March 11, 2024 • 24 mins
Ready to laugh and socialize? In this episode of The Social Learning Lab, it’s time to play Wisecracks and Workshops: The Social Learning Shenanigans Game. Inspired by Moe Ash’s episode in Season 1, the Your ID team sits down to play a game created by Nicole and Katie.
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Nicole Papaioannou Lugara, Founder & Learning Strategist
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Katie Hynes, Instructional Designer
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Rocio Granela, Jr. Project Manager
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Diego Diaz, Jr. Digital Designer
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Do office chair jousting tournaments,a workshop on the subtle art of napping
at work, and an old broom with googlyeyes have to do with social learning?
Keep listening to find out.
Hi Labmates.
Welcome to The Social Learning Lab, apodclass about social learning at work.
In this episode, the team atYour Instructional Designer heads
into the lab to try one of ourown experiments from Season 1.
(00:23):
Needless to say, the beakers of bubblypink potions overflow, hilarity ensues,
and conclusions are not reached aboutwhether pineapple belongs on pizza.
We're playing a game calledWisecracks and Workshops, the
social learning shenanigans game.
If you're thinking, hey, I'd love toinfuse more surprise and delight in my
learning designs, games can definitely dothe trick; but how about snappier dialogue
(00:45):
in your videos, scenarios, and more?
You might have already heard, butthis week we're running a free
workshop, Are You Talking To Me?
Writing Dialogue that Speaks to Learners.
Visitwww.yourinstructionaldesigner.com/areyoutalkingtome
to find out more and grab your seat inone of this week's upcoming sessions.
(01:07):
Hi Labmates, we have an extra funepisode for you today featuring the
Your Instructional Designer team.
Your Instructional Designer is the sociallearning agency for skill development.
We create high impact learningexperiences with scalable social
learning that support connectionmaking in the brain and between humans.
We've worked with nearly 100 organizationsover the past seven years to add
(01:28):
growth opportunities that lead tomeaningful change, like increased
productivity from new hires, reductionof costly incidents on the job,
opportunities for revenue generation,and improved employee retention.
So, today we've gathered thewhole team for today's episode.
Woohoo!
We've got myself, KatieHynes, Instructional Designer,
Developmental Editor, and also aPhD holder in English Composition.
(01:52):
And, I'm going to go ahead and leteverybody here introduce themselves.
So, Nicole?
Sure, I'm Nicole Papaioannou Lugara.
I am the founder of Your InstructionalDesigner and a Learning Strategist;
PhD holder also in Composition,which is probably why Katie and I
get along so well, and a speaker.
I can add internationalspeaker to my resume lately.
(02:12):
I'm going to popcorn to Rocio.
Hi everyone.
My name is Rocio and I am theJunior Project Manager over here
at Your Instructional Designer.
I guess that says it all.
I manage all the projects.
I make sure that everything is runningsmoothly behind scenes, and then probably,
you know, make sure that Nicole's brainstays focused for part of the day,
(02:36):
Cat herding is an essential taskand I am the worst one of them all.
One of my essential tasks, shouldprobably add it to my resume like
making sure that the CEO is, youknow, on point at some point.
Anyways, Diego.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Diego Diaz.
I'm the Junior Digital Designerhere at Your Instructional Designer.
I do all the video editing, marketing,and everything you see on social media.
(03:01):
Yeah, and collectively, it's ourmission to make learning that matters.
And for us, that oftenbecomes opportunities for
social learning at scale.
So, if you've been listening tous for a bit, you know that after
every episode, we post an experimentbrief that suggests a way to put
the episode's ideas into practice.
For today's episode, we dug backthrough all the experiment briefs
and chose one to do together.
(03:23):
And this one is from Season 1- Episode7: Play to Win: Game Based Cohorts.
Moe Ash was the amazing guest and theexperiment challenged listeners to play
a game called Wisecracks and Workshops,The Social Learning Shenanigans Game.
In the brief, it's described asa humorous and engaging game that
integrates corporate training themeswith elements of social learning theory.
(03:46):
Before we get into the rules, I wantto find out where this game came
from, so, Nicole, did you invent it?
Tell us what that process was like.
Yes, it was awful.
No, you know, Moe's episode wasjust so awesome and engaging, and
he really encouraged us to thinkabout game mechanics, and like,
how we can learn through games.
So, I didn't want to just make it areflection piece in that experiment brief.
(04:09):
I really wanted to thinkabout gamifying the learning.
So, I kind of started with thisreally big idea that did not pan out.
It was way too ambitious.
And, where I landed was with this CardsAgainst Humanity style, but safe for
work version of, you know, kind of anL and D Cards Against Humanities game.
I'm totally going to say that I leveragedhelp from Chat GPT to help me with
(04:33):
the cards, cause my brain would getstuck on like what they should all say.
But, I think it came out pretty fun,and then, you know, you'll see it in
a minute if you're watching insteadof listening to the episode, but Katie
took the card game, which was in thebrief, and turned it into this amazing
Miro board, which is, was not part ofmy original plan, and it's just so cool.
(04:54):
Well, thank you.
I had fun exploring whatMiro has to offer here.
And, full credit to, I adapteda board that I found in the Miro
universe, designed by Maria Grohl;and played around with that.
And yeah, and thank you again,Nicole for creating this game.
It's, I think it's gonna bereally fun to play today.
I'm excited to play, becauseyou can't play it by yourself.
(05:16):
social.
With that said, I'm gonnashare the Miro board.
So, here we are.
Quick overview.
Alright, what are we looking at?
So, each player has a secret cornerthat we're not supposed to go visit;
and in their corner they've, we've allgot cards, so if you, yeah, if you've
played cards against humanity, theseare the cards you're, you're set with.
(05:39):
And, someone's going to be thefacilitator for each round and
they'll pull one of the pink cards.
And, that pink card is going tohave some kind of statement at the
beginning, of a, of a sentence.
And, we're each going to selectour, from our orange cards, a
way to finish that statement.
And, we're going to go for funny,but it could also be something
that's just super fitting.
(06:00):
And, the facilitator then decides,which one that they like the best.
And then, that player gets tomove a couple steps on the board.
So, of course, the person who has themost points by the end of, I think we're
going to do eight rounds, we'll see howit goes, can be declared the winner.
So, yeah.
are we ready?
Yeah,
Okay.
Lets
it.
(06:20):
Okay, who wants to bethe first facilitator?
I'll do it.
Thank you.
Alright,
Let me find my way through
Miro.
I'll pick the pink cards.
Okay.
We're on the board.
Thank you.
Okay.
Got it.
Okay, you gotta read it for us, Rocio.
I know.
I just, I'm making a, youknow, I struggle with Miro.
(06:42):
I just have to give me a little bit.
I shouldn't havevolunteered first with that.
You're perfect.
okay, okay.
So, it says, "The breakout session atthe corporate retreat was unexpectedly
about ____". I'm going to read that again.
Watching this, so the whole thing.
The breakout session at the corporateretreat was unexpectedly about
(07:04):
____.So we're gonna put them under round one, right?
Exactly, yes.
We're going to drag that over.
I don't know if you, I guess you're,don't look at what I'm doing.
I don't know.
Okay.
Zoom out after you put your card in.
I would definitely say, if you're playingwith friends in a conference room, it's
much easier to cut up the printout ofthe experiment brief than to build this
(07:26):
whole amazing board that Katie's done, but
And you should.
I think it'll be fun.
So, I put mine on.
I'm done.
I'm done, too.
I'm done too.
Okay.
So now.
Ok, I only see two.
I only see two.
Interesting.
Oh, you know what?
I know what happened.
(07:46):
I put my I sent mine to the back,and it, like, went way too far back.
Okay, try now.
Oh, no worries.
Yeah.
ha ha!
I see three.
Okay, cool.
So, let's see, Eevie's dream,Eevie's dream vacation.
You have to read the whole phrase.
Eevie's dream vacation.
No, no, I mean your phrase,the breakout session.
(08:07):
But
They're going to makeme move this Miro board
Okay
I'm really trying not to move things,because, you know, it like moves live.
Okay.
It won't move for us.
It'll only move for you.
So, if you're watching, this is whathappens when you introduce new tools
to your team with limited onboarding.
No, no, I got it.
(08:28):
But it's good.
We learn through play.
The breakout session at thecorporate retreat was unexpectedly
about Eevie's dream vacation.
Love that.
I wonder what that would be.
The breakout session at thecorporate retreat was unexpectedly
about, do you see my screen?
I like that.
(08:48):
The breakout session at the corporateretreat was unexpectedly about a
company wide ban on the word synergy.
Um,
Who's the winner?
I'm going to go about, because I feel
Yeah!
Yay!
That could totally happen.
Like, you know, could have beenan email, but lets have a meeting
(09:10):
about why we're banning this word.
Who was that one?
So I get to, it was me, so I get tomove mine up two spots on the board.
All right.
Who's facilitating next?
And don't forget to replaceone of your cards now.
I can go next.
Awesome
Thank you.
Let's see.
Okay.
Everyone ready?
Yeah.
(09:31):
Alright, "The latest teambuilding game got a little too
real when it involved blank".
Mine are not that funfor this one this time.
Actually.
I think we all placed it.
Everybody good?
Yep.
I'm struggling over here.
Okay.
Done.
(09:52):
Alright.
Let's put these out real quick.
Okay.
The latest team building game gota little too real when it involved
an escape room challenge themedaround escaping endless meetings.
The latest team building game gota little too real when it involved
office chair jousting tournament.
This makes me sad we're not inthe same office just for that one.
(10:15):
The latest team building game got alittle too real when it involved a serious
game of office survival complete witha desert island made of cubicle walls.
Only because I would like to see this, Ilike the office chair jousting tournament.
It reminds me of, do youguys watch The Office?
I was just about to say.
(10:36):
When they do the office Olympics, yeah.
Okay.
So do I move two spots?
That's here.
Yes, you do.
Is that your, well, is that your card?
Yeah.
That's mine.
Nice.
Come join.
Yeah.
Do you skip people or do youjust sit on top of the same box?
Didn't think that through.
There.
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, I'll, I'll go next.
Awesome.
(10:57):
Question and statement card.
Okay.
"In an attempt to make meetings moreengaging, our manager introduced
blank as a discussion topic".
We get to see Katie's cards.
I know, you do.
Stop.
Don't look.
No Cheating.!
Okay, are we all?
(11:18):
I'm done.
Selected?
Yep.
Round three.
In an attempt to make meetings moreengaging, our manager introduced
your boss as a discussion topic.
I think I'd be a quite engaging topic.
In an attempt to make more meetingsmore engaging, our manager introduced
creating a secret code language only yourteam understands as a discussion topic.
(11:40):
In an attempt to make meetings moreengaging, our manager introduced
a group exercise mimicking theobservational learning of office
rituals as a discussion topic.
