Gamifying Mobile Learning to Improve Organizational Efficiency in Africa's first Insurance for Pastoralists

Experience and Initial Lessons from IBLI's m-learning Experiment with Young Sales Agents

Iddo Dror – Head of Capacity Development, ILRI

Presented at GFIA Africa Conference, Durban, 2 December 2015, in the session:‘ Agriculture mobile games: What options for sustainability and for engaging youth? ’

About ILRI - At a Glance

Better Lives Through Livestock

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to improve food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for better and more sustainable use of livestock.

ILRI is a member of the CGIAR Consortium which works for a food-secure future.

Find out more about us at www.ilri.org and see (many, many) presentations about our work at http://www.slideshare.net/ILRI/presentations

Snapshot of Mobile Projects at ILRI – We believe ICT4Ag is part of the solution.

• Gamified m-learning for Livestock Insurance (today’s focus)• Mobile phone-based diagnostics • mNutrition / mPig • Mobile Data Systems for Sustainable Livestock Genetics• Leveraging Mobile Technology to Match Research Priorities to Farmer Needs

About the Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) project – At a glance

• It is an insurance product that is designed to protect against prolonged forage scarcity in ASALs

• Insured pastoralists receive a pay-out based on a forage availability index, estimated according to the amount of forage available over a season as indicated by satellite imagery.

• IBLI is currently being implemented in parts of Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia• Over 4000 livestock herders in Kenya have bought IBLI since 2010. The Kenya

Govt./World Bank have rolled out IBLI on a larger scale to targeted pastoralists in N. Kenya.

• Benefits since inception;• 36% drop in ‘distress’ sales of livestock• 25% reduced likelihood of having to

eat significantly smaller meals• 33% reduction in

dependence on food aid.’• For more visit: ibli.ilri.org

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About IBLI’s Gamified m-Learning Experiment

• Design: Led by Prof. Elizabeth Lions, UCSD. Experimental design looking at effects of tradition training, mobile training, cash incentives and gamification incentives

• Time line: Field Testing: June, 2015Field Coordinator Training: July, 2015Experiment: August 1 - Sept 30, 2015

• Data: Independent Variables: Treatment group, prior sales record, location, surveys and tests. Dependent Variables: Intensity of app usage, knowledge of product, sales performance, customer satisfaction

Read more at: http://www.slideshare.net/ILRI/ilri-panel-lyons/14

Youth Involvement in the Experiment

• All the agents in our study were under 35 – avg age 26. They were trained sales agents of Takaful insurance company (the underwriter)

• Socio Economic status: The youth involved were from pastoral backgrounds with additional engagement in small businesses and IBLI sales/distribution

• Mobile literacy, is high among these youth as most (lead agents) already have smart phones which they use for whatsapp, facebook and games (Farmville etc.)

• Education: Most have post primary school education

Why We’re Excited about the Prospects of mLearning

• Short bite-sized micro-lessons: Fits the environment where we aim to intervene!

• Transcends the formal learning space and brings structured learning into an informal learning space (Flexible, Self-paced, Self-directed)

• A Form of Performance Support (Just-in-time / On-demand learning)

Source: http://elearningindustry.com/mlearning-the-way-of-learning-tomorrow

Games, Gamification, & Game-Based Learning: Are they the same thing?

• In some situations these terms are being used to describe the same thing. All have the same underlying foundations; game design.

• The difference is primarily in where and how you apply that game design. They should all align to the same fundamental principles of good design to build user engagement and retention.

• However, to some people these three are entirely different. Important to get the terminology right in this space.

Source: http://www.learndash.com/gamification-or-game-based-learning

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Very Tentative* Initial Insights

• Uptake (use statistics) much lower than expected - only around 13-15%. We’ll come back to that in a minute

• Despite the fact that there are many more subagents than lead agents, lead agents used the app in much greater numbers.

• Sub-agents are significantly more likely to participate when in the credit treatment. Difference between the credit app and the other apps is most significant among subagents who are the hardest to reach.

• The credit app leads to significantly more usage and take up than the basic app. Basic and gamified app have statistically the same take up.

* Disclaimer: We do not (yet) have all the outcome data so we do not know how app usage affects IBLT knowledge or sales. In addition, we do not know if having a lead agent invest time in the mLearning app will affect sub-agent knowledge or sales. These are all things we will be testing once the data is available and cleaned.

Plans Versus RealityExecution matters as much as design!

Games / Gaming can be exciting and ‘sexy’, but unless executed properly… one can lose much of the intended effects

Some examples from our ‘wave 1’ work:

Plans Versus RealitySome of the key issues in IBLI ‘wave 1 mLearning’• Training of agents and sub-agents (latter not

as ‘smart phone savvy’ as we thought).

• Mobile App introduced when lots else going on for the agents – deemed lower priority than other (sales) app bring introduced.

• Graphics / look & feel very basic – unimpressive in the ‘age of Farmville’

• Gamification leaderboard not optimized

• Deployment issues: e.g. wrong contract info provided for many subagents - App introduced late into sales window.

Key Learning: Do not underestimate time and complexity of rolling out mobile games in ‘real life’ settings.

Hardware Matters!

• We rolled out on a relatively basic phone with small screen size

• Not enough attention paid to implications of hardware choices!

Key Learning: Games should be fun – and the applications customized to the delivery environment. Basic hardware can have serious implications on what we can do in a mobile environment.

On The Bright Side, the Hardware Scene is Moving in the Right Direction

• Last week you could have purchased a Motorola E 4G (4.5’ screen, Android Lollipop, 4G LTE, 8GB memory etc.) for only USD $10 (!)

Also on the Bright Side: Youth & Mobile

• Young and tech Savvy: The average age of the lead agents was 26 years – most were tech savvy and knowledgeable on the use of smart phones

• Educated: Most of these lead agents have attained at least secondary education and could read – opening possibilities that do not exist with the older population in the region

• Familiar with mobile games: Some of them had interacted with other forms of mobile games like Farmville and Candy Crush before.

Looking Ahead - Plans for ‘Wave 2’

• We’re still bullish on the role of mobile and games in ICT4Ag – and will continue to a ‘wave 2’ in the near future

• Learning from wave 1 challenges will help shape our next wave.

• Looking for partners in this area – please get in touch if you’re interested! Drop me a line at i.dror@cgiar.org

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

better lives through livestock

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