Purdue Students Create Gamified MBA Program

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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA new gamified MBA program created by two Purdue University graduate students aims to create a more engaging alternative to traditional MBA courses. The university says MBAville teaches business concepts in an immersive, fantasy environment.
MBAville was created by Arun Bharadwaj, an MBA student at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, and Jiaqi Wang, a computer graphics technology student at the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. The program’s first game, titled Project Quant, teaches accounting, analytics and economics in a pizzeria setting.
"Classrooms can be static in nature and if students are not engaged they can switch off after 15 or 20 minutes," said Bharadwaj. "It’s the same with online education that mimics the classroom by using videos, slides and e-textbooks. Gamified systems are already being used by many companies for cybersecurity, improving customer engagement and goal tracking. Project Quant’s bite sized courseware, interactive decision-making and gamified environment could provide students and professors a much better platform for learning and engagement."
Bharadwaj says MBAville focuses on real world applications, which current MBA programs do not. He says Project Quant makes students feel like they are running a real business, which has garnered positive feedback from business schools in India, to which Bharadwaj has pitched the program. He says he is beginning to pitch the idea to MBA programs in the U.S. as well.
You can view a demo of MBAville by clicking here. You can also view an in-game video below: