In 2017, Newton created a skills ecosystem with the mission of bringing to market a range of tools and methods designed for the immersive learning experience (ILE).
Immersive Learning: what is it and how does it work?
The term ‘immersive learning’ refers to a learning experience constructed from simulations set in virtual worlds, the immersive interaction between those worlds, gaming techniques and a set of technological tools.
Immersive learning experiences differ from other learning methods as they create the opportunity to simulate scenarios and environments in which participants can train and develop new skills and mindsets over time An ILE can improve the learning rate by 75%, compared to conventional training.
Newton has developed a range of immersive learning experiences, leading the American journal HR Tech Outlook to rank Newton in the top 10 HR advisory firms in Europe thanks to its innovative approach to integrating immersive and remote learning technologies for the governance of complexity and management change.
The Cage
The Cage is a learning experience format that develops complex thought processes and decision-making in highly complex situations.
The Cage generates an immersive story-based experience based on the psychological thriller genre, in which people interact to determine how the plot evolves. Twelve people, who don’t know each other, are imprisoned in a bunker, for no apparent reason. They discover that the guard will release them one by one if they can pass the tests set for them.
The Cage is a movie, in interactive episodes. At the end of each episode there is a choice: the participants are asked to step into the shoes of the actors and decide what to do to get the best result.
With its thriller narrative and gaming-inspired theme, this type of training experience fully engages people on an emotional and cognitive level, and gives them a real training ground for making complex decisions.
The Cage is a high-level training experience recognised by leading clients. It is also used exclusively by the SDA Bocconi School of Business, out of the top 50 business schools on the international ranking.
At the end of the training experience, the system generates a personal and/or team profile focused on 4 core meta skills needed to tackle complexity.
SHED65
SHED65 is an immersive learning experience designed by Newton together with SDA Bocconi School of Management to train people on leadership skills in complex and uncertain scenarios.
The participants are required to tackle complex situations, set in dystopian future scenarios. Taking on a different role each time, they interact with the heroes of the movie to determine how the plot evolves.
As in a videogame, every decision generates a score and a set of alerts, which will guide the participants’ next decisions.
The learning model and algorithm behind the experience are derived from the innovative concept of Wise Leadership, which is rapidly becoming popular with organisations working within complex ecosystems.
The Wise Leadership Model (WLM) integrates the science of complexity (the landscape that managers now have to deal with) with the science of leading (the latest approaches to leadership) and the concept of wisdom, in the sense of balancing out interests, time and impact.
SHED65 develops the capacity of managers to act in highly complex situations:
- Balancing the personal interest with the collective interest (of the company, the customer and the team)
- Reconciling short and long-term effects
- Understanding the specific (avoiding pre-defined practices or automatisms)
- Working to make the context more favourable to successfully achieve the next objectives (transformative approach)
