Whenever an opportunity for people within Schlegel Villages to compete with one another, good things happen. We see it in annual team member engagement surveys or at events like the Olympics, so what happens when you turn important education into a bit of competition?
At Erin Mills Lodge, it seems, people start setting alarms so they don't miss it.
That might be the most telling sign yet that a new approach to learning is catching on at the Village, where team members have been taking part in a trial of Axonify, a gamified learning platform focused initially on Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC).
Each day, participating team members answer three to five short questions, with optional games and other training activities. All the while, there is the leaderboard that captures the attention of everyone.
Every month, the scores reset and the top three team members are recognized. There is also friendly competition between neighbourhoods — and Hazel Lane has been at the top for all three months of the trial so far, according to neighbourhood coordinator Pooja Thiyya
“We are also competing against the neighbourhoods,” Pooja says. “Anytime you can put competition, it's going to get people going.”
The competition appears to be doing exactly that. Team members use the app during breaks, at home and while travelling on the bus. Some have even set alarms so they don't miss a day.
One team member ran into a problem and couldn't log in.
“She was continuously calling me,” Pooja recalls. “I just don't want to skip this thing, she said”
Beyond the fun, however, the trial is helping turn learning into something much more useful.
Axonify provides leaders with reports showing where knowledge gaps exist, allowing education to be targeted where it is needed most. Pooja says an early report showed approximately 92 per cent of participating team members had a knowledge gap in at least one IPAC topic. The team was then able to provide additional education in those areas and they have seen steady improvement, at least anecdotally, for now.
The platform also includes Max, an AI assistant populated with Schlegel Villages policies and information, allowing team members to find answers to questions when a leader isn't immediately available.
Perhaps most encouraging is the curiosity the learning is creating. Pooja says team members sometimes come to her when they believe they have answered a question correctly but the app says otherwise.
“They are very curious,” she says. “They come to me and ask, ‘Pooja, I did the right thing, but why is it showing wrong?’”
The trial is also attracting interest from team members who aren't currently participating, including members of Recreation.
For Pooja, the appeal is simple.
“They are enjoying it,” she says. “It is gamified — learning plus enjoying at the same time.”
Perhaps that is the real lesson from the trial: when learning becomes something people want to do, rather than simply something they have to do, everybody wins.