Hmm, that's a tough one.
I pick, I don't know,
group exercise, mimicking the,I just don't know what that is,
like, I can't imagine what it is.
So, I'm picking this onesimply for sheer confusion.
(12:01):
To find out, that was mine.
I don't know what it is either.
Okay.
Yes, lets do it.
No rationale whatsoever.
That's what we're going for.
You're at the mercy of the judgein this game, that's for sure.
You absolutely are.
My turn.
The HR department's new strategy to boostmorale is surprisingly centered around
(12:23):
Okay.
Locked in.
Fingers crossed.
I think I see everybody is done.
Okay.
The HR department's new strategyto boost morale is surprisingly
centered around a trust fall activitywhere everyone mysteriously needs to
take a phone call at the same time.
The HR department's new strategyto boost morale is surprisingly
centered around a workshop on theart of subtle napping at work.
(12:46):
That's insane.
The HR department's new strategyto boost morale is surprisingly
centered around a team mascot, that'sjust an old broom with googly eyes.
Oh, they're all so good.
I like the trust fall.
You gotta go with the trust fall.
I would pick the trust fall, for sure.
I can just picture it.
(13:07):
Well done.
The, the broom one reminds me of Clippy.
You guys remember Clippy?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, I was also thinking of Stick Stickly.
Oh, my god.
Oh, we're all even.
Everyone got a card.
Interesting.
Okay, so it's my turn.
Let me pick a card.
And it says, "During our Fun Fridaysession, we accidentally learned
(13:32):
about social learning theory through
____".Oh, how fitting.
Yeah,
I'm discarding one.
I don't like my options.
Oh.
Mine were not great either.
Oh, my God.
Then, I got a good one.
No looking.
Oh
(13:56):
Is everybody in?
Yeah,
Uh huh.
So, um, so far we're tied and we're gonnado this last one round of the game to see
who's the ultimate winner of this game.
That keeps Rocio from being the winner.
It's, it's okay.
But, you know,
took one for the team.
I'm taking one for the team.
Okay, so, "during our Fun Friday session,we accidentally learned about social
(14:21):
learning theory through an icebreakergame that somehow turns into a heated
debate about pineapple on pizza.
I actually had a conversationabout this the other day.
I would eat it.
Just saying.
I would too.
I love pizza.
I like pineapple on pizza.
No, Diego.
The audience can give ustheir opinion as well.
(14:44):
During our Fun Friday session,we accidentally learned about
social learning theory through alunch meeting with Albert Bandura.
That is way too appropriate.
Super casual, super casual.
Clearly, it wouldn't be possible, but yes.
During our Fun Friday session, weaccidentally learned about social learning
(15:07):
theory through a know your colleagues gamewhere the subject matter experts hints are
all in an obscure programming language.
I'm going to go with the gonna pizza one.
Just because I feel
with
like that's a very relevant topicof conversation that could probably
ruin friendships in this day and age.
(15:27):
You might've just takendown this team, Diego.
You're up for performance review.
No, just kidding.
Awesome.
Well, Diego is our winner incase they didn't pick that up.
Well done.
As a prize, Nicole's goingto send you a pineapple.
Pizza?
I could.
(15:49):
Alright, so I have a fewquestions for you all.
So, let's debrief.
So, the workshop part of thegame, right, is about this.
So, what are your reactions?
Yeah, to putting this game together.
I loved it.
It was fun.
Me too.
I had fun.
I had a smile on my face the whole time.
It was, it was fun.
And, I think that even just the gameitself, not the topic, but the game
(16:11):
itself, it's a great training tool.
Like you can make it about anythingthat you want, to practice with your
employees or like train your employees on.
It could be funny, like we did,but it could also be like a
serious, you know, more theorybased game if you wanted it to be
Yeah, like you could actually solvefor something instead of being silly.
(16:32):
Yeah, totally.
That could work.
Like figuring out like what's thebest approach like if you have
different approaches and, you know,the team can't decide What's the best
approach you could do it this way?
And arrive at an answer,rather than like a winner.
Just like the answer is the winnerlike this is what we're gonna do.
I think
(16:52):
it's good
for building like
team chemistry and like, kind of,like, learning about each other more.
Like I think it kind of brings thatbarrier down between everybody that
people hold up because now you're kindof in a way making it fun and you're
getting to see a new side of that person.
So, I think that's also a good thingthat it brings out I need to learn
from people and how their mind works.
I think in terms of ice
breakers, it's
(17:12):
way more fun than having to saylike my favorite animal or whatever.
Absolutely.
And I was going to ask, what did we learn?
Maybe aside from pizza,toppings are divisive.
I learned that we're funny,but I already knew that.
We have a good sense of humor.
Yeah.
I was gonna say man.
(17:34):
I'm really funny.
Like I've been trying to put it out there.
You're saying that this whole time
Just learned
This was the day.
The card.
So even though, the response cardswere funny and silly and maybe
like we didn't, we didn't superlearn strategies we'd implement.
I mean, the cards themselves were allgenuine social learning, like moments or
(17:57):
things to think about so there was somelike if you were listening and there was
still some stuff like, okay, a mascotwith googly eyes probably isn't the mascot
you want but it did triggered me to thinklike, okay, well, who is the mascot?
For us, it's Eevie.
How do we incorporate them?
But, you know, it got me thinkingeven if I didn't think deeply.
I always enjoy a trip into the absurd.
