3D GAMES & SIMULATIONS: THE FUTURE ASSESSMENT CENTER

Alex Howland, Ph.D.

• Assess distributed (& global) leadership skills • Provide social and experiential learning online

• Scalable approach to behavioral assessment

• Make assessment fun!

• Attract Millenials

PROJECT GOALS

THE TECHNOLOGY

• Unity 3D • VoIP • Text chat • Instructor resources • Analytics of user behavior

• Simulations • Collaborative web browsing • Professional avatar customization • User profile system • Record and playback

GMAC MET Fund’s Ideas to Innovation Challenge Global competition seeking the best ideas to improve graduate management education and bring those ideas to fruition.

THE INCEPTION OF VIRBELA

LECTURE HALL

BUSINESS SIMULATIONS

THE CAMPUS

AVATAR CUSTOMIZATION

Assessment Engine

Simulations

• Personality

• Abilities

• Business Acumen

• Action Learning

• Social Presence

• Sense of Autonomy

• Spatial Audio

• Big Data Assessment

• Blended Learning

• Spatial Learning

• Collaboration

• Extremely plastic (customizable)

WHY 3D VIRTUAL WORLDS?

Assessment Design Process

Define Competencies

Identify Behavioral Anchors

Design Simulations

Triangulate Assessment

Approach

Implement

Implement and Iterate

Law Application ASSESSMENT MODALITIES

• User profiles • Automated (e.g., simulation results) • Facilitator observation (real time or post hoc) • Peer feedback (e.g., team 360) • Self-evaluation • Multi-level analysis (time, individuals, teams, orgs.)

AC PROOF OF CONCEPT: GLOBAL MBA

COMPETITION

PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES

Law Application GLOBAL LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY MODEL

Behavioral Competency Assessment

Personal Dimensions Leading Others Leading in a Global Environment

•Cognitive Agility •Influencing & Supporting •Global Citizenship

•Personal Resilience •Transparent Interaction •Global Leverage

•Self-Knowledge •Relationship Building •Global Governance

Your team will take over a large, global automobile manufacturer where your objective is to build sales, improve profitability and maximize shareholder value. You will manage the company for 20 quarters or five years.

THE CHALLENGE

Each team was assigned a professional facilitator who observed and then lead debrief sessions around team processes (e.g., decision making, conflict management, managing cultural differences)

Team Strategy & Debrief Room

STUDENTS IN ACTION

PERFORMANCE

DATA

Captured Data COMMUNICATION PATTERNS

PUBLICATION

Howland, A. C., Rembisz, R., Wang-Jones, T. S., Heise, S. R., Brown, S. (2015).

Developing a virtual assessment center. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and

Research, 67, 110-126. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000034

Special Section: Technology and the Consulting Psychologist.

WHERE IS THIS ALL HEADED?

Business Simulation Competition

Team Science Competencies

Distance Education Platform

Career Counseling for Transitioning Navy SEALS

IMMERSIVE DATA VISUALIZATIONS

HEAT MAPS

BIO DATA

Keyboard & Mouse

LeapMotion Hand Gesture Recognition

Wireless EEG Headset Kinect Motion Capture

Eye Tracking

MULTI-MODAL BRAIN/BODY IMAGING

HEALTH CARE

NEXT ITERATIONS

● Improve assessment design and backend

● Refine activities and simulations

● Develop a robust facilitator training

● Validity evidence

● Be sustainable

● Find the right partners

● Iterate, iterate, iterate

• Getting past the avatar

• Ethical and confidentiality implications

• Reliability/validity

• State of commodity hardware & internet speeds

• Cost / scale

• Rapidly changing technology landscape

• Working across disciplines

CHALLENGES

• Questions?

• General reactions?

• Concerns?

• Marketability?

• Use cases?

DISCUSSION