Develop leadership skills by navigating difficult cross-cultural communication.

Immersive Simulations provides a safe and engaging environment for students to build management skills such as conflict resolution skills. 

In "First Impressions" a virtual experience created at NC State University, engineering students enrolled in the Management Course learned to respond appropriately and effectively to a cross-cultural incident in an international business situation. 

During a business meeting in China, Kaushal Behal is upset by the Americans' lack of politeness and respect. Develop leadership skills by navigating difficult cross-cultural conversations with Kaushal. Help him understand what went wrong and suggest solutions to improve the delicate situation before it’s too late.

Challenge

Less than 25% of all students get a chance to study abroad during their time at the university because of financial constraints or lack of motivation. However, global
competencies are sought after when hiring engineering students.

Objectives

• Identify how culture impacts our perception of conflict by reviewing and understanding a model of cultural dimensions.
• Discuss how culture shapes our reaction to conflict by observing a scenario in VR.
• Discuss how culture shapes our approach to conflict management by experiencing the cognitive processes of a character in the VR scenario

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Solution

The award-winning "First Impressions" module allows participants to dive into the minds of a fictionnal global partners and engage in learning about culture on both a cognitive and emotional level. 

‍This 10-minute module includes 2 main sequence:

• Tensions begin to develop as new international team members meet for the first time in China.
• Participants select a character and experience the rest of the meeting from his point-of-view -- hearing his thoughts and reactions to the discussions.

“The use of VR and specifically 360° video - aka ‘cinematic VR’ allows students to observe a given situation, then step into the role of one of the individuals involved. The resulting experience gives students a sense of presence and being (visually and audibly) that differs from traditional media forms." Mike Cuales, Head of Media Innovation at NCSU

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New: Conversational AI Extension

In "Second Impression", the NCSU GTI team extended their original simulation with a conversational AI simulation where student are invited to debrief with one of the character featured in the "first impression" simulation. Kaushal is upset by the Americans' lack of politeness and respect and you are invited to debrief with him.

Through this 15' conversational simulation followed by an automated assessment of the conversation, students are invited to put in practice their cross-cultural competencies when trying to help Kaushal understand what went wrong and suggest solutions to improve the delicate situation before it’s too late.
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Early Feedback from Students:

The participant gave an average NPSscore of 8.5.

"The resulting experience gives students a sense of presence and being (visually and audibly) that differs from traditional media forms." - Mike Cuales, Head of Media Innovation, NCSU

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Awards

• Serious Play Bronze Awards, which recognize excellence in games designed for use in K-12 or higher education settings.
• Campus Tech Impact Award Using VR to help students understand cultural differences.
  

About NC State

A leading public research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina - USA, NCSU focuses on career-ready graduates, groundbreaking research and problem-solving partnerships.