London Business School: Practice makes perfect for students

Practice makes perfect for students

For nearly 60 years, the London Business School has been striving to make an profound impact on the way the world does business, and how business impacts the world. As well as their academic curriculum, LBS ensures that students’ skills outside academia are developed, ready for the workplace when they come to the end of their studies.

It’s in the interview preparation skills space that Attensi have teamed up with LBS. We spoke with Michele Asbury Director of Digital Product Development in the Digital Learning Team), Amy Chandler (Student Learning and Development Manager) and students, Priyal and Ziyi to find out about their Attensi experience, from both staff and students.

What did interview preparation look like at LBS before Attensi?

LBS very much believes in a learning by doing ethos. In addition to Attensi, there are plenty of opportunities for in-person mock interviews, access to coaching and a plethora of online resources. Michele explains how they need to be able to address every way of learning - there needs to be something for everyone to succeed.

However, Amy tells us how a lot of these resources are relatively static. And when Michele and the team asked students why they weren’t engaging with these resources, one of the most common responses was a lack of time and flexibility. Amy expands by saying one thing the team felt they were missing was the ability for students to get online and independently practice their interviews in a safe space.

An opportunity for something more

Michele, Amy and the rest of the team identified an opportunity to provide a blended set of resources and game-based learning. Most students coming to LBS are more than used to digital and technology elements, so for Michele, it made sense to be leverage this experience and enter that digital, game-based space.

And this is where Attensi came in - to build something that would challenge students, and allow them to clearly see where improvements could be made in their interview techniques.

The first iteration of the simulation focused heavily on the ‘fit interview’ - an area that is hard to measure in peer-led work, because of our natural human bias.

After close collaboration with the LBS team, we were able to design a simulation and set of blended resources what would be easy, quick and relevant for students. Together, we mapped out the questions, the scoring system and the behavior's associated with nailing an interview.

What were your first impressions of Attensi?

For both staff and students, it appears that the Attensi way has been a real game-changer, adding another way to learn to their roster. All four of our interviewees commented about the structure the simulation has provided. The journey the simulations takes participants through gives them a clear picture of what they’re getting right and where they need to improve. Amy shares that fit interviews are where a lot of students face more challenges. This interactive, game-based simulation way of learning has bridged a real skills gap in this area.

For Z and Priyal, they both felt that the Attensi simulation was something new that they hadn’t tried before when it came to interview prep. Amy elaborates by explaining that the interactive nature of the simulation really brings things to life for the students. After playing the simulation, they can confirm their learning and start to apply it in real life examples.

Priyal goes on to explain how for her, Attensi provides a way to learn practically, but independently.

Why is it so important that the training is engaging for students?

Both Amy and Michele understand that students are often incredibly time-poor. Juggling lectures, clubs, extra curricular commitments - they often will have to prioritize throughout the year. If resources aren’t engaging them, they’re probably not going to get used.

Michele tells us how she was looking for a platform that could be both self-led and high engaging. Her goal was for students to be excited to play and learn.

And it looks as though it’s doing the job. Both Z and Priyal have spent time engaging with the platform.

Both of them also talked about how flexible the platform is. They’re able to revise exactly what they need when they need at a time that suits them. Whether between lectures, during lunch or even on the tube to and from LBS, students can take more control using this bitesize learning style.

Can you see this methodology being used in other educational spaces?

We were interested to hear from Michele and Amy on whether they feel this type of game-based learning has a future in more higher education spaces. To our delight, the answer was a resounding yes.

A second simulation is already in the works - focusing on personal development skills for students outside their academic studies.