(18:18):
Yeah
So, I can see that being a goodprelude to a brainstorming session
or something, just laughing andcoming out with really wacky ideas.
As, sort of, a warm up.
Yeah,
That could work.
And, what did you think of thecombinations of pink and orange
cards and their relationship toreal life workplace scenarios?
(18:38):
Did it resonate?
Definitely.
I mean they were absurdbut like satirical, right?
Like far fetched, but not far fetched.
Relatable, but yeah, fantastical.
Would you play again??
Some were out there, some were, somewhereout there, someone is jousting in office.
(18:58):
That's not out there.
We did stupid things like that all thetime when I worked in my first job.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's what I going to say.
That sounds soo fun.
I'm sorry.
We don't have an office for you.
You could come sit in my office, Diego.
I mean, there's enough space fortwo, but everybody else, sorry.
There's a way in Miro to recreate.
(19:19):
I'll finish that.
We probably could.
We should try it.
You gotta be like
It can be done in the world.
We could maybe in VR someday, you know.
Oh
That's what I was gonna say.
Would you play again?
I can see
Yes.
yeah,
yeah
I guess you're doing this ona lunch break just for fun.
(19:39):
I would enjoy it.
Like, that's an open invitation actually.
We have to create some more cards.
Yes.
Yes.
Lunch and play like we justplay the game and have lunch.
Yeah, let's do it.
So my request, if you're listening to thisepisode, and you're sitting somewhere you
can do this, would be to give us what youwant the silly, absurd responses to be.
(20:00):
Because, you know, like, CardsAgainst Humanity has people write
stuff like that all the time.
I think it would be really fun to fill thedeck with responses from our listeners.
So,
Good.
If you're willing to doit, send us your ideas.
We'll add it to the deck.
Crowdsource, I love it.
Anything else, everybody?
Any other final thoughts aboutthis game and playing it together?
I think it was fun.
I think time went by fast when wewere playing it and we didn't even
(20:25):
notice that time was going by fast.
I think it could be something thatyou're breaking the ice, but also
learning like it's not just somethingto break the ice to break the ice like
you can actually make it a learningopportunity or like an opportunity
for people to get to know each other,maybe even an opportunity for people to
be vulnerable while playing the game.
(20:47):
So, I think there's a lot ofareas where you can dig into with
a game like this, and it doesn'thave to be this game, right?
There's so many games out therethat you can emulate, and recreated
in a way where, you know, yourwhatever it is that you're doing can
incorporated into that, into that game.
Rachel Arpin does L and D in D,like a Dungeons and Dragons style.
(21:13):
I would love to play that.
And, I thought it was fun to do oneof our own experiment briefs together,
like I would like to do that again.
You pick another one.
I agree.
I definitely think like, games aremade to be social interactions.
So, I think it's really importantthat we push those more into
like, our social settings and ourworkplaces, because I think it
(21:33):
really does bring people together.
Yes, it brings up those competitivesides, but it also brings that
collaboration, that communication, allthat kind of things that are needed in
order to make an effective workplace.
So I think it's really importantto have these kind of moments where
you can just have like, like, letloose and have fun with people and
like, get to know each other more.
I think the only thing that I'd add,one- it, sometimes, when we're, like,
(21:55):
really in the thick of things and you'rethinking fast, it's hard to think about
the game as the option, and so it'sjust a reminder to, like, slow down.
I mean, between you and I.
Katie, I don't know how much timeyou spent on this mirror board.
I probably spent an hour maybe twomax, writing the experiment brief.
So, it wasn't that time consuming forhow long we actually played the game,
or we could play the game, or howmany times we could reuse the game.
(22:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think, oh,
No, I was gonna say andthanks to the template.
It was pretty easy to put together.
So,
So, that helps.
And then, I was going tosay, we had fun doing it.
We would have had fun doing it nomatter what, but I think there's
been a lot of value in the debrief.
And so, like reflection canjust enhance the experience.
And that, again, like neither ofthose were really big time suck.
(22:38):
They took less time probablythan building PowerPoint.
And we had a lot of fun.
Thanks everybody.
Well, you can learn more about usat yourinstructionaldesigner.com
as well as Your IDs LinkedIn,Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
channel and if you're listening tothis episode, you already know about
our podclass the Social Learning Lab.
Thanks everybody.
Thanks for dropping by the lab today.
(22:59):
You're probably leaving withmore questions than answers.
Like, what's the pinkstuff in the beakers?
We'll get to the bottomof that another day.
But here's what we've jotted down in ourlab notebook based on today's experiment.
Games can prompt us to think togetherin new ways making them great preludes
to things like brainstorming sessions.
Debriefing and reflectingtogether are crucial parts of
(23:21):
social learning experiences.
It doesn't take much time to connect andlaugh with colleagues, and the investment
pays off through positive ripple effectson team dynamics and collaboration.
Now it's your turn, lab mates.
For your experiment, you'll selectone of the briefs from our past
episodes that you've been meaning totry and report back on the results.
(23:41):
Browse past experimentsin the Facebook community.
We can't wait to hear what you do.
Will you play Wisecracks in workshops too?
You can find the full experimentbrief in the show notes or the Social
Learning Lab community on Facebook.
In the community, you can also shareyour stories, get feedback and insights
from peers, and comment on others ideas.
And remember to check outwww.yourinstructionaldesigner.com/areyoutalkingtome
(24:07):
to sign up for our freeworkshop, Are You Talking to Me?
Writing Dialogue that Speaks to Learners.
