What Does It Mean to Solve Meaningful Problems?
We have big problems that we're all grappling with in the world. Or we should be. What are you passionate about? Climate change? Global poverty? Clean water? Homelessness? Education? Gender Equity? Reading books alone will not help you to solve meaningful problems. Obviously you have to take action. But what reading can do for you is to help you to understand the cause more fully. If you read the right books and get different perspectives that will take you a long way.
But if your cause is climate change, I think it makes sense to read about other issues like clean water and homelessness. Everything is connected and who is to say that you cannot apply solutions from one cause to another. I'm big on education and have been for a long time now. I use this website as my platform to make a difference in the world. I've said a few times now that this year I'm being even more intentional about reading books across multiple disciplines. I as one person and you as one person can make a difference.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
The Multiplayer Classroom
Gaming to InnovateGamestormingEnterprise Games
Reading Books to Solve Meaningful Problems at Work
People can contribute in different ways. You do not have to do it on a grand scale. There are many problems to solve in your industry, or even in your workplace. Anyone who knows me, knows that I read a lot. And I often write book reviews and summaries in this space. But for the next little while, my focus will be very different. You see, I want to take my business, The Invisible Mentor, to the next level. So, there are specific books that I want to read.
In fact, I'm participating in the ConvertKit Landing Page challenge this month to grow my email list, where I'll be sharing specific information on reading and learning. To also grow my business, I'll be reading books to find specific information. Therefore, my focus is not on writing reviews or summaries. However, I'm willing to share my thoughts, like I'll be doing today on books I'm reading and exploring.
A few years ago, I read books on gamification. My intent was to use the information to gamify the Performance Accelerator Plan. I was able to come up with a process to gamify your reading and I thought I did a pretty good job of it.
Have You Read?
Gamified Strategic Reading Challenge Because Learning Should be Fun
How to Make Reading Books Like Playing a Fun Game
Recently though, I noticed that the book, A Systematic Guide to Game-Based Learning (GBL) in Organizational Teams: Transform Performance Through Experiential Learning, Social Learning and Team Dynamics
was in my Kindle app. Though I had already gamilfied the reading challenge, I wanted to read the book to see if I missed any important steps. After all I'm not a game developer. You know what, I missed few steps.
Review the Following Two Posts
The two posts mentioned above are about gamifying your reading. And the tips later in this blog post will only make sense if you read them first. I didn't want to include the information here since I already covered them in other blog posts already. In Gamified Strategic Reading Challenge Because Learning Should be Fun, you'll learn the elements of game design. I've clearly outlined it for you with an example.
In How to Make Reading Books Like Playing a Fun Game, it's a more philosophical approach. You'll find more information on game design. It covers information about your motivation to play games.
If you decide to gamify a business activity, to solve meaningful problems, you'll find important information in both blog posts.
Using Games to Solve Meaningful Problems
To some people, this may sound frivolous. But that's not my intention. However, you can use games as part of the solution to a big problem. Comic artists often use comics as a way to deal with serious issues. I'm concerned that most professionals are not reading enough books or even reading the right books. I once heard a librarian remark that a patron read over 30 books each month, but it didn't count because the books were chic-lit. The reading wasn't diverse, but she was reading.
One of my goals for the next two years is to have 5,000 professionals reading a book a week. And I plan to use the Performance Accelerator Plan to help me to achieve my goal.
Now for gamilfication, with the Performance Accelerator Plan, it's implied that the reader starts at Month 1, which is Module 1. However, I needed to state it explicitly, and it's one of the things I didn't include when I broke down the game. In this instance, what I'm trying to do, is to use game mechanics to get professionals to read more books.
How can you use gamification to contribute to solving issues you care about?
Thoughts on A Systematic Guide to Game-Based Learning (GBL) in Organizational Teams
You might find this section useful if you're interested in gamification. As a reminder, I created a process to gamify reading. The problem then was I wanted to see if I missed any important steps. And that's why I read A Systematic Guide to Game-Based Learning (GBL) in Organizational Teams
. I scanned the Table of Content, but wasn't sure of all the sections of the book to focus on. Quickly, I scanned the book to get a sense of where I needed to spend more time reading.
The Name of the Game that readers are playing is the Performance Accelerator Plan, which is a Hybrid Specialist Skills/Interpersonal Skills Game. I didn't know about the specific type of game before. In Specialist Skill Games players develop specialized skills. And in an Interpersonal Skills game, players develop soft skills such as influencing and negotiation. This kind of clarity would help players to solve meaningful problems because they know and understand what type of game they're playing.
4 Defining Characteristics of Games
I already knew the following, but it was a good reminder for me. So, I revisited what I wrote and double-checked that everything was in order.
- Goal
- Rules
- Feedback System
- Voluntary Participation.
Seven Key Elements of Engaging Games
This was completely new information. But when I read the explanation for each element, some of it was already included in what I created. However, I had to figure out how and where to add the additional elements to the reading challenge. What I ended up doing was weaving the information where it made sense.
- Narrative: The narrative of games have to be relative to intended players. It's the briefing participants given about the game. A great briefing will inspire players.
- Dilemmas: Must have meaningful Decisions with no best answers. Participants will worry about their choices. A good game has an absolute minimum number of decisions to achieve its goals.
- Scorecards: Clear visual representations of points. How they are doing in the game.
- Time pressure: Making decisions under pressure. Deadlines to meet. How much time left to complete a task. Time left to complete the Performance Accelerator Plan.
- Surprises: Things change all the time. Need nice and nasty surprises in a game, red herrings as well.
- Collaboration: Divide work to complete on time.
- Competition: Good game has competition, so participants will take it seriously and do their very best.
Solve Meaning Problems: Should You Read A Systematic Guide To Game-based Learning (GBL) In Organizational Teams
Think about the kinds of activities you perform and the issues that you face all the time. Do any of them lend themselves to being in game form? Not everyone loves to read the way that I do. That means it's worth making reading fun. There are lots of problems worth solving in the world. In my opinion, reading is important because when you read the right books, you develop the habit of getting ideas. And ideas can solve meaningful problems.
This book, A Systematic Guide To Game-based Learning (GBL) In Organizational Teams
, is meaningful to me because it has information that will help me. This is the way I recommend you read books going forward, focusing on sections of books that can help you. To get the most from this article, make sure that you read the following posts. I covered the elements of a good game in them and a lot more. And I didn't want to repeat myself.
Gamified Strategic Reading Challenge Because Learning Should be Fun
How to Make Reading Books Like Playing a Fun Game
If you need help reading the right books, you're welcome to join the Performance Accelerator Plan. You can also buy my two recently published e-books
Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon and Performance Accelerator Plan: Guide to Learning and Mastering Key Skills for the Future.
Read 30 Books in 30 Days Like Francis Bacon is not about speed reading. It’s about approaching every book differently and reading only the sections that align with your purpose.
The Performance Accelerator Plan book is a stripped-down version of the paid reading challenge of the same name. Obviously, you won’t get all the resources that come with the program that I sell on my website. But if you are a self-directed learner, it will help you tremendously. These two books will equip you to solve meaningful problems.
Note: If you click on a link and buy products on Amazon, the organization will pay me a small commission.
