Connect with Haji Kamal
Monday, April 26th, 2010This online role-play addresses issues of rapport and negotiation. It’s a self-paced adaptation of the classroom Critical Incident Scenarios that we’ve been creating. Because it’s being used in the Senior Leader Course at the Fort Huachuca NCO Academy, it features a Sergeant advising his Lieutenant on how best to proceed through the encounter.
There are 12 ways through the role-play, but only two ways to win it. Can you find one of them? (Click the image to begin the activity in a new window).
Feedback on the “Connect with Haji Kamal” prototype has been positive. Instructors at the Fort Huachuca NCO Academy assign it as homework to prepare students for the culture lesson, which focuses on rapport, communication, and negotiation skills. In discussing what they like about the activity, the instructors have cited its “ease of use,” “that it prompted the majority of the discussion,” and that it “brought forth real world experiences from the Soldiers.”
When students were asked, at the completion of the homework activity, whether they were looking forward to the next day’s culture lesson, 70% responded positively. And 65% said they might use the “Haji Kamal” activity as part of culture training for their own units.
Soldier Story – “Risk and Rapport”
Thursday, March 18th, 2010This is another Soldier Story captured during NATO Forces training. Listen to a Canadian Major describe how taking risk is often a key part of building rapport.
Soldier Story – “The Hand”
Sunday, February 21st, 2010Here’s one of the Soldier Stories that we captured at the NATO Forces training that we participated in. Listen to a Norwegian Colonel describe becoming “a popsicle” the first time his counterpart, a brigadier general, picked up his hand.
Conference helps Kinection build 3D development skills
Friday, October 30th, 2009By Scott Meadows
We’re developing highly interactive 3D tools, so it was natural for us to go to the Oct. 27-30 Unity3D Unite conference in San Francisco. Unity3D is a multiplatform game development tool designed to make it easier to create and publish 3D games.
Unity does take time to learn, but its “unified” approach to development really shines. We were inspired by talking with groups that had published full titles using teams of only two to four people.
Kinection has been using Unity3D for about two years. We started using it to prototype new approaches to using 3D environments for basic language instruction. For us, Unity has proven to be a good way to create 3D immersive environments that can be deployed on the web, desktop, or iPhone. This helps us meet our goal of developing a wrap-around environment of highly accessible learning tools.
