Meeting

Had a great meeting with a student who has some great ideas.

My thinking on this is that if we are to be really true to the idea that marketing is about doing and solving problems than we can't really use Foursquare or SCVNGR to ask questions.  It isn't constructive, it's boring old school.

I know that marketers gather information based on consumer perceptions and there is always the possibility to give people virtual cash to see how they spend it (so we can use all the class gathered research to do a price sensitivity analysis) or sometimes people do sortof hippyish feeling tests -- how do you feel entering a store, how leaving . .  I don't know, this idea needs work.

As far as the traditional iPhone usage for quiz questions and core concepts -- that's doable but it's not really engaged learning, it's old school.  But since courses still test by asking questions with pre-determined binary (on/off) right responses we still need some old school learning aids .  

A brief question on the meaning of education

Is formal post secondary education a rite of passage to prove character?  We don't care what Jimmy learned, actually he forgot most of it, but dammit he survived 4 years of classes and exams and assignments and that matters to us!  The experts say that we learn by doing, by engaging and that passive absorption lasts until about 15 minutes after the final.  I know that I perhaps drank too much as an undergraduate and that might have an influence but there are some entire courses that I've forgotten, not just lectures, not just facts . .  

Incentives

I read a book called Drive by Daniel Pink.  I actually listened to it which means limited retention (trying to avoid the endless people ramming the piece of crap 24 in my face or having some person rip away my headphone cord because the future of humanity depends on h getting ahead of me and onto that subway car takes away my attention.).  But I remember largely him speaking about the power of intrinsic motivators vs. traditional extrinsic.  Intrinsic focuses on internal accomplishment, pursuit of pleasure, pursuit of creativity.  Extrinsic focuses on money, grades, everything outside us, it is the human equivalent of giving the monkey a peanut to ring a bell.  Pink says that setting up motivators to appeal to intrinsic rewards provides better results.  I think that the University and the College (on both sides of the lectern) are almost totally driven by extrinsic rewards.  From the student side it is about the grade, about the course, about the degree.  From the teaching side it is about politics, building empires, minimizing preparation and marking time, getting tenure, etc.

How does this related to a potential iPhone app?

If the fleshed out ideas are all about grades students will find away to do the absolute minimum to get their grade bait.  When that happens it is like there is a mental short circuit, creativity, understanding and pride of achievement are ignored in the mad cash to "what is the quickest and the easiest way to get to the end place where I get my grade peanut."

So this is why I think that the merit of any Marketing iPhone app worth it's salt will be to create something that is used but not rewarded for use by grades.  One student suggested offering job internships, or access to industry leaders as a reward.  That sounded interesting.   One idea proposed is that the engagement that the app provides be tied to observing or interacting with particular retail stores -- perhaps if that was true there could be commercial sponsors.  But what ever we do I think that the app needs to rise above quizzing and flash cards that are purely focused on test prep.

So what do you think?   Everything we do we do for a reason, sometimes for money, for sex, for altruism, for laughs, for spite, for the joy of saying "I did that, look!), for power, for acclaim, for . . .

What incentives can we offer?  (But maybe we still should focus on what this app does before worrying about incentives you say?  Perhaps the drivers to do and the rewards to do are so closely tied together they can't be split up)

Paul

Starting

I'm not sure if you've ever had an idea that is not well fleshed out, that is still more of a concept or even a dream but still nevertheless is something that you believe is out there, perhaps presently out of reach, but out there.  So we're at a brainstorming stage, not a bring on the haters stage, just moving forward.    I really don't know what I'm doing, just found out you can't edit blogs after you post them, oh well.


But anyway --  doesn't Marketing surround us? One only need go to a mall to see applied branding, pricing strategies, clear segmentation and the fruits of research into consumer behaviour.  We can do better than the way we teach it now.


Our idea is to create a iPhone application that allows students to bridge that gap between the classroom and the "real world."  (I wish we never used that "real world" expression, it seems to celebrate that our educational process is so far removed from our day to day existence that it isn't even real!).  I've been researching a lot recently, particularly looking at the concept of using the same drivers that games utilize but in an educational context.


I'll also include some of the links that I've found particularly helpful.  Again, this is the start of a open ended process.  I hope to make this a collaborative process.  I hope anyone who reads this will not be coming with the mindset where your goal is to expose fault ("You've got a typo, someone has already tried this, this won't work, it doesn't make sense).  There are technical sources out-there to flesh out our ideas and make them work.  As long as we don't get too Star Trekky lets focus on the idea, the learning value and less on the technical execution. Right now the budget is $0.

Basic uses  (all would give points / badges and be tied into a grand leader board, they could also level up) ?  

Why the experts say that games (yes Xbox games, DS etc) play on motivators and drivers that help people learn better than traditional education.  

a.  They allow community building the weaving of tight social fabric, like people after playing them in a   game.   

b.  No unemployment in virtual worlds, people feel valued.

c.  Urgent optimism (always moving forward to create something) 

d.  Blissful productivity

e.  The ability to create meaning

f.  Competition 

The inventor of a FourSquare like application (a brilliant 23 year old College drop out named Seth P started it) 

http://www.scvngr.com/  -- He says the 4 drivers below are crucial:

1. The appointment dynamic  --- Farmville - where you have to go back to it to water your crops
2. Influence and status       

      3. Progression dynamic

      4. Communal Dynamic

      Real ideas could be???

1.  Polling in class or in the field (off the shelf IPhone applications for this – Thumbspeak)   -- consumer behaviour polling, preference polling, etc.  -- use 

2.  Possible business simulation (no off the shelf iPhone applications for this that I see) they could develop a marketing plan based on data they would be sent and there would be “right” answers that would give them points.   Algorithm?

3.  Situational (Foursquare - GPS) relevant quizzing  (you come to a certain store and it asks you questions. This could incorporate the appeal of a scavenger hunt) Foursquare calls it “checking in”

4.  Self-assessment  -- this is triggered polling to gage reactions to products or experiences in the field.  Marketers do this as they find that quick responses (taken immediately) are much more accurate than hindsight appeals. This can get into the heavy psychology.

5.  Giving them virtual wallets for pricing sensitivity analysis

     Crowd sourcing?

     Some excellent video or articles are included below.
   
     http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

http://kotaku.com/#!209279/japanese-children-studying-with-ds-at-school

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/17973

http://mashable.com/2010/03/22/nintendo-ds-enters-japanese-schools/


http://www.ted.com/talks/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_engage_boys_in_learning.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_chatfield_7_ways_games_reward_the_brain.html

Building a game world on top of the world SCVNGR (Scavenger game)

http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world.html

http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/research/allied/2005vegas/mktg studies/8.pdf


(Remember how we tell student to never, ever use Wikipedia . .)  See below. 

Comments?

Gamification is the use of game play mechanics^[1] for non-game applications (also known as "funware")^[2], particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications. It also strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviors in connection with the applications.^[3] Gamification works by making technology more engaging,^[4] and by encouraging desired behaviors, taking advantage of humans' psychological predisposition to engage in gaming. The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading web sites.^[4]

Contents  [hide] 1 Techniques 2 Applications 3 Companies and organizations 4 Critique 5 References

[edit]Techniques

Early examples of gamifications are based on rewarding points to people who share experiences on location-based platforms such as Facebook's "Place" feature, Foursquare (social network), and Gowalla.^[5] Some of the techniques include:

• achievement "badges"
• achievement levels
• "leader boards"
• a progress bar or other visual meter to indicate how close people are to completing a task a company is trying to encourage, such as completing a social networking profile or earning a frequent shopper loyalty award.^[6]
• virtual currency
• systems for awarding, redeeming, trading, gifting, and otherwise exchanging points
• challenges between users
• embedding small casual games within other activities.^[4]

One more thing.  

The first reaction that I hear from students when I talk about extra research or use that dreaded concept of "supplementary" materials is "is it for marks?"  

Yes, the reward system of marks is hardwired into students.  My hope is that this learning application would somehow not be for marks, that it have enough inherent value and that it present enough intrinsic motivators (as opposed to grades which are extrinsic) that students want to do it.  I think that when students start viewing things through "what do I need to to do to get marks for this" and not "why do I care, what does it mean etc." that they are not really in the best position to be learning.  

Ironically, they are gaming the educational system.  Can students be persuaded to do anything, to use this ill-described, not well thought out, vague iPhone application without getting bonus credit?  I think so. How, I don't know. Tell me. 

Paul

Who is John Dewey and why should we care?

John Dewey was a 19th century writer, famous for his 1916 book "Democracy and Education."  

Condensing complex philosophical works into a few paragraphs is always dangerous but it is striking how his insights into education still ring true today.  He warned of the dangers of teaching by pouring in, learning by a passive absorption.  He said that education should be engaged, that it be an active and constructive process, that it happen socially.   

According to Dewey the criterion of value for school education is the extent in which it creates a desire for continued growth and supplies the means for making this desire effective.  

I teach Marketing and Communications at a Toronto University and Community College (yes, I'm a lowly sessional instructor, grovel, scrape dirt etc.) and believe that today -- even with Blackboard, PowerPoint, clickers and various other paraphernalia -- we often still fail to engage many of our students.  

Are we like the religious organization that has lost its way and has substituted formality and process for faith?  Have we replaced credentialism with education, have we have taken the easy route and replaced thoughtfulness, creativity, and the passion to engage in the classroom with rigid content  and self-righteous student evaluation schemes (where these schemes are all telling)?  Where it's all about the teacher, (sorry, Professor) 

Thus are we perhaps left with too many zombie students --  experts in gaming the system we have created, students who view the classroom as distinct from the world, who view education as a rite of passage, a mindless march down the corridors of higher learning toward cap and gown?  A weight on their shoulders?

But what to do?  Through this blog and the discussion and comments I hope to gather  I am certainly not seeking to add to the existing lamentations of academia.    So -- if not that -- what!

This blog is intended to get feedback to help us move forward on the creation of an application / constructivist learning tool that will take place outside of the classroom.  It is about using technology (hence the reference to the iPhone) in the context of a Marketing course 

(Marketing should be all about creation and discovery, it is scarcely a discipline but more a set of applied best practices simply based on observing and meeting the economic desires of the human creature).  

So we then are still chasing John Dewey but with an iPhone. Let's begin.