IJsfontein Homepage

Playful Learning

What position should Playful learning have within an organisation, the education system, or society? A game or a new way of learning?

knowledge

Curiosity

Curiosity is one of the most important drivers of science. Would we ever have landed on the moon without it?

vision

evidence based

We evaluate the effectiveness of our concepts. Without exception, testing exercises with the target audience provide added value.

process

Interaction

We make media interactive. Content leads technology.

products

Playful Learning

Allow your curiosity to guide you. Dare to experiment, failing is part of the process. Be confident that the challenges you encounter match your competencies. You are on a mission and will achieve a state of flow, alone or with others. Discover, play and learn.

Playful Learning

Increasingly, scientists, educational institutions and organisations are recognising that learning is more effective when the principles of play are used. A game is a complex system designed in such a way that the player fails continually while remaining confident at the same time. There are short feedback loops, clear objectives, and the player is personally responsible for the solution. Game design is the design of behaviours, values and responsibility.

We believe ‘Playful Learning’ goes much further than ‘playing a game’. It is a new way of looking at motivation and behaviour.

IJsfontein developers have a vision. That means we do more than develop tools, we also apply our expertise for other purposes. We are regularly invited to speak at conferences, or to contribute to new educational initiatives such as ‘De Nederlandse School’. On a smaller scale, we organise workshops or master classes about game-based learning, gamification, or digital didactics.

Contact us or visit us in Amsterdam!

Curiosity

We are convinced that people are naturally curious and intrinsically motivated to develop themselves. Playing is one of the most effective ways to encourage this natural behaviour.

Curiosity

Curiosity is the driving force behind science and innovation. A force that is increasingly important in a world that is rapidly changing and digitising. Knowing how to define and solve a problem is more important than the solution. Behaviour is more important than knowledge.

Therefore, education should be about more than what you learn, but about how you learn best. Whether at school, in a museum, or at work, we believe play is one of the most solid and effective ways of facilitating the learning process.

Opportunities for integrating learning into daily life and the public arena are increasing due to technological developments. Learning can take place any time anywhere and knowledge is available to everyone. The issue is how you make this knowledge accessible. We do not believe in making it ‘as easy as possible’ for the user. As interactive and game designers, our role is to challenge users to seek out answers themselves.

evidence based

It is exciting to implement a new way of learning. But does it work? That is why we use evidence-based design at IJsfontein. From the paper prototype to the end product, we conduct intensive testing with the target audience and shape the design accordingly.

evidence based

Together with universities and a network of experts, we work continuously on the innovation of our products. Many of our products have been accredited and validated through this way of working. In our specially equipped Playlab, users play with paper or digital prototypes in the relaxed setting of a living room.

In another area, clients and developers observe via a livestream what is happening and how people react. The strong and weak points often become clear immediately during a playtest, as do focus areas for the next phase of development.

Every project is different and we tailor our methodology, strategy and team accordingly. We guarantee a personal approach in which we work intensively with our clients to produce an effective end product. For example, a ‘linear’ approach works well for smaller projects. It entails a step-by-step process that culminates in a single offering.

For larger, more complex projects, we often use a more active ‘iterative’ method like SCRUM. That entails splitting the production phase into multiple steps and offerings. If research is an important part of the project, we agree in advance when we will do this and what the impact will be on the rest of the project.

Interaction

Our lives are becoming increasingly digitised and the boundaries between physical and digital are disappearing. That is why we think interaction should not be limited to a serious game, website or interactive installation. It is precisely that combination that makes our work so powerful.

Interaction

For every assignment, we assess different forms of interactivity and play, and we seek out the elements that together are most suited to the goal of the assignment. We develop apps, websites, interactive installations, gamification, serious games and multimedia tours with a single denominator: playful learning

In addition, we also develop complete digital learning projects and gamified platforms for permanent education. Dependent on the demand, target group and context of the learning objectives, we select the best choice of technology and platform in consultation with the client.

It is wise to gain a good insight before making large investments. After all, good preparation often leads to better implementation and a better product. Therefore, we offer analysis exercises and workshops. In analysis exercises, we use different forms of research to identify appropriate learning interventions.

We use workshops to provide the most important stakeholders in your organisation with an insight into the (im)possibilities of game-based learning.