New study provides reality check for serious games

Sept. 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Produced collaboratively by learning provider REDTRAY and benchmarking organisation Towards Maturity, the new study collates the thoughts, opinions and intentions of over 180 Learning and Development professionals across the UK.  When asked about the live online learning systems they either use, or plan to use to deliver business training, less than 9% of the L&D leaders taking part in the study said that virtual worlds, immersive or avatar driven training resources were likely to be part of their company’s learning mix anytime soon.  

Most mentioned areas for growth over the next 18 months were:
- virtual classrooms, where nearly 60% of learning professionals have planned for new investment or further development;
- virtual meetings, which 47% expect to use more, or introduce, in the coming months; and
- virtual conferencing, which 43% say they will take-up or develop further uses for across the business.

Vicky Jones, Managing Director at REDTRAY says, “Serious games have received a lot of media coverage in recent years. But despite the hype, the study seems to indicate that organisations are either not ready to embrace serious games as a way of delivering training; or it might be that the economic climate is dictating a need to prioritise their spending. Perhaps other technologies such as virtual meetings or virtual classrooms represent a smaller, more manageable step into the virtual space both for organisations and their learners.”  

Issued today as part of the build up to October’s Harnessing Live Online Learning activities, the alarming statistic for the serious games industry is just one of dozens of new facts figures, statistics and insights scheduled for public release next month when the new study is published.

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About REDTRAY

REDTRAY is one of Europe’s leading providers of blended learning solutions and the trusted partner of many FTSE 250 organisations. Its portfolio includes work with NHS, Royal Mail Group, ITV and Heathrow Express.

Established in 2001, REDTRAY develops innovative and award-winning workforce performance optimisation programmes and delivers them to tens of thousands of staff each year. Using the latest blended learning approaches, REDTRAY enables organisations to develop the skills of its people so they can deliver on their business goals - whilst increasing the value of training and reducing its cost by half. For more information visit: http://www.redtray.co.uk

About Towards Maturity

Toward Maturity’s not for profit benchmark practice provides independent expert advice and support in using learning innovation to accelerate business performance. Towards Maturity leverages the wealth of data provided by its benchmark, an internationally recognised longitudinal study based on the inputs of 1,200 organisations and 3,000 learners over 8 years. Benchmark findings, case studies and resources are available to download for free on the www.towardsmaturity.org.

Press Contact

For REDTRAY contact Aneta Sokolowska
T: +(44) 0207 024 4859
E: aneta.sokolowska@redtray.co.uk

For Towards Maturity contact Giovanna Puma
T: +(44) 07764 561 782
E: giovanna@towardsmaturity.org

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REDTRAY designs, delivers and deploys learning solutions for enterprise organisations.We deliver bespoke training and certification-led courses in the classroom, online or through e-learning.