Hmm…a bit of a rhyme there! This is fairly old news I guess but something I have only just come across as I’ve only recently started to have look over the fence into the mobile learning garden.

I’ve been reading about staff at Hilton Garden Inns in the USA doing work-based training on Sony PSPs. They’ve had a SIMS-like game developed for the Sony handheld device which is designed to train its employees in customer services. Created especially for Hilton Garden Inn by Virtual Heroes, Inc., Ultimate Team Play puts team members in a virtual Hilton Garden Inn hotel and in various scenarios, they will have to stop and decide what their best course of action will be to make sure they are able to fulfill a guest’s request and/or complete a specific job task within a limited time. Their immediate or non-immediate actions toward guests—since guest interaction is the primary focus of the game— will directly affect the mood of the guest as well as the hotel’s SALT (Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking) scores. Nice.

Game-based customer service training

Now this isn’t the only product that Virtual Heroes Inc. have developed. They’ve also made training simulations for the U.S. Army Special Forces and U.S. Secret Service and HumanSIM, which enables health care professionals to sharpen their assessment and decision-making skills – much better to do that virtually than on a real person I think!

Training for Healthcare

Now, ok…we’re talking about a company with huge resources on one side and Government training on another but still, it’s a nice example of technology enhanced learning is it not! When I think about Mobile Learning right now I think of phone handsets, best case scenario iPhone/iPod Touch Apps (for me that’s the best handheld device at the moment). But I also like to wonder what technology my sons will be using in the years to come (they are 9, 8 & 4)…and this fits the bill. They’re glued to their PSPs & NDS’s and they like wandering through virtual worlds such as Runescape and Club Penguin, carrying out tasks. It strikes me as a no-brainer that education will soon have to make strides into these worlds. 

Anyone know of similar work in this country?