Final presentation for our Darden Developing New Products and Services class. Project was a mobile application using gamification principles to teach leadership development skills

1. Leadership Development Mobile app
Developing New Products and Services Fall T2
David Darkwa
Maribel Garcia
Abhishek Samanta

2. LeadTech
The Problem:
• Traditional teaching methods are limited in teaching and
developing leadership traits. People learn best through
active engagement and practice, not through discussions or
completing assignments.
• Current solutions in the market place offer very short-term
engaging experiences: (LO Intensive Change Management
simulation, Ethics simulation, corporate training, 360
feedback). They are one-time experiences and lack
reinforcement abilities.

3. Potential Users
End-users
Buyers
• Students
• Graduate & College Leadership
Faculty
• Managers
• Leadership
Consultants/Coaches
• HR Departments of companies

4. How we validated the problem
• Spoke with Darden Leadership faculty/ Corporate HR
Reps
• Spoke with Darden students
• Reflected on our own LO experiences and identified
potential opportunities for improvement

5. Leadership Development App
Our solution to the problem
• A mobile app that complements the leadership development effort
through real-life, engaging experiences on the end-user’s phone
How will it tackle current problems:
•
Allow schools, colleges to inject real-life scenarios into the currently theoryheavy leadership curriculum
•
It is designed to run for longer periods than traditional simulations and easily
mirror the Quarter, Semester or Term system
•
Gamification approach makes it highly engaging and more prone to daily use
•
It will introduce a competitive/collaborative component into the exercise via
multi-player options
•
Solution will allow for peer feedback, instructor assessment of student
performance & a rewards/penalty management system
•
It will feature multiple, rich leadership themes using familiar simulation
characters

6. HR Departments
Current System
• Formal Classroom Setting
• Add-ons: assessments, 360 feedback etc.
Downside
• Expensive
• Effectiveness not easily measured
• Employees do not take seriously
Needs
• Cost effective
• Measurable
• Integration with current systems used
• Actionable exercises/Hands-on experiences- preferred by employees

7. MBA Students
Current System
• Traditional lecture/case discussions
• Theme-based simulations combined with traditional course content
Downside
• Discussions/lectures are largely theoretical and academic in nature
• One-time simulation exercises that lack reinforcement ability
Needs
• Need for retention of leadership concepts over the long-term
• Need to make leadership real and engaging

8. What must the product do?
Functional requirements
Non-functional requirements
• mobile app that works on smart phones
• Operate on only 3 mobile platforms
(for the foreseeable future): iOS,
Android, Windows Phone/Symbian
• Feature multiple leadership themes per
school/program curriculum
• Deliver content through realistic
scenarios and characters/vatars
• Have an interactive multi-player
component that allows for real life
simulation
• Provide periodic feedback to both user
and instructor on an ongoing basis
• Customizable to run for the length of a
customer’s
calendar
system
(Term, Quarter, Semester, etc)
• Scenarios will run for no longer than 4
months
• It will provide an interface for
integration with current leadership
development programs
• In the very first phase, other mobile
devices such as tablets and netbooks
are excluded

9. Ideation
Search for possible solutions to stated problem
• Create real-life projects and have students do them (Chinese proverb: I hear I forget, I see I
remember, I do I understand)
• Create simulations/games outside the classroom that reinforce the concepts
• Enacting the real life concepts using plays/drama/movies/storytelling
• Full immersion experiences in a particular culture/environment
• Expeditions, field trips
• Conducting experiments
• Watching videos of people doing things
• Filmmaking of the eventKeep a journal
• Teach others/coaching – colleagues, friends, etc.
• Learn from others’ real life experiences
• Learn from personal experience
• Take tests/quizzes
• Cases
• Drawing ideas
• Repetition
• Mentorship/Coaching

10. Prototyping
Developed several prototypes to test the critical user engagement factors:
Use multiple learning styles
• Specifically test 2 versions
• A methodical/procedural-based teaching approach
• An unconventional/mixed approach employing
surprise quizzes, repetition, stories

11. Sample Screenshots