Talented Teamwork

The first time learners use Bodyswaps, this onboarding sequence familiarises them with the features of the app, takes them through an avatar selection and embodiment activity, and prepares them for the experience to come.

In the onboarding, learners will:

• Find out how this training is different from the rest
• Select their avatar
• Discover their virtual journal
• Learn how to navigate and use the tools and settings

The module opens with the virtual mentors, Leo and Nola, congratulating the learner on landing a job at Mindfire, a leading marketing agency.

The learner's task is to join the new team developing the promotional campaign for a 'hackathon' event hosted by Mindfire's biggest client, the Academy of Ideas and Imagination.

This training will help the learner grow their teamwork talents and become a valued member of the team.

Before the training begins, the learner is invited to complete a short likert-style self-reflection survey, to indicate how confident they feel about the following key learning points:

• Understanding their team player style
• Exploring behaviours that bust team spirit
• Collaborating with others
• Demonstrating how to be an effective team player

These self-reflection questions will be repeated in the debrief at the end, to assess how the learner’s confidence levels have changed.

Note: If you wish to receive data about how the learner’s confidence levels have changed as a consequence of the training, it’s important that they complete this introduction and the debrief at the end.

Teamwork is about individuals actively working together as a team, so this diagnostic activity - inspired by the Parker Team Player Survey - is designed to help the learner reflect on what kind of team player they are, and what qualities and characteristics they might bring to a group.

The learner is introduced to each of their virtual teammates before answering six questions to determine their natural team player style as:

• Collaborator
• Contributor
• Communicator
• Challenger
• Combo (mix of the above)
  
  

An on-screen visual reveals which team player style each chosen response reflects. Once the learner has answered all the questions, Nola and Leo provide feedback on the team player style they most identify with. The learner can also learn more about the other team player styles.

Following this activity, the learner is encouraged to think about their own real life teamwork experiences, and describe in their own words, a time when they were involved in a team task and how their actions represented one of the four types of team player.

It takes great people skills to be a good team player, but nothing busts the team spirit mood like a Negative Nancy or a Pessimist Pete!

In this observation activity the learner sits in on a meeting with their teammates and watches out for examples of buzz-killing behaviour. 

Negative team player behaviours include: 

• Being critical without solutions
• Being disrespectful
• Self-promoting
• Talking without listening
• Not focusing on goals 
  
  

Visual feedback is provided in real time to indicate if a learner has correctly identified a behaviour. Summary feedback is supplied at the end of the animation, with a panel of buttons indicating which events were identified.

Clicking on a button rewinds the conversation to the corresponding instance for the learner to rewatch. Then, text feedback explains why the behaviour had a negative impact on the team.

The marketing campaign for the Academy's hackathon is now underway, and the learner is invited to collaborate with the Mindfire team to develop a concept for the promotional material. 

When working with others, it's important that everyone feels heard and their input is valued, so in this scaffolded conversation activity the learner puts their collaboration skills to the test. This means they'll need to strike a balance between listening to their teammates and actively contributing to the discussion, by either offering up their own suggestions or building on the ideas of others.  

The learner chooses what to say from three given options, each of which elicits a different response from their teammates. A pop-up also provides additional information about the impact of what they said. 

In real life, collaborating effectively can be hard because sometimes, when people are trying to get along, they hide how they really feel. So in this simulation, each time a teammate responds, the learner also gets to see what they're really thinking.

By selecting the 'right' answer at each stage, the discussion will unfold positively between the learner and their teammates, and their collaborative spirit will be strengthened. It's also a chance for the learner to try out different responses if they choose the ‘wrong’ one – and see the various turns the conversation can take! 

The hackathon has now taken place and was such a success, the Academy has already asked Mindfire to start planning another one for the following year.  

In this freeform conversation activity, the team is meeting up to discuss ideas about how to grow and improve on the event. The learner's goal is to collaborate with their teammates by contributing to the discussion and practise applying some of the skills they've picked up during the training.   

As the learner responds to their teammates, speaking aloud in their own words, LLM AI evaluates whether they’re demonstrating effective or ineffective collaboration, and the rest of the Mindfire team responds accordingly. 

If the learner is unsure of what to say, they are presented with three scaffolded conversation-type options to help them move the conversation forwards to the next exchange.

The learner also receives some helpful feedback on key elements of effective collaboration, including body language, eye contact, hand gestures, speaking pace and tone. 

The mentors conclude the activity by offering some closing pointers on how well the learner performed the task. 

The key function of the debrief activity is to invite the leaner to take the same likert-style survey from the beginning, to encourage them to reflect and self-report on their confidence levels following completion of the training. 

The questions relate to how confident they feel about the key learning points:

• Understanding their team player style
• Exploring behaviours that bust team spirit
• Collaborating with others
• Demonstrating how to be an effective team player

Before the learner leaves the module, they are asked to complete a short survey about their experience. 

This survey is not compulsory, but the data helps us to assess the effectiveness of our product and identify any areas that need improvement. Clients also find it beneficial when assessing ROI. 

They are asked to mark whether they agree or disagree with the following statements, on a 10 point scale: 

• I would recommend this experience to others 
• The experience helped me identify elements I could improve upon
• I have a better understanding of how to be an effective team player