Custom eLearning Custom eLearning
  1. What We Do
    Custom eLearning Learning Consultancy Performance Campaigns Mobile Learning Performance Support Microlearning
    Video and Animation Rapid eLearning Games & Gamification Flash-to-HTML ILT and VILT Value Added Services
  2. Who We Are
    About Us Leadership Awards Press Releases Clients Careers Contact Us
  3. Our Work
  4. Insights
    eBooks Whitepapers Reports Presentations Case Studies Webinars Infographics Newsletters
  5. Podcast
  6. Let's Talk
  • What We Do
    • Custom eLearning
    • Learning Consultancy
    • Performance Campaigns
    • Mobile Learning
    • Performance Support
    • Microlearning
    • Video and Animation
    • Rapid Learning
    • Games & Gamification
    • Flash-to-HTML
    • ILT and VILT
    • Value Added Services
  • Who We Are
    • About Us
    • Leadership
    • Awards
    • Press Releases
    • Clients
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
  • Insights
    • eBooks
    • Whitepapers
    • Reports
    • Presentations
    • Case Studies
    • Webinars
    • Infographics
    • Newsletters
  • Podcast

Folding Proteins as Play

 

Gamification  |  4 MIN

Folding Proteins as Play

Written by Shreyas Korad

Proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids, that can be folded up in billions of ways. Badly folded proteins can lead to cancer and conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Computers can recognize a well-folded protein but can’t manage the pattern recognition and lateral thinking required to find one. Enter gamification!

In 2008, the University of Washington released “Foldit, that turned protein-folding into a free online puzzle game.” Foldit harnessed thousands of human brains without specialist knowledge to work on protein-folding. As Adrien Treuille, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who helped to develop the program put it, the scientists took the help of professional game developers to create a “vivid representation”, an “intuitive interface” and “juiciness—a game designer’s term for lots of instant positive feedback.”

A research paper on the game, published in Nature put it thus: “The integration of human visual problem-solving and strategy development capabilities with traditional computational algorithms through interactive multiplayer games is a powerful new approach to solving computationally-limited scientific problems.”

Powerful as this “new approach” is, it may not be “gamification” as the modern business world knows it. Yet, a wonderful example of using a game approach to solve a serious world problem. Foldit has now become “a frequently used teaching tool for biochemistry at the college level, despite not providing premade content specifically for education.”

Special sauce

Gamers must love the idea of gamification, right? Writing in November 2012, four years after Foldit, Schumpeter noted that some designers of video games were opposed to the idea of gamification.

“Gamification is really a cover for cynically exploiting human psychology for profit,” was one observation, “with rewards carefully doled out in order to keep players hooked.” Others argued that gamification focused on the incidental features like points, badges and instant feedback.

Now as then, people need to be paid to undertake repetitive tasks. Games, however, invert that rule: “Players will happily fork out good money for the privilege of being allowed to attempt arbitrary jobs.”

Why not identify the “special sauce” responsible for this inversion, and “slather it onto business problems?”

Delectable sauce, intricate goal

Is gamification just some fun sauce? Or something more seriously scientific, perhaps wearing a joker’s nose ball?

While the debate about the evil of gaming is only likely to rise with the number of gamers in all age groups, the important question to ask is why? Why the learning? Why gamify?

That ought to force one to consider the business goal that drives the learning before adding the sauce. The tens of thousands who relish Foldit may never step into a laboratory but are likely to highly motivated once they know the true impact of their play.

We need the sauce to encourage more and more to play. We need more to play because there are lives to save and business goals to achieve.

A new dimension of learning

As discussed in the eBook, Not playing around—Gamification for workplace learning , “Gamification must be taken as seriously as other forms of learning because unlike other media formats, gamified media starts from the understanding of the learner motivators, delivers the content in unique ways, has the potential to measure the effectiveness of understanding of the content and possibly leaves the learner desiring for more content.”

The key to unlock gamification’s potential, “is to avoid looking at it as a standalone modality or technology. Instead, used in conjunction with more formal programs, gamification can engage learners in the learning experience and help them retain more of the information they are given.”

Games give learners the freedom to fail and try again without negative repercussions. “It can expand the existing palette of learning modalities by adding a new dimension.”

Indeed, even as they play, they are folding proteins, and the resultant learning is giving businesses the best possible outcome.

