Knowledge Guru Adds Player Analytics and Reporting Automation

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Great things are coming to the Knowledge Guru platform as we head into the second half of 2016. We start things off with the first of two Summer releases. Our June 24th release provides users with three enhancements:

1) Automated Reports

Coaching helps cement knowledge and skills for most of us. With that in mind, we’ve made it easier for learners’ managers to see what their employees are accomplishing within a Knowledge Guru game so they can easily have coaching conversations. When game authors create a new game, they can quickly set up automated delivery of any standard report. They can choose what reports to send, the frequency with which to send the reports (daily, weekly, or monthly), and establish a stop date.

autoReport

2) Player-Facing Reports

Players have always been able to assess performance by monitoring their score within Knowledge Guru, but now they can get detailed feedback on their performance on each learning objective associated with the game. They can also get a question/answer summary for questions they’ve already encountered in the game. This report makes study and review simple. Here’s the mobile version of the report:

 

PlayerReport

3) Cloning and Converting Capability

Lots of users want to re-purpose an existing game for a different audience. Perhaps 80% of the game content will remain the same, but 20% of it needs to be revised to fit the needs of a new audience. Now, you can easily do this with two clicks. You can also convert games from one game type to the other (Legend to Quest or Quest to Legend).  This task is performed at the system administrator level, not at the game author level. System Administrators access the “Create Game” menu option off of their main menu. They then choose an option from the Clone From drop-down menu as shown in the image below.

Still to Come in 2016

We’ll have a second Summer release in August that provides game authors with two new question types to use in Quest games. Game authors will be able to create Select All That Apply questions as well as a Ranking question that requires learners to put a list into the appropriate order.

Our most significant release will come in November 2016 when we introduce a new reinforcement and coaching app for mobile devices. The biggest pain point for training initiatives is the lack of post-training reinforcement options. Our new offering will provide an effective reinforcement option that requires only minutes/day from users. Users will reinforce and strengthen knowledge and skill via a variety of mini-games they can complete in a few minutes at a time. Users and their managers will receive analytic reports  that help them identify areas where users have:

  • High confidence but low skill.
  • Low confidence and low skill.
  • High skill but low confidence.
  • High confidence and high skill.

Stay in the Know

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Knowledge Guru Adds Video, Adaptive Learning, Faster Speeds in Winter Release

2015-winter-releaseThe Knowledge Guru platform has evolved quite a bit over the last few months. We unveiled the new “Quest” game type in October, which added an entirely new gameplay experience and performance challenges. Most importantly, Quest uses the same back-end database and spaced repetition principles that are critical to the Knowledge Guru approach.

We think every release is exciting, but Winter ’15 is especially great. We collected customer needs and feedback to add new features that make Knowledge Guru a more powerful learning tool… all while improving load times and speed.

Video

Video Question

You asked, we listened. Now, you can embed video directly into your Knowledge Guru questions. Choose between text-based, audio or video questions throughout your games.

Adaptive Learning

minigame

The Knowledge Guru database can now create a personalized learning experience for players based on their learning needs. Mini-games at the end of each World in the Quest game type pull questions that players missed on the first attempt.

Healthcare Character Pack

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We have created an all-new Quest character pack especially for our clients who work in healthcare settings. We can create a character pack for any industry you can imagine. Just ask!

Faster Speeds

We have migrated the entire Knowledge Guru database to Amazon cloud servers. The result? Faster load times for both players and authors, no matter where they are in the world.

New Player and Question Upload Capabilities

Need to load players into your game fast? Do your employees not have a company email? No problem. In addition to self registration, you can now mass upload your players into the Knowledge Guru database. Questions can be mass uploaded as well, making it easy to send subject matter experts a spreadsheet of content to review instead of having them play through your entire game.

iFrame Embed

Knowledge Guru games can already be customized with corporate logos and branding… and some customers have even set up custom integrations with their own learning portals. Now we have made Knowledge Guru games easy to embed within an iFrame. This feature is ideal for customers who wish to create a seamless branding experience for their learners.

SCORM 2004 support

Knowledge Guru is now compatible with virtually all LMS systems. Administrators can export their games as SCORM 1.2 or 2004 packages… or host the game in the cloud for expanded gameplay features and deep tracking. Experience API support is also still available across all plans.

Winter ’15 is Available Now

2015-winter-release-webinar
Knowledge Guru customers have already had new features added to their accounts. To see what’s new with Knowledge Guru, register for our Winter Release webinar, held on February 18th at 1 pm EST, 10 am PST. Don’t worry… we’ll send you a recording if you cannot attend.

Bottom-Line Performance Shows off Knowledge Guru “Quest,” Teases Winter Release at ATD TechKnowledge 2015

atd-tk-announcement

Last October, we unveiled the new Knowledge Guru “Quest’ game type at DevLearn in Las Vegas. We sent participants on an interactive quest that included our Fall Release announcement, a meet-up breakfast for those interested in serious games, an all-day workshop with Sharon Boller and Karl Kapp and much more. Free t-shirts were involved, too.

