Third Place: Alternate Reality Training
Winner: Ethan Mollick, Assistant Professor of Management, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Idea: Based on concepts developed in the game industry, Alternate Reality Training (ART) would join hundreds of MBAs (and students in other fields) together as top executives in fictional companies, taking part in a scenario that plays out over the course of an academic year or longer, Mollick says. For a few hours each week, they will be expected to self-organize and coordinate to address an ongoing and evolving set of business scenarios, in which the actions of students, or groups of students, affect the scenario's outcome. It will give them a unique chance to work with other students from diverse backgrounds; address unstructured and unspecified problems; and gain experience applying knowledge at a very high level. And ART has another advantage: It will be engaging and exciting to play.
Mollick: "I would like to help fill the gap between theory and practice in management education. Classroom education often doesn't offer a chance to practice and experiment, and practical experience often doesn't allow time for reflection and learning, especially as most students start their post-MBA careers in positions below that of the business leaders they aspire to be."
Idea: Based on concepts developed in the game industry, Alternate Reality Training (ART) would join hundreds of MBAs (and students in other fields) together as top executives in fictional companies, taking part in a scenario that plays out over the course of an academic year or longer, Mollick says. For a few hours each week, they will be expected to self-organize and coordinate to address an ongoing and evolving set of business scenarios, in which the actions of students, or groups of students, affect the scenario's outcome. It will give them a unique chance to work with other students from diverse backgrounds; address unstructured and unspecified problems; and gain experience applying knowledge at a very high level. And ART has another advantage: It will be engaging and exciting to play.
Mollick: "I would like to help fill the gap between theory and practice in management education. Classroom education often doesn't offer a chance to practice and experiment, and practical experience often doesn't allow time for reflection and learning, especially as most students start their post-MBA careers in positions below that of the business leaders they aspire to be."
