Guidelines for Greatness

1. Encourage Engagement

At the heart of the very best Education and Entertainment is Engagement. In education, this is often best achieved by using the principles of active learning. Meanwhile, brands and organizations typically measure engagement by how often they interact with customers, which when done right, can lead to increased brand awareness. Without engagement, your Edutainment projects will fall flat.

2. Obliterate Obstacles

Edutainment can help people understand and move through topics faster. Successful Edutainment removes barriers to learning, especially in complex, technical or traditional topics.

3. Seek Balance

Never underestimate how long it takes for people to grasp concepts. Edutainment projects often focus too much on the entertainment part while leaving the education aspect feeling like an afterthought. You still need the academic rigor around what helps people retain information. Calculus is still calculus. So create a balance in your Edutainment project.

4. Emphasize Emotion

Academic rigor can suck the emotion out of a topic quicker than an ice cream falling out of the cone - sad and boring. All learning involves emotion in some way - as does entertainment. Make sure you bring emotion to the forefront.

Gamification can be hugely powerful in Edutainment. It can help people learn concepts easier. But it needs careful planning and design to be truly effective. Don’t be tempted to label all your Edutainment projects as games. Make sure you have a variety of learning tools.

6. Dreams & Heroes

Your Edutainment project is the perfect vehicle to help people vividly describe their dreams and understand the paths and stepping stones others took on their journeys. This approach can help people find purpose, set goals, and make course corrections when they hit hurdles and challenges.  

7. Think About The Big Picture

Edutainment projects aren’t a one-and-done concept. Consider what deeper involvement looks like in practice. Is it ownership? Is it based on co-creation? Is it an intangible? (for example, the community built during and after a learning experience).