Tweet

Write a Comment



← Not Playing Around – Gamification of Workplace Learning Mine the Craft of Gamification for Business Impact →
Subscribe for updates

Delivered by FeedBurner

Featured PostsTags
L&D Go Beyond Podcast: Challenges and Opportunities for Measuring the Impact of Training and Learning, with Kevin M. YatesIsha Sood18 and Fabulous – Upside Learning Completes Another Glorious Year of Enabling Enterprises for Better Workplace LearningIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Instructional Story Design, with Rance GreeneIsha SoodStoryboarding – You Gotta LUV it!Neeti SudumbrekarL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Gamifying Workplace Learning the Right Way, with Karl KappIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Workplace Learning in the Post-Covid World, with Sam Taylor, Jr. and Rick HouslerIsha SoodDesirable Difficulties: Making learning slow, to improve performance fastShreyas KoradL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Learning for L&D Professionals, with Joti JosephIsha SoodBetter learning experiences lead to better employee engagement in the modern workplaceAmit GargL&D Go Beyond Podcast: The Ten Questions You Must Ask at The Start of Any Learning ProjectIsha SoodA little forgetting before retrieval makes memory stickier for workplace applicationAlesiya KhanL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Writing Better Multiple-Choice Questions to Assess LearningIsha SoodTime to onboard the great learning modernizationAlesiya KhanBeyond mere conversion, virtual ILT is an opportunity to modernize learningAmit GargModern workplace learning needs new wine in new bottleAmit GargIt’s Fun, But Is Netflix Right For Workplace Learning?Amit GargCan gamification level up your employee onboarding experience and boost outcome?Amit GargSolving before Learning: A Case for Inverting the Way Courses are DesignedShreyas KoradL&D Go Beyond Podcast: AI and The Upskilling Imperative for L&DIsha SoodLooking Back at 2021 with Gratitude: A Fulfilling Year with Many Reasons to CheerIsha SoodThe Forgotten Art of Exploratory LearningShreyas KoradDeep, durable learning ensures adept, adaptable workplace performanceAmit GargL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Design for How People LearnIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Chatbots in Workplace Learning & PerformanceIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Curiosity & Learning in the WorkplaceIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Curation & Learning Ecosystems – Dealing With the Complexity That Damages Learning CultureIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: How to Solve the Right Problems in L&DIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Innovation in L&DIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: How to Bring Performance Focus to TrainingIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Design Thinking for Learning EngagementIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Building Learning Programs that EngageIsha SoodL&D Go Beyond Podcast: Learning Engagement in Supply Chain TrainingIsha SoodThe Living Root Bridge of Learning EngagementAmit GargAuthentic, holistic tasks ensure engaged, applicable learningAmit GargThe Curious Role of Spaced Practice and Staggered Retrieval in Learning EngagementAmit GargWhy Interleaving is a Significant Practice for Learning EngagementAmit GargUnderstanding Learning Engagement – The Missing Link Between Learning and PerformanceAmit GargWhat is Learning?Amit GargEngaging eLearning is Effective LearningAmit GargReimagine Learning with GamificationShreyas KoradGamification of Workplace Learning: Podcast Series Episode 6Mustafa HusainGamification of Workplace Learning: Podcast Series Episode 5Mustafa HusainHow Mindset of a Gamer Help Us Navigate Learning in Modern WorkplaceShreyas KoradGamification of Workplace Learning: Podcast Series Episode 4Mustafa HusainGamification of Workplace Learning: Podcast Series Episode 3Mustafa HusainGamification of Workplace Learning: Podcast Series Episode 2Mustafa HusainGamification of Workplace Learning: Podcast Series Episode 1Mustafa HusainGamification: Presenting Framework for Gamified InductionMustafa HusainPresenting a New Podcast Series – Gamification of Workplace LearningMustafa HusainGamification: How Learning Happens in the Modern WorkplaceShreyas Korad
Mobile Learning (140)eLearning (115)mLearning (98)Instructional Design (50)Game Based Learning (42)Technology (35)eLearning Development (35)Workplace Learning (33)Learning (26)Learning Games (26)Design (25)Upside Learning (24)Learning Design (22)eLearning Technology (21)Social Learning (20)ipad (19)DGBL (17)Best eLearning Links (16)augmented reality (15)eLearning Outsourcing (15)Games (14)HTML5 (14)Innovation (13)LMS (13)Responsive Authoring Tools (13)Mobile (13)UL Fun Cartoon (13)Future (12)IPhone (12)Future Learning (11)UL Fun e toons (11)Informal Learning (11)elearning weekly digest (11)Responsive eLearning (11)Flash (10)Development (10)Top eLearning Links (10)eLearning On Tablets (10)Learning Technology (10)Weekly Digest (9)Top eLearning Posts (9)Blended Learning (9)GBL (9)Mobile Learning Technology (9)eLearning Weekly Finds (8)Tablet Learning (8)Multi Device eLearning (8)eLearning Weekly Find (8)Mobility (8)elearning in a multi-device world (7)Learning and Development (7)Trends (7)Rapid Authoring (7)Training Outsourcing (7)Engaging eLearning (7)Custom eLearning (7)Performance Support (7)Mobile Technology (6)Casual Games (6)Serious Games (6)
eLearning Learning