Sessions will run this weekbetween March 11th and 15th, and
we can't wait to see you there.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leavea review, like, subscribe, or share so
we can continue to build a supportivegroup of social learning enthusiasts.
Until next time, keep makinglearning that matters.
Do office chair jousting tournaments,a workshop on the subtle art of napping
at work, and an old broom with googlyeyes have to do with social learning?
Keep listening to find out.
Hi Labmates.
Welcome to The Social Learning Lab, apodclass about social learning at work.
In this episode, the team atYour Instructional Designer heads
into the lab to try one of ourown experiments from Season 1.
(00:23):
Needless to say, the beakers of bubblypink potions overflow, hilarity ensues,
and conclusions are not reached aboutwhether pineapple belongs on pizza.
We're playing a game calledWisecracks and Workshops, the
social learning shenanigans game.
If you're thinking, hey, I'd love toinfuse more surprise and delight in my
learning designs, games can definitely dothe trick; but how about snappier dialogue
(00:45):
in your videos, scenarios, and more?
You might have already heard, butthis week we're running a free
workshop, Are You Talking To Me?
Writing Dialogue that Speaks to Learners.
Visitwww.yourinstructionaldesigner.com/areyoutalkingtome
to find out more and grab your seat inone of this week's upcoming sessions.
(01:07):
Hi Labmates, we have an extra funepisode for you today featuring the
Your Instructional Designer team.
Your Instructional Designer is the sociallearning agency for skill development.
We create high impact learningexperiences with scalable social
learning that support connectionmaking in the brain and between humans.
We've worked with nearly 100 organizationsover the past seven years to add
(01:28):
growth opportunities that lead tomeaningful change, like increased
productivity from new hires, reductionof costly incidents on the job,
opportunities for revenue generation,and improved employee retention.
So, today we've gathered thewhole team for today's episode.
Woohoo!
We've got myself, KatieHynes, Instructional Designer,
Developmental Editor, and also aPhD holder in English Composition.
(01:52):
And, I'm going to go ahead and leteverybody here introduce themselves.
So, Nicole?
Sure, I'm Nicole Papaioannou Lugara.
I am the founder of Your InstructionalDesigner and a Learning Strategist;
PhD holder also in Composition,which is probably why Katie and I
get along so well, and a speaker.
I can add internationalspeaker to my resume lately.
(02:12):
I'm going to popcorn to Rocio.
Hi everyone.
My name is Rocio and I am theJunior Project Manager over here
at Your Instructional Designer.
I guess that says it all.
I manage all the projects.
I make sure that everything is runningsmoothly behind scenes, and then probably,
you know, make sure that Nicole's brainstays focused for part of the day,
(02:36):
Cat herding is an essential taskand I am the worst one of them all.
One of my essential tasks, shouldprobably add it to my resume like
making sure that the CEO is, youknow, on point at some point.
Anyways, Diego.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Diego Diaz.
I'm the Junior Digital Designerhere at Your Instructional Designer.
I do all the video editing, marketing,and everything you see on social media.
(03:01):
Yeah, and collectively, it's ourmission to make learning that matters.
And for us, that oftenbecomes opportunities for
social learning at scale.
So, if you've been listening tous for a bit, you know that after
every episode, we post an experimentbrief that suggests a way to put
the episode's ideas into practice.
For today's episode, we dug backthrough all the experiment briefs
and chose one to do together.
(03:23):
And this one is from Season 1- Episode7: Play to Win: Game Based Cohorts.
Moe Ash was the amazing guest and theexperiment challenged listeners to play
a game called Wisecracks and Workshops,The Social Learning Shenanigans Game.
In the brief, it's described asa humorous and engaging game that
integrates corporate training themeswith elements of social learning theory.
(03:46):
Before we get into the rules, I wantto find out where this game came
from, so, Nicole, did you invent it?
Tell us what that process was like.
Yes, it was awful.
No, you know, Moe's episode wasjust so awesome and engaging, and
he really encouraged us to thinkabout game mechanics, and like,
how we can learn through games.
So, I didn't want to just make it areflection piece in that experiment brief.
(04:09):
I really wanted to thinkabout gamifying the learning.
So, I kind of started with thisreally big idea that did not pan out.
It was way too ambitious.
And, where I landed was with this CardsAgainst Humanity style, but safe for
work version of, you know, kind of anL and D Cards Against Humanities game.
I'm totally going to say that I leveragedhelp from Chat GPT to help me with
(04:33):
the cards, cause my brain would getstuck on like what they should all say.
But, I think it came out pretty fun,and then, you know, you'll see it in
a minute if you're watching insteadof listening to the episode, but Katie
took the card game, which was in thebrief, and turned it into this amazing
Miro board, which is, was not part ofmy original plan, and it's just so cool.
(04:54):
Well, thank you.
I had fun exploring whatMiro has to offer here.
And, full credit to, I adapteda board that I found in the Miro
universe, designed by Maria Grohl;and played around with that.
And yeah, and thank you again,Nicole for creating this game.
It's, I think it's gonna bereally fun to play today.
I'm excited to play, becauseyou can't play it by yourself.
(05:16):
social.
With that said, I'm gonnashare the Miro board.
So, here we are.
Quick overview.
Alright, what are we looking at?
So, each player has a secret cornerthat we're not supposed to go visit;
and in their corner they've, we've allgot cards, so if you, yeah, if you've
played cards against humanity, theseare the cards you're, you're set with.
