Immersive Teamwork

Throughout your career, you’ll spend a substantial share of your professional time and effort as a member and/or leader of teams. This two-and-a-half day course will help you get ready to harness the potential of teams and to thrive as a team member and leader. The course relies heavily on game playing and game (re)design as avenues for understanding team dynamics. Across the course, you will not be a passive audience member or spectator, copying down someone else’s generic recipe for team success. Instead, you’ll be an active co-creator of your own individualized experience in the service of our two main course objectives: a) deepening your understanding of yourself as a team member and leader and b) building your knowledge of, and practicing behaviors related to, team dynamics and team success. Be prepared to engage in multiple forms of team activities, ranging from an intense multi-hour-long immersive simulation (a large-scale game) with coordination challenges across team roles (such as Navigator, Engineer, and Analyst) to an extended team design sprint, creating your own game modification that your team will showcase with classmates. Our learning environment will require and reward active participation, a willingness to support and engage with classmates, and a readiness to both give and receive candid, constructive feedback. Students will engage in reading and reflection both before and after our two-and-a-half days of class time. Students are urged to review the syllabus for additional details. Attendance is mandatory for the entire course.