More than you might think. Little known to many of our ITSM customers, ITpreneurs operates a specialized “Cultural and Social Integration (CSI)” business unit focused on learning solutions that address pressing social issues. To date, CSI has worked closely with the Dutch government to craft programs for a wide range of learners with unique needs – from integrating non-western immigrants successfully into the European culture, to preventing high school dropouts from dropping off of society's radar. With this latter group, the Dutch government is implementing our CSI unit's innovative “Back To Your Future” training program for engaging dropouts.

But how do you train a school dropout? One of the problems facing the CSI team was that traditional training methods clearly did not work for this diverse group of individuals – many of whom were well above average intelligence. What's more, these students had grown up with technology embedded in their lives, from the Internet to sophisticated video games. Our CSI team quickly realized they would have to toss out long-established assumptions about learning, and start from scratch.

With the above in mind, the CSI team developed a curriculum centered on “cool” games and interactive scenarios – a more fitting approach for the Nintendo Generation than yawn-inducing textbooks and dry lectures. And this approach turned out to be the key that unlocked students' interest in challenging the limits of their knowledge.

Countless studies echo this discovery: “Experiential” learning fully immerses students in a subject, leading to faster retention and lasting understanding of the subject matter. Most importantly, imagination is sparked – along with creative thinking.

We foresee that education, training, and competence building will undergo fundamental changes in the next five years. For example, it is inconceivable that these potential dropouts will sit through a one-hour PowerPoint presentation. For that matter, how many IT pros fully absorb information through this medium? This is a wake up call for all of us in the industry to get with a very new program.

At the frontline of social issues, our CSI unit – and in turn, ITpreneurs - is in an ideal position to spot learning trends, and then use these discoveries to craft more innovative best practices content delivery. We'll see the CSI unit's high tech approach increasingly applied to ITpreneurs' solutions, from games-based learning to exciting “real world” simulations. Ultimately, the user-centric instructional design principles are the same for both high school dropouts and Service Managers. Indeed, through groundbreaking learning techniques, the dropout kids of today could be the IT managers of tomorrow. Maybe not as crazy as it sounded when you began reading this article.

For more information, or to get the latest list of our highest selling games-based learning products, contact Dimitri van den Broek, ITpreneurs Director in charge of CSI Programs, at dimitri.broek@itpreneurs.com .