(05:39):
And, someone's going to be thefacilitator for each round and
they'll pull one of the pink cards.
And, that pink card is going tohave some kind of statement at the
beginning, of a, of a sentence.
And, we're each going to selectour, from our orange cards, a
way to finish that statement.
And, we're going to go for funny,but it could also be something
that's just super fitting.
(06:00):
And, the facilitator then decides,which one that they like the best.
And then, that player gets tomove a couple steps on the board.
So, of course, the person who has themost points by the end of, I think we're
going to do eight rounds, we'll see howit goes, can be declared the winner.
So, yeah.
are we ready?
Yeah,
Okay.
Lets
it.
(06:20):
Okay, who wants to bethe first facilitator?
I'll do it.
Thank you.
Alright,
Let me find my way through
Miro.
I'll pick the pink cards.
Okay.
We're on the board.
Thank you.
Okay.
Got it.
Okay, you gotta read it for us, Rocio.
I know.
I just, I'm making a, youknow, I struggle with Miro.
(06:42):
I just have to give me a little bit.
I shouldn't havevolunteered first with that.
You're perfect.
okay, okay.
So, it says, "The breakout session atthe corporate retreat was unexpectedly
about ____". I'm going to read that again.
Watching this, so the whole thing.
The breakout session at the corporateretreat was unexpectedly about
(07:04):
____.So we're gonna put them under round one, right?
Exactly, yes.
We're going to drag that over.
I don't know if you, I guess you're,don't look at what I'm doing.
I don't know.
Okay.
Zoom out after you put your card in.
I would definitely say, if you're playingwith friends in a conference room, it's
much easier to cut up the printout ofthe experiment brief than to build this
(07:26):
whole amazing board that Katie's done, but
And you should.
I think it'll be fun.
So, I put mine on.
I'm done.
I'm done, too.
I'm done too.
Okay.
So now.
Ok, I only see two.
I only see two.
Interesting.
Oh, you know what?
I know what happened.
(07:46):
I put my I sent mine to the back,and it, like, went way too far back.
Okay, try now.
Oh, no worries.
Yeah.
ha ha!
I see three.
Okay, cool.
So, let's see, Eevie's dream,Eevie's dream vacation.
You have to read the whole phrase.
Eevie's dream vacation.
No, no, I mean your phrase,the breakout session.
(08:07):
But
They're going to makeme move this Miro board
Okay
I'm really trying not to move things,because, you know, it like moves live.
Okay.
It won't move for us.
It'll only move for you.
So, if you're watching, this is whathappens when you introduce new tools
to your team with limited onboarding.
No, no, I got it.
(08:28):
But it's good.
We learn through play.
The breakout session at thecorporate retreat was unexpectedly
about Eevie's dream vacation.
Love that.
I wonder what that would be.
The breakout session at thecorporate retreat was unexpectedly
about, do you see my screen?
I like that.
(08:48):
The breakout session at the corporateretreat was unexpectedly about a
company wide ban on the word synergy.
Um,
Who's the winner?
I'm going to go about, because I feel
Yeah!
Yay!
That could totally happen.
Like, you know, could have beenan email, but lets have a meeting
(09:10):
about why we're banning this word.
Who was that one?
So I get to, it was me, so I get tomove mine up two spots on the board.
All right.
Who's facilitating next?
And don't forget to replaceone of your cards now.
I can go next.
Awesome
Thank you.
Let's see.
Okay.
Everyone ready?
Yeah.
(09:31):
Alright, "The latest teambuilding game got a little too
real when it involved blank".
Mine are not that funfor this one this time.
Actually.
I think we all placed it.
Everybody good?
Yep.
I'm struggling over here.
Okay.
Done.
(09:52):
Alright.
Let's put these out real quick.
Okay.
The latest team building game gota little too real when it involved
an escape room challenge themedaround escaping endless meetings.
The latest team building game gota little too real when it involved
office chair jousting tournament.
This makes me sad we're not inthe same office just for that one.
(10:15):
The latest team building game got alittle too real when it involved a serious
game of office survival complete witha desert island made of cubicle walls.
Only because I would like to see this, Ilike the office chair jousting tournament.
It reminds me of, do youguys watch The Office?
I was just about to say.
(10:36):
When they do the office Olympics, yeah.
Okay.
So do I move two spots?
That's here.
Yes, you do.
Is that your, well, is that your card?
Yeah.
That's mine.
Nice.
Come join.
Yeah.
Do you skip people or do youjust sit on top of the same box?
Didn't think that through.
There.
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean, I'll, I'll go next.
Awesome.
(10:57):
Question and statement card.
Okay.
"In an attempt to make meetings moreengaging, our manager introduced
blank as a discussion topic".
We get to see Katie's cards.
I know, you do.
Stop.
Don't look.
No Cheating.!
Okay, are we all?
(11:18):
I'm done.
Selected?
Yep.
Round three.
In an attempt to make meetings moreengaging, our manager introduced
your boss as a discussion topic.
I think I'd be a quite engaging topic.
In an attempt to make more meetingsmore engaging, our manager introduced
creating a secret code language only yourteam understands as a discussion topic.
(11:40):
In an attempt to make meetings moreengaging, our manager introduced
a group exercise mimicking theobservational learning of office
rituals as a discussion topic.
Hmm, that's a tough one.
I pick, I don't know,
group exercise, mimicking the,I just don't know what that is,
like, I can't imagine what it is.
So, I'm picking this onesimply for sheer confusion.
