Gaming skills and the workplace

Literacy Link South Central recognizes Gabriel Hancock, Robert Durant and Shayne Ganness and thanks them for sharing their in-depth knowledge of game design and development.. The Only Co

Literacy Link South Central

G AME C HANGERS G AMING S KILLS AND THE W ORKPLACE

FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY

This participant playbook is part of a series created for the course “Game Changers: Gaming

Skills and the Workplace.” Built in a modular fashion to allow for maximum flexibility, this

course provides training on real-world skills that can be developed and practiced in a

game-based environment Using a combination of facilitated lessons, activities, research, and games,

this course will help teach a new generation of job seekers the 21st Century soft skills critical to

Canadian employers Modules in this course include:

1 Why Gaming is Good

2 Verbal Communication

3 Non-verbal Communication

4 Observation Skills

5 Decision Making

6 Problem Solving

7 Teamwork

8 Flexibility and Adaptability

9 Work Ethic

10 Conflict Resolution

11 Resiliency

12 Who Do You Think You Are?

13 The Employment Game

14 Leveling Up

A Youth Advisory Committee played a key role in the development of this course Literacy Link

South Central offers thanks to committee members Cassandra Smith, Colin Todkill, Eleyas

Araya, Eric Rice, Jamie Kaill and Taisha Jenee Pinsonneault for their input and guidance

Gaming recommendations for this project were provided by our advisors at Teleos

Engagement Literacy Link South Central recognizes Gabriel Hancock, Robert Durant and Shayne

Ganness and thanks them for sharing their in-depth knowledge of game design and

development

This curriculum was developed and formatted by Summer Burton, Project Manager, Literacy

Link South Central For questions about this curriculum, please contact Literacy Link South

Central at 519-681-7307 or literacylink@llsc.on.ca

Literacy Link South Central is pleased to provide this course through

the support of the Royal Bank of Canada’s Future Launch fund

Agenda:

1 The Only Constant is Change

2 10 Ways to Cope With Big Changes

3 What if change was the only rule?

4 Flexing Your Adaptability Muscles

5 Red 7

6 Selecting the next session’s topic

7 Wrap-up and take-away

The Only Constant is Change

Things around us are changing – and changing fast – in lots of different ways

What are some of the changes that have happened recently that impact us and our local

community?

How have you seen people adapting to those changes? _

What sort of changes do you think you’ll need to adapt to in your lifetime? _

10 Ways to Cope With Big Changes

Read the article “10 Ways to Cope with Big Changes” and answer the questions below

Moving past denial and saying to yourself, "Things are changing, and it is okay"

can be less stressful than putting it off

It’s important to realize that even _ changes can cause stress

The more change that is happening, the more important it is to have some things that stay the

same, like walking the dog every morning at 8 am This is referred to as an:

What is the name of the brain chemical that can get depleted when you undergo change and as a result, feel stress?

What’s one way to help us stop binging on carbs or relying on other substances during times of

stress?

Exercising _ has been found to significantly

decrease symptoms of depression

No one gets through life alone It is okay to

What sort of positive things may have happened as a result of a big change? _

What is one question you can ask to help focus on something other than venting? _

Two good tips for using social media when you’re going through a big change are to:

1 Make sure you are in a _ when you post—and keep in mind that whatever you post never really _

2 If you are comparing your life to your friends' lives on social media,

remember that most people post only the " " of their lives, not the _ moments

Final tips from this article include:

People make _ It's _ from them that really counts

Make a point to incorporate more laughter and fun into your life Laughing increases

_, _, and _ Laughing also decreases

_ a stress-producing hormone

What if change was the only rule?

When someone wants to become more physically flexible, they stretch – and that’s exactly

what it can take to become more mentally flexible We need to stretch the boundaries of what

we’re comfortable with now, so they can stretch more naturally in the future

To help us stretch, we’re going to play a game called Nomic It’s not a traditional game – there’s no game board, no cards and no pieces, just your brains, and a set of die The rules are simple, and focus mainly on how players go about changing those rules beginning with a system of democratic voting In the game of Nomic, changing the rules isn’t just a move – it’s the only move

Review the rules of Nomic on the next page, and play it as a group As you play, think about the

following questions:

How do the constantly changing rules make you feel?

Do you find those changes exciting, or frustrating?

What rule change had the biggest impact on the game?

The Rules of Nomic

1 Play begins with the person whose first name begins with the letter

closest to the end of the alphabet

2 Play proceeds clockwise

3 On each turn, players can propose:

 a change to one of the active rules

 that an active rule be removed

4 The rest of the players vote to either accept or deny the proposal If more than half of the

players vote for the proposal to be accepted, it goes into effect immediately

5 If more than half of the players vote for the change to be denied, the proposal is

disregarded and the proposing players turn is over

6 All players begin with 0 points

7 Any player whose proposal is accepted rolls 2 die and adds the total of their roll to their

score

8 Any player whose proposal is denied rolls 1 die and subtracts the number they roll from

their score

9 The secretary is responsible for adding, editing, or removing rules from the initial set of

rules as the game progresses

10 If rules are changed so they directly contradict one another, whichever rule was in place

first takes precedence

11 The game ends if any player reaches 50 points

12 If the rules are changed to the point that play can no longer proceed, the last player who

made a proposal that was accepted is declared the winner

Two rules of Nomic cannot be changed, and are therefore not included in the list of rules

above The first is that all players must follow all active rules for the duration of the game The

second is that no rule can be passed that removes players from the game

Flexing Your Adaptability Muscles

When people use the word “flexibility,” what are they usually referring to?

What is the dictionary definition?

When you think about flexibility in terms of behaviour, how would you describe it?

Another word we’ve used a few times today is adaptability It’s related to flexibility, but isn’t

quite the same

How would you define adaptability?

What is the dictionary definition?

Flexibility has to do with your actions, while adaptability has to do with your reactions

Adaptability Self-Assessment

This self-assessment will look at both how you act in the face of change, and how you cope

when changes happen

Read each of the following 31 statements carefully, and then consider whether you agree or

disagree that it sounds like you For some of the statements, you may fall somewhere in the

middle – you think the statement is true sometimes but not others Put a checkmark in the box

that you think is the closest to your real reaction or behaviour

1 I’m habit-driven, and prefer the

comfort of visiting people and places I

already know

2 I get worried when changes happen

and anticipate that the change will be

hard to handle

3 I get frustrated when I have to change

my plans

4 I see change as an opportunity and

look for ways to take advantage of it

5 I look at things from different points of

view before making a decision

6 I expect something good to come from

change and look for the positive in it as

a result

7 I’ve learned what I need to do my job,

and don’t need to do more than that

8 I take classes that I don’t have to, just

to learn new things

9 I’m interested in moving up to a better

job with more responsibilities

10 I’m comfortable with rearranging my

schedule when new things come up

11 I don’t have a lot of confidence in my

ability to make decisions

12 I’m excited to learn about other

cultures and how they are different

than me

13 If I’m planning something that will

have an impact on other people, I’ll ask

for their input

15 I have a hard time letting go of past

mistakes

16 I’m an “early adopter” of new

technology and want to try the latest

gadgets

17 I know how to use the technology I

have and won’t upgrade it unless I

have to

18 If I’m in charge, then others can follow

my lead whether they agree with what

I’m doing or not

19 I can admit my mistakes, learn from

them, and move on

20 I help other people figure out how

changes will impact them

21 I recognize my weaknesses and work

to improve

22 When things go wrong, it’s rarely my

fault

23 I find talking to people who think

differently than I do really interesting

24 I’m a “glass half empty” kind of person

25 I usually have a “plan b” in mind just in

case my first idea doesn’t work out

26 I believe there are lots of ways to

accomplish the same task

27 I’d like to spend some time living in

another country with a really different

culture

28 If something I try fails, it really throws

me off

29 I prefer working with people who

share my background and beliefs

30 I believe “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

31 When people express an opinion I

don’t agree with, I try to convince

them they’re wrong

Total

Where do you fall on the scale? Mark your score on the arrow

We can’t control the world around us and that changes are going to happen whether we like

them or not We can control of our own responses and behaviours when changes happen, and

work towards building the skills we need to handle them well These 10 Tips for increasing our

flexibility and adaptability can help

1 Build , which is the ability to recover from or adjust easily to

misfortune or change

2 Be _ with ourselves about our reaction to change now Being clear

about where we start gives us the opportunity to set goals for these muscles we want to

stretch, and see progress as we go

3 Don’t let become a barrier

4 Be , ask questions, learn new things What are some ways you can do that?

100

0

5 your boundaries – get out of your comfort zone and stretch a bit Tip: start

practicing with ‘low stakes’ situations, like changing your route to work, trying new foods, or

listening to music in a genre you normally don’t

6 Practice your _ skills Brainstorming

possible solutions is a great way to practice that skill

7 Find at least one that could come from

every change Write down it down and as the change happens, see what you can do to make it

a reality

8 Be Being aware of what’s going on around you can help you

anticipate possible changes and start thinking about how you could react or respond

Can you think of a time when something changed, and in retrospect you thought “I should have

seen that coming”?

9 Find a who is flexible or good at adapting to change already, and talk to

them

10 _ others deal with or adjust to change There’s no better way to

reinforce your understanding of something than to try and explain it to other people

Remember what we said about flexibility – it’s the ability to bend without breaking And one of the only ways to do that is to stretch using techniques like these

Red 7

To win the card game “Red 7,” you must have the winning hand every time you take a turn – if you don’t, you’re out

of the game To make sure you don’t lose, you’ll need to change the rules of the game as you go!

What rules can you use?

The Red rules: the player with the highest card wins

The Orange rules: the player with the most of the same number wins

The Yellow rules: the player with the most cards of a single colour wins

The Blue rules: the player with the most different colours wins

The Violet rules: the player with the most cards valued 1, 2 or 3 wins

Listen as the rules of the game are explained, and prepare to change the rules, and react to

change as play progresses

Note: This is a competitive game that can be played by between 2 and 4 people If you don’t

play the game, be sure to watch carefully and make notes below about what you saw Your

facilitator will ask you to share your observations after the game

_

Question: Did you find all the changes hard to follow, or exciting and engaging?

What was the hardest part, and why?

How quickly did you have to change strategies in the game because of a change in rules?