We’ve been looking forward to writing this review of Seppo, as it really is an amazing authoring tool for creating interactive learning experiences and games. It’s a lot of fun and has so many potential applications in business training and staff engagement.
Seppo has quite a story to it and is quite a product. Seppo has been making a huge impact in classroom education what we could call Education Outreach and now it is about to make a real impact in corporate training as well.
Seppo is Finnish and really came from the classroom, or the frustrations of the classroom, in one of the world’s most advanced educational systems. So pay attention – this product is underpinned by learning psychology and is therefore a great learning tool, which describes itself rather dryly as a game based pedagogical tool. In reality, I describe it as a really neat product that through the power of games on mobile devices brings learning to life, drives collaboration and is a fabulous interface between informal learning and formal learning as it adds real context in the most creative way.
The real context is location based real world settings. My real excitement with this product is you can use GPS maps or images and pictures to create real world learning settings.
It is not easy to describe clearly in words what Seppo does as my demonstration involved logging in via my mobile device in real time and creating an interactive tour of a 17th Century map of London. I now just need to go on the learning tour created. It was very very engaging indeed.
So, how to conceptualise what Seppo does
Think about Seppo firstly as an authoring tool for quickly engaging content firmly anchored in a real learning environment of your choice (think maps, images or diagrams, 3d environments), then think about Seppo as dynamic interactive game based learning experience available on mobile devices (or laptops) that delivers engagement for your learners.
Seppo is fully loaded with tools and techniques to allow learning activities to be built. Exercises can be created, video uploaded, audio uploaded and physical activities can be applied so learners go and look at specific locations on a map, diagram or image.
What Seppo can do in corporate learning
Imagine drone pictures taken of a major infrastructure project under construction and induction pathways are created by Seppo using the images to take learners to specific points (where images may be added) on the site. Then using their mobile device they take a short test and produce some evidence of their recognition of the hazard for example. This leaves tool box talks a long way behind, and adds some motivation for finding out how to stay safe. Seppo could encourage and facilitate team working in this usage case, with learners sharing images and information.
Imagine an induction tour of a stadium for new employees using images and street maps around the area for crowd management. The induction in this usage case could be completely self-directed using Seppo, and with a little bit of game mechanics Seppo introduces a nice positive level of competitiveness or team collaboration.
I also see Seppo being used in retail, logistics and distribution, healthcare, agriculture and more broadly, soft skills as a tool, bringing truly mobile learning to life.
Seppo is already being used in educational outreach projects by some well known UK institutions, so this type of learning experience is available from Seppo… you just need to add the context and consider the most appropriate game mechanic and assessment methods.
So far, Seppo has been used in the corporate sector for Recruitment, Onboarding, Strategy Implementation, Management Training and naturally, also for Team Building.
Seppo uses badges for rewards, creates rule sets and allows the creation of levels. Seppo allows for a wide range of knowledge checks to be created with a variety of answer methods allowed for.
The game can be designed to be a stand alone activity, but in most cases the Game Instructor is giving real time feedback to the players.
In this case, Mobile really means Mobile
Timings for activities can be managed and of course, using GPS location can be managed and reported as well, so an assessment or activity is offered at a particular GPS location….. Let’s expand that and think learning at the location of need – if you are a mobile technician for example.
Creating learning experiences is not hard
Seppo is browser based and quite intuitive to use. A range of different languages can be chosen and Seppo can be configured to reflect the age group or skill level of the learners.
Seppo allows for video to be uploaded – indeed YouTube videos are embedded securely in Seppo so that learners stay within the Seppo environment. Image upload and management is pretty smooth as well.
In short, in Seppo you are creating a highly visual, interactive, truly mobile learning app that is of Native App quality. It is that good.
It is very easy to edit Seppo and modify the learning quickly and easily, and use it again and again. The Seppo team has developed this product based on real evidence of what works and the reporting suite is comprehensive.
If you decide to spend more time on creating a storyline for the game, the more effective the game will be. It’s a proven fact that a good narrative makes people to jump into a game easier and brings extremely good results. Creating a story for the game is also made really easy in Seppo.
The good news for the corporate learning user is that Seppo will integrate with LMS and report learning activities by means of their open API. The platform can also be white labelled so you can build a series of games under your company brand.
In Summary
Seppo is a game changer: it is an easy to use, accessible tool to create great game based learning experiences that can be mobile and location orientated. For the learner, these experiences can be challenging, competitive, collaborative, and in-context.
Learn about Seppo as a gamification tool for business on their website.
David Patterson
Lead eLearning Consultant
About David
Our lead elearning consultant David Patterson is an expert in training technologies such as learning management systems, and in elearning best practices.
He has helped many public and private sector organisations across the UK, Europe and worldwide to create and deliver engaging, effective elearning.
David is joint author of several research papers including the highly acclaimed Learning Light reports on the UK elearning market.