(12:01):
To find out, that was mine.
I don't know what it is either.
Okay.
Yes, lets do it.
No rationale whatsoever.
That's what we're going for.
You're at the mercy of the judgein this game, that's for sure.
You absolutely are.
My turn.
The HR department's new strategy to boostmorale is surprisingly centered around
(12:23):
Okay.
Locked in.
Fingers crossed.
I think I see everybody is done.
Okay.
The HR department's new strategyto boost morale is surprisingly
centered around a trust fall activitywhere everyone mysteriously needs to
take a phone call at the same time.
The HR department's new strategyto boost morale is surprisingly
centered around a workshop on theart of subtle napping at work.
(12:46):
That's insane.
The HR department's new strategyto boost morale is surprisingly
centered around a team mascot, that'sjust an old broom with googly eyes.
Oh, they're all so good.
I like the trust fall.
You gotta go with the trust fall.
I would pick the trust fall, for sure.
I can just picture it.
(13:07):
Well done.
The, the broom one reminds me of Clippy.
You guys remember Clippy?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, I was also thinking of Stick Stickly.
Oh, my god.
Oh, we're all even.
Everyone got a card.
Interesting.
Okay, so it's my turn.
Let me pick a card.
And it says, "During our Fun Fridaysession, we accidentally learned
(13:32):
about social learning theory through
____".Oh, how fitting.
Yeah,
I'm discarding one.
I don't like my options.
Oh.
Mine were not great either.
Oh, my God.
Then, I got a good one.
No looking.
Oh
(13:56):
Is everybody in?
Yeah,
Uh huh.
So, um, so far we're tied and we're gonnado this last one round of the game to see
who's the ultimate winner of this game.
That keeps Rocio from being the winner.
It's, it's okay.
But, you know,
took one for the team.
I'm taking one for the team.
Okay, so, "during our Fun Friday session,we accidentally learned about social
(14:21):
learning theory through an icebreakergame that somehow turns into a heated
debate about pineapple on pizza.
I actually had a conversationabout this the other day.
I would eat it.
Just saying.
I would too.
I love pizza.
I like pineapple on pizza.
No, Diego.
The audience can give ustheir opinion as well.
(14:44):
During our Fun Friday session,we accidentally learned about
social learning theory through alunch meeting with Albert Bandura.
That is way too appropriate.
Super casual, super casual.
Clearly, it wouldn't be possible, but yes.
During our Fun Friday session, weaccidentally learned about social learning
(15:07):
theory through a know your colleagues gamewhere the subject matter experts hints are
all in an obscure programming language.
I'm going to go with the gonna pizza one.
Just because I feel
with
like that's a very relevant topicof conversation that could probably
ruin friendships in this day and age.
(15:27):
You might've just takendown this team, Diego.
You're up for performance review.
No, just kidding.
Awesome.
Well, Diego is our winner incase they didn't pick that up.
Well done.
As a prize, Nicole's goingto send you a pineapple.
Pizza?
I could.
(15:49):
Alright, so I have a fewquestions for you all.
So, let's debrief.
So, the workshop part of thegame, right, is about this.
So, what are your reactions?
Yeah, to putting this game together.
I loved it.
It was fun.
Me too.
I had fun.
I had a smile on my face the whole time.
It was, it was fun.
And, I think that even just the gameitself, not the topic, but the game
(16:11):
itself, it's a great training tool.
Like you can make it about anythingthat you want, to practice with your
employees or like train your employees on.
It could be funny, like we did,but it could also be like a
serious, you know, more theorybased game if you wanted it to be
Yeah, like you could actually solvefor something instead of being silly.
(16:32):
Yeah, totally.
That could work.
Like figuring out like what's thebest approach like if you have
different approaches and, you know,the team can't decide What's the best
approach you could do it this way?
And arrive at an answer,rather than like a winner.
Just like the answer is the winnerlike this is what we're gonna do.
I think
(16:52):
it's good
for building like
team chemistry and like, kind of,like, learning about each other more.
Like I think it kind of brings thatbarrier down between everybody that
people hold up because now you're kindof in a way making it fun and you're
getting to see a new side of that person.
So, I think that's also a good thingthat it brings out I need to learn
from people and how their mind works.
I think in terms of ice
breakers, it's
(17:12):
way more fun than having to saylike my favorite animal or whatever.
Absolutely.
And I was going to ask, what did we learn?
Maybe aside from pizza,toppings are divisive.
I learned that we're funny,but I already knew that.
We have a good sense of humor.
Yeah.
I was gonna say man.
(17:34):
I'm really funny.
Like I've been trying to put it out there.
You're saying that this whole time
Just learned
This was the day.
The card.
So even though, the response cardswere funny and silly and maybe
like we didn't, we didn't superlearn strategies we'd implement.
I mean, the cards themselves were allgenuine social learning, like moments or
(17:57):
things to think about so there was somelike if you were listening and there was
still some stuff like, okay, a mascotwith googly eyes probably isn't the mascot
you want but it did triggered me to thinklike, okay, well, who is the mascot?
For us, it's Eevie.
How do we incorporate them?
But, you know, it got me thinkingeven if I didn't think deeply.
I always enjoy a trip into the absurd.
(18:18):
Yeah
So, I can see that being a goodprelude to a brainstorming session
or something, just laughing andcoming out with really wacky ideas.
As, sort of, a warm up.
Yeah,
That could work.
And, what did you think of thecombinations of pink and orange
cards and their relationship toreal life workplace scenarios?
