffective training days. This way, learners can work through training and focus at a time and place that suits them, allowing far greater engagement with the training material.

Start exploring

Interested in exploring gamification for technical oil and gas training? Our immersive scenario games put oil and gas worker’s skills to the test. The 3D scenarios cover onshore and now offshore wells and can be tailored to specific company projects and activity. Explore Virtual EDGE here.