Capsim Rundown

How to Introduce CapsimInbox-XM to Your Class

"Hey, everyone, it's Luke with Capsim's product team, and today we're talking about Capsim Inbox XM. As you may already know, Inbox XM is an assessment that pairs with the simulation experience to evaluate students' mastery of core business concepts. Today, I'm going to walk you through some tips on how to introduce Capsim Inbox XM to your learners.

Now, there are going to be two points of contact with your students. The first of those is going to be at the beginning of the term. So, what do you want to share as you do your first surface-level introduction? Here are a few recommendations for that initial conversation.

First, you probably want to give a quick reminder of what the tool is. Capsim Inbox XM is a simulation-based assessment designed to measure business acumen and analysis skills in individuals and to provide data to support assurance of learning goals in business education programs. The language on the slide here, if you like, you can use it when you introduce Capsim Inbox XM for the first time to your class. Go ahead, copy and paste it into a slide or even your syllabus.

There are definitely some common questions that you can expect, some of the answers you may want to share directly in your syllabus and you can reinforce it on syllabus day if you have one on the first day of the term.

First and foremost, 'What is this thing?' Along with that very polished explanation we had on the previous slide, you can simplify that explanation: Capsim Inbox XM is an assessment where all of the questions are emails, and the standard version is measuring core concepts from the typical