Upcoming Events

Archives

Resources
Compliance Training: Stop Ticking the Box
Compliance Training: Stop Ticking the BoxesHave a compliance program that’s not as effective as you’d hoped? Or wondering where to start to design an effective one? Find the answers to all your queries in this eBook.
Read More and Download
The Ultimate Guide to migrating eLearning from Flash to HTML5
The Ultimate Guide to migrating eLearning from Flash to HTML5This eBook is meant for organizations who want to migrate their eLearning from Flash to HTML5.
View Recording
Tips for Designing, Testing and Delivering eLearning in a Multi-device World - eBook
Tips for Designing, Testing and Delivering eLearning in a Multi-device WorldA collection of highly useful tips on the various aspects of designing, testing and delivering multi-device/ responsive eLearning.
Read More and Download

GET INSIGHTS AND LEARNING DELIGHTS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, SUBSCRIBE TO UPSIDE LEARNING BLOG.

Delivered by FeedBurner

Published on March 11, 2021
Topic : Gamification

Don't forget to share this post!

  • Snow
  • Snow
  • Snow
  • Snow

Related Blogs

L&D Go Beyond Podcast: Challenges and Opportunities for Measuring the Impact of Training and Learning, with Kevin M. Yates
Podcast,   Workplace Learning    | 2 MIN
Isha Sood
18 and Fabulous – Upside Learning Completes Another Glorious Year of Enabling Enterprises for Better Workplace Learning
Upside Learning    | 4 MIN
Isha Sood
L&D Go Beyond Podcast: Instructional Story Design, with Rance Greene
Podcast,   Workplace Learning    | 2 MIN
Isha Sood

GET INSIGHTS AND LEARNING DELIGHTS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, SUBSCRIBE TO UPSIDE LEARNING BLOG

Delivered by FeedBurner

  • Snow
  • Snow
  • Snow
  • Snow

Follow us on

  • linkedin
  • Facebook
  • Snow
  • Slideshare
  • Feedburner
  • Youtube
to be in trend with latest happening in the elearning domain.

More from Our Resources

  • eBook

  • Whitepapers

  • Reports

  • Presentations

  • Case Studies

  • Webinars

  • Infographics

  • Newsletters

Snow
Forest
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains

WANT TO FIND OUT HOW OUR SOLUTIONS CAN IMPACT
YOUR ORGANISATION?
CLICK HERE TO GET IN TOUCH

Custom eLearning

Upside Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Punakar Complex, Survey No-117,
Bangalore Pune Highway, Warje,
Pune, India

Tel: +91-20-2523 6050 / 51 / 52

Email: elearning@upsidelearning.com

FOLLOW US

GO BEYOND
What is Go Beyond Compliance Training Sales Enablement Measuring Learning
Effectiveness
Microlearning Gamification Learning Engagement
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Learning Strategy Solution Design and
Development
WHAT WE DO
Custom eLearning Learning Consultancy Performance Campaigns Mobile Learning Performance Support Microlearning Video and Animation Rapid eLearning Games & Gamification Flash-to-HTML Conversion ILT and VILT Value Added Services
WHAT WE ARE
About Us Our Work Leadership Awards Press release Clients Careers Contact Us
QUICK LINKS
Insights Blog Submit a RFP Schedule A Call Client Login Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 Upside Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd.