Financial Accounting Gamification

Background

Much like the medical learning proposal, students in the financial track have a problem surrounding their way of learning. Studies have proven that learning in a more fun, engaging environment yields better results. Traditional learning methods are tedious and are surrounded by a sense of dread. Students trying to learn via these conventional methods are less likely to absorb what they’re doing, and have a worse chance of even engaging in the first place.

Executive Summary

A solution to this problem would be a gamified course that would run in parallel to a financial course that the students are actually attending. Games would be well thought out with the faculty involved in the design process to ensure that they are up to the standards of the physical course. An alternative would be a mobile / desktop application that does not rely on a corresponding finance course, rather a gamified general finance learning process that helps people of all backgrounds develop knowledge to gain interest in the field. Either version would solve the problem of tedious learning practices currently in rotation that are not compatible with most students / users.

Viability Analysis

Building on both mobile and web platforms could prove difficult given the time frame proposed. A proof of concept for both would be more viable, or a more in depth version on one platform could work too. Working with someone knowledgeable of the field would be required in order to create an app that serves its intended purpose.

Risks and Rewards

If the app were to be integrated within a real course, we run the risk of the platform not living up to the standards of the other, more conventional learning practices. If completed successfully, the app would make financial knowledge more accessible for all walks of life.

Closing

There has been a trend of gamifying classically mundane and tedious tasks, which I think is a move in the right direction if done the right way. These games must really push for constant engagement, because often the allure is the novelty of it, which inevitably wears off.

Pantry Volunteering Dilemma

Background

The Pantry is having a hard time with three things – volunteer retainment, volunteer monitoring, and volunteer signups. There are places all over America where people go hungry, and Lewisburg is one of them. Without volunteers to help feed people that come to places like The Pantry, there is no way for everyone to be served food. As of now, there is a decent rate of burnout regarding current volunteers, and The Pantry is having a hard time keeping track of new signups, specifically categorizing frequency and level of interest. A platform for the pantry could solve these problems, making volunteering more interesting and engaging, as well as making signups more streamlined and enticing. Hopefully this can solve all of the problems that The Pantry is having.

Executive Summary

A social, profile-based web application with facebook integration would be the perfect solution for the problems The Pantry is having. Every volunteer (that creates an account) would have a profile on the app, and that profile would solve a number of problems. It would help The Pantry keep track of who volunteers when, and with that information, would be able to assess retention rate of these volunteers and frequency of new signups. Making it social would help reduce volunteer burnout because, let’s face it, people love letting other people know that they are volunteering for those less fortunate. Adding a facebook and/or facebook integration would just make that sharing aspect a little easier.

Viability Analysis

The most difficult thing about this proposal would be on the user end of it, ensuring that people use it the way they should. If that doesn’t happen, it will essentially be useless at accomplishing the goals stated above. Creating a database of users with a log of each time they volunteer would not be difficult, and I can’t imagine building a UI for it to be difficult either. Coming up with a way to tastefully display users’ involvement, if available to other volunteers, could prove a design challenge, but would be manageable.

Risks and Rewards

A risk would be creating this platform that could go untouched by many volunteers that either don’t know about it, or don’t feel the need to spend more of their free time on something, considering they’re already volunteering. However, if successful, it could drive more volunteers and help spread word about the cause in general.

Closing

Coming up with the right level of engagement for this platform is essential. At its most basic, this will be a database with a way to display each volunteer and their frequency of volunteering via a graph over time or something of the sort. At its most engaged, it would be a platform for users to track their own involvement as well as others, and help them feel good about the work they’re doing.

TopDoc

Background

Learning medical skills / developing medical knowledge is like studying for a geography test on steroids. It requires a lot of repetitive, habit-building strategies that, as of now, require books, flashcards, and other conventional studying practices. The issue with this is that these conventional methods of studying / learning are tedious and not terribly proactive. A solution would be an interactive mobile application designed to make the medical learning process organic and second hand. This solution would solve the problem by taking place of less effective methods, making the learning process second nature. It could be used by anyone from hobbyists to aspiring professionals, as long as they have the required tech (iPhone in this instance). Ideally, students or the like would be able to cut out the books or other methods and learn via this app without even realizing how effective it is.

Executive Summary

An iOS app will present to users engaging games designed to develop their knowledge of medical terms and practices. Using short, targeted, and semi-frequent activities geared toward teaching medical skills that would otherwise be learned through methods aforementioned, users would develop knowledge through osmosis, in the most painless way possible. Multiple minigames would exist in order to keep engagement fresh and active, avoiding repetition. There would be repetition in concepts and topics of learning focus, but the repetition of each minigame would be kept to a minimum. The goal of these games is to cover all the bases of basic medical learning that would otherwise be achieved by other learning methods. Another aspect to the app would be the gamification of the learning process, rewarding users for high frequency engagement and higher achievement levels. This would help retain users and keep them motivated to learn

Viability Analysis

The two biggest pain points in the development of this app is going to be creating algorithms that drive the right frequency and type of content and generating the content in the first place. Generating the content will be difficult because, as non medical professionals or students, we will not know what would be helpful to exist in the app. A pragmatic approach to this would be joining with a knowledgeable resource during the design of the content. Creating algorithms would be the other tricky part, not only knowing the best times to request attention from the user, but also knowing when to revisit concepts that were already visited. Though it will require the most technical resources, it is definitely a viable aspect of the development process.

Risks and Rewards

Risks would be creating an app that claims to replace conventional studying or learning methods but falls short, potentially angering users with higher expectations. If successful, we could help make medical education accessible to a lot more people than to whom it is currently accessible.

Closing

I think this is a really cool idea, though right now is limited to a niche market. Expanding it to draw in more people interested in fields or things within the range of the medical field could prove fruitful, and could help this app grow to touch many people’s’ pockets.

Resume