(18:38):
Did it resonate?
Definitely.
I mean they were absurdbut like satirical, right?
Like far fetched, but not far fetched.
Relatable, but yeah, fantastical.
Would you play again??
Some were out there, some were, somewhereout there, someone is jousting in office.
(18:58):
That's not out there.
We did stupid things like that all thetime when I worked in my first job.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's what I going to say.
That sounds soo fun.
I'm sorry.
We don't have an office for you.
You could come sit in my office, Diego.
I mean, there's enough space fortwo, but everybody else, sorry.
There's a way in Miro to recreate.
(19:19):
I'll finish that.
We probably could.
We should try it.
You gotta be like
It can be done in the world.
We could maybe in VR someday, you know.
Oh
That's what I was gonna say.
Would you play again?
I can see
Yes.
yeah,
yeah
I guess you're doing this ona lunch break just for fun.
(19:39):
I would enjoy it.
Like, that's an open invitation actually.
We have to create some more cards.
Yes.
Yes.
Lunch and play like we justplay the game and have lunch.
Yeah, let's do it.
So my request, if you're listening to thisepisode, and you're sitting somewhere you
can do this, would be to give us what youwant the silly, absurd responses to be.
(20:00):
Because, you know, like, CardsAgainst Humanity has people write
stuff like that all the time.
I think it would be really fun to fill thedeck with responses from our listeners.
So,
Good.
If you're willing to doit, send us your ideas.
We'll add it to the deck.
Crowdsource, I love it.
Anything else, everybody?
Any other final thoughts aboutthis game and playing it together?
I think it was fun.
I think time went by fast when wewere playing it and we didn't even
(20:25):
notice that time was going by fast.
I think it could be something thatyou're breaking the ice, but also
learning like it's not just somethingto break the ice to break the ice like
you can actually make it a learningopportunity or like an opportunity
for people to get to know each other,maybe even an opportunity for people to
be vulnerable while playing the game.
(20:47):
So, I think there's a lot ofareas where you can dig into with
a game like this, and it doesn'thave to be this game, right?
There's so many games out therethat you can emulate, and recreated
in a way where, you know, yourwhatever it is that you're doing can
incorporated into that, into that game.
Rachel Arpin does L and D in D,like a Dungeons and Dragons style.
(21:13):
I would love to play that.
And, I thought it was fun to do oneof our own experiment briefs together,
like I would like to do that again.
You pick another one.
I agree.
I definitely think like, games aremade to be social interactions.
So, I think it's really importantthat we push those more into
like, our social settings and ourworkplaces, because I think it
(21:33):
really does bring people together.
Yes, it brings up those competitivesides, but it also brings that
collaboration, that communication, allthat kind of things that are needed in
order to make an effective workplace.
So I think it's really importantto have these kind of moments where
you can just have like, like, letloose and have fun with people and
like, get to know each other more.
I think the only thing that I'd add,one- it, sometimes, when we're, like,
(21:55):
really in the thick of things and you'rethinking fast, it's hard to think about
the game as the option, and so it'sjust a reminder to, like, slow down.
I mean, between you and I.
Katie, I don't know how much timeyou spent on this mirror board.
I probably spent an hour maybe twomax, writing the experiment brief.
So, it wasn't that time consuming forhow long we actually played the game,
or we could play the game, or howmany times we could reuse the game.
(22:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think, oh,
No, I was gonna say andthanks to the template.
It was pretty easy to put together.
So,
So, that helps.
And then, I was going tosay, we had fun doing it.
We would have had fun doing it nomatter what, but I think there's
been a lot of value in the debrief.
And so, like reflection canjust enhance the experience.
And that, again, like neither ofthose were really big time suck.
(22:38):
They took less time probablythan building PowerPoint.
And we had a lot of fun.
Thanks everybody.
Well, you can learn more about usat yourinstructionaldesigner.com
as well as Your IDs LinkedIn,Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
channel and if you're listening tothis episode, you already know about
our podclass the Social Learning Lab.
Thanks everybody.
Thanks for dropping by the lab today.
(22:59):
You're probably leaving withmore questions than answers.
Like, what's the pinkstuff in the beakers?
We'll get to the bottomof that another day.
But here's what we've jotted down in ourlab notebook based on today's experiment.
Games can prompt us to think togetherin new ways making them great preludes
to things like brainstorming sessions.
Debriefing and reflectingtogether are crucial parts of
(23:21):
social learning experiences.
It doesn't take much time to connect andlaugh with colleagues, and the investment
pays off through positive ripple effectson team dynamics and collaboration.
Now it's your turn, lab mates.
For your experiment, you'll selectone of the briefs from our past
episodes that you've been meaning totry and report back on the results.
(23:41):
Browse past experimentsin the Facebook community.
We can't wait to hear what you do.
Will you play Wisecracks in workshops too?
You can find the full experimentbrief in the show notes or the Social
Learning Lab community on Facebook.
In the community, you can also shareyour stories, get feedback and insights
from peers, and comment on others ideas.
And remember to check outwww.yourinstructionaldesigner.com/areyoutalkingtome
(24:07):
to sign up for our freeworkshop, Are You Talking to Me?
Writing Dialogue that Speaks to Learners.
Sessions will run this weekbetween March 11th and 15th, and
we can't wait to see you there.
If you enjoyed this episode, please leavea review, like, subscribe, or share so
we can continue to build a supportivegroup of social learning enthusiasts.
Until next time, keep makinglearning that matters.
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