If you missed ourDevLearn Quest, you can follow the journey here.

devlearn-photos

This week, we are excited to head back to Las Vegas and continue the quest at ATD TechKnowledge 2015. It’s yet another opportunity to see a live demo of the new “Quest” game type, learn how the spacing and repetition in Knowledge Guru lead to long-term employee retention and meet in person with some members of the Bottom-Line Performance team.

As a special treat, we will be reveal the new features that will be part of Knowledge Guru’s Winter Release, coming in February. We will announce these features are part of a live demo in our Solution Session.

Where We’ll Be at ATD TechKnowledge

ATDTK-15-exhbitor
  • In the expo, booth #305. Come set up a personal demo of Knowledge Guru and get a free T-Shirt!
  • Steven Boller (that’s me) will be giving a solution session on serious games on Thursday, January 15th at 9:10 am. (Details)
  • Jennifer Bertram, Director of Instructional Design at BLP, will present a session on Agile Learning Design on Thursday, January 15th at 5 pm. (Details)
  • On Twitter, tweeting as @TheKGuru. It’s a great way to follow along if you cannot attend the conference!

Attend our Winter Release Webinar

Whether you’ll see us in Vegas or not, our Winter Release webinar will be your first chance to see the newest features in action. We’ll show off the Quest game type and demonstrate the improvements we’ve made that take the platform even further. You’ll even get a preview of what to expect from the Knowledge Guru platform in 2015!

The Winter Release Webinar will be held on Wednesday, February 18th at 1 pm EST. If you cannot attend but want to see what’s new, register anyway! We will send a recording after the webinar is complete.

Date:

Wednesday, February 18th

Time:

1 PM EST, 10 AM PST

Use the form on the right to register.

Where We’ll Be Next

hcm-excellence

ATD TechKnowledge is just the start of a busy year for the BLP team. Next, we will be at the HCM Excellence Conference 2015, hosted by Brandon Hall Group, January 28-30th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We will be accepting all three of the Brandon Hall awards, including two gold honors, that Knowledge Guru received in 2014.

Knowledge Guru Fall ’14 Release Adds New Game Type, Expanded Reporting and More

2014-fall-release

Since the release of Knowledge Guru in 2012, our team has spent thousands of hours researching the science of learning and serious games. We’ve play tested dozens of games to see what mechanics work for learning. Most importantly, we’ve listened to our growing customer base to find out what features and functionality they need to make serious games a success in their organizations.

All of this has led up to our Fall ’14 Release, the biggest Knowledge Guru release yet. Next week, we are unveiling the all-new Quest game type. It takes the Knowledge Guru platform to a new level.

We’ll show off Quest at DevLearn 2014, October 29-31 in Las Vegas. See the list of events, or simply register for the Fall ’14 Release webinar on November 6th.

What is Quest?

Quest is an all-new game type that uses the same game content as the original Knowledge Guru games, but in a new way.

Journey-Focused

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In Quest, players are on a journey to “unlock knowledge.” They travel through three worlds to do so. The original Knowledge Guru game has been renamed as Legend. Learn more about the difference between Quest and Legend here.

More Personal Than Ever

Players select an avatar to represent themselves… and a Guru to guide them through the game.

Addictive Gameplay

addicting-gameplay

The game environment is immersive and responsive. The interface just feels fun as players play, and the game mechanics encourage replayability. Players maximize their “star rating” on each topic and earn power-ups that impact their experience.

Social Leaderboards

standings

Players vie for first place on the leaderboards while seeing a real-time stream of their colleagues completing challenges of their own.

Minigames

minigame

The “Bonus Gate” provides a mini game that is fun to play and actually integrated into the learning itself. This deepens the learning and improves retention.

Performance Challenges

performance challenges

Connect gameplay to real-world challenges. You create the challenges; players complete them as part of the game.

Powerful Learning Science

The game format has been structured to take advantage of the latest research on how memories are formed. You can even control the spacing for players by “locking” worlds for play on a later date. The game can send an email to players reminding them to return, if you’d like.

Plenty of Options

quest-themes

Quest is launching with three different theme choices: Business, Space, and Island. That makes for 11 total theme options across both Knowledge Guru game types.

Other Improvements

Quest is not the only thing new this fall.

Reimagined User Interface

edit-objectives

The user interface has been optimized to truly “flow” through the game development process. The tabs across the top of the screen walk you through each step from getting creation to customization to implementation. It’s still simple to create a game; just add your content.

Improved Support Resources

We’ve added a short “Getting Started” video for both Quest and Legend game types that provide a three minute overview before you begin. We have also introduced a new, expanded Knowledge Base with tutorials that help you create your game. If the Knowledge Base is not enough, the new support ticketing system will get any issues resolved quickly.

Gorgeous New Reports

tracking-report

All of our admin reports have received a facelift. You’ll also find a new “Report Dashboard” that tells you, at a glance, how your game is going. The new “Game Overview Report” combines several popular reports into one useful PDF. As always, all our reports can be exported to a CSV, too.

Attend the Fall Release Webinar

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We are showing off Quest in a free public webinar on Thursday, November 6th at 1 pm ET, 10 am PT. Even if you cannot attend, register to receive the recording.