Abstract:

A need for a well-balanced team” is a well-known adage, be it in sports, organizations or startups. There are numerous studies that suggest which type of teams perform better than others  for a certain task, but the process of that team formation itself is rather unexplored and next to non-existent in the educational literature. Furthermore, educators burdened by course loads and schedules tend to opt for the easiest method of team formation – a random allocation or self-selection by the participants. Taking into account well known benefits of diversity in teams, we have tried to explore team allocation by educators and the use of gamification to try and answer the question - Is it possible to make team allocation easier for the educators as well as more fun for the students? We compare a serious gaming solution with an intensive instructor-selection method for team allocation. This pilot study finds that the game-allocated teams performed equally as the instructor-selection method, but the former saved time for the educator while being fun for the students. While there were some hints that the game-allocated teams performed marginally better than the instructor-selection-allocated teams, further studies need to be done to confirm our hypothesis.

Rajiv Vaid Basaiawmoit is Head of Open Innovation at AU Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and IMC Affiliated researcher.

Link to Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation