Testimonial: Content creation at Elia
Elia is the operator of Belgium’s high-voltage electricity grid. It ensures a reliable electricity supply by managing the grid, balancing supply and demand, and supporting the integration of renewable energy sources.
The challenge
Elia technicians need to learn how to work at height safely. This training currently consists of a theoretical classroom session, followed by practical training sessions. The theoretical session is provided by an external partner and participants often have to wait until this session is available. It also focuses solely on theory, and it can be challenging to keep participants engaged under this set-up.
Elia was therefore looking for an e-learning solution, since it addresses both issues. It can be scheduled more flexibly and engage participants more effectively.
The solution
Since the current training is very theoretical and the aim is to engage learners more, we developed a gamified e-learning module, in which users need to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to work at height safely. This gets a very literal meaning in the module: users (or their avatar) collect climbing equipment by completing real-life challenges.
Each challenge is a level, that needs to be completed before the next level is unlocked. Each challenge is more complex than the previous one, boosting the user’s self-confidence gradually.
Users only have 3 lives in each level. Answering a question wrong takes one life. The goal is to avoid a game-over, meaning users need to go through that level again. This mechanism assures users to pay attention, but also enforces repetition of content that is not yet fully comprehended.
Besides gamification elements, we also applied other didactical principles. We started the module with an intake quiz, stimulating self-reflection. Users estimate their current knowledge about working at height and are then put to the test by answering some questions.
The theory is always presented in a very practical way, using real-life situations. To make the cases even more recognisable, we used actual Elia technicians in the pictures.
During the creation of the module, we had some doubts: Are the levels difficult for users? Will users get frustrated if they get game-over too often? To get an answer to these questions, we organised a pilot test and received great feedback. It confirmed that the levels were just challenging enough and reassured us that users did not take too long to finish the game. The pilot test also made it possible for us to tweak the module a bit more and make some small improvements.
The result
This gamified module is the result of a great collaboration with Elia. Elia was excited to make this module a success and contributed to it by thinking along, organising a photo shoot with Elia technicians and supporting a pilot test. We are proud of the result and also look back on a pleasant cocreation process.