Article
Development of a Game-Based Module to Teach Engineering Students about Customer Value Propositions
The Journal of Engineering Entrepreneurship
(2017)
Abstract
This work provides an overview of the creation of a game-based module that could be used to teach undergraduate engineering students about customer value propositions. The game-based module was based on the “World Without Oil” alternate reality game, which set a context for students to explore how to reach out to customers, what customer segments should be sought after when seeking feedback on product development, and what customers value in terms of products. After its development, the game-based module was tested through its implementation within an undergraduate product design course and compared to a similar customer value proposition exercise without the story and game-based elements in a parallel undergraduate product design course. Preliminary results from this work showed that the game-based module contributed to higher average scores on students’ ability to identify customer market need/opportunity and determine the customerappropriate value proposition, although the results are not statistically significant due in part to small sample sizes. In addition, the results demonstrated that in the game-based module context, students were willing to reach out to on average 20 more customers than their peers to determine the value proposition for their proposed product list.
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring 2017
Citation Information
Katharine M. Eichelman, Renee M. Clark, Steven B. Shooter and Cheryl A. Bodnar. "Development of a Game-Based Module to Teach Engineering Students about Customer Value Propositions" The Journal of Engineering Entrepreneurship Vol. 7 Iss. 3 (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/cheryl-bodnar/20/