Guided by Professor Federico Trigos, students live an unprecedented educational innovation experience at EGADE Business School, which integrates the business case method with the gamification technique.

By JOSÉ ANGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Travel to Mars in the year 2097 and solve a business dilemma as a team?

Two groups of students from the EGADE MBA program did it in the classroom, experiencing an unprecedented educational innovation for EGADE Business School of the Tecnológico de Monterrey that, for the first time, integrating the business case method with the gamification technique.

Facilitated by Federico Trigos, professor of Business Analytics at EGADE Business School, this new experience was lived as a pilot activity within his Operations Management class in the Summer of 2022 period.

The case studied was the classic “Sports Obermeyer” from Harvard.

The dynamics included the viewing of a video set on Mars and teamwork through a board game made up of a board and cards with information to analyze, among other didactic elements.

"The students expressed very positive results of this experience, highlighting that it raised the energy level of the session and allowed them to learn in a different and fun way, achieving the learning objectives in a more dynamic way", commented Trigos.

In the design of the experience and its materials, the Educational Innovation teams of EGADE Business School and the Design and Pedagogical Architecture team of the Office of the Vice President for Educational Innovation and Academic Regulations at Tec de Monterrey collaborated.

AN INNOVATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE

The Director of Educational Innovation at EGADE Business School, Eloísa Pérez, explained how the elements of gamification were integrated into this innovative learning experience with the different phases of the case method:

• Individual preparation: “The students had previously analyzed and interpreted the case in their individual activity, so that, when they arrived at the class, they were all ready for the discussion in teams.”
• Beginning of the experience: “By beginning this dive, two specific goals are fulfilled. One, they watch a video that introduces students to the history and transports them to Mars for their first private sightseeing trip in human history. Two, they discover the mission: to contribute with their experience in solving a problem that arises in 2097 and that with their current knowledge they can generate value”.

• Team discussion: “By forming teams, the traditional dynamic of participating in small groups became a gamified experience in which each team had various challenges to solve and discuss as a team. The dynamic was carried out through the use of a physical board and a series of cards with key information that they began to analyze. In this phase, they interacted as a team and exchanged their knowledge and experiences, but now as experts invited to solve the problems presented on Mars during their tourism trip. The students had three challenges to prove themselves worthy: identify the most important facts, the theoretical contribution applied to practice and the executive needs of the case. Each mission, when solved, led them to gain access to three keys of wisdom and as a lock to the master key of total knowledge.

• Plenary discussion: “The integration of the plenary discussion also took place with the participation of the teams that finished their experience on time; they were asked to support the rest of their colleagues by contributing their ideas and knowledge, seeking to develop collaboration and teamwork.

"Our challenge at EGADE, and which is part of this pilot, is the generation of innovative and transformative experiences that, by combining various strategies, enhance and improve the teaching-learning process at the postgraduate level," Pérez pointed out.

With this activity, facilitated by Professor Trigos, a series of pilots were launched to integrate a portfolio of disruptive experiences at EGADE Business School and apply various teaching strategies and educational technologies at the forefront of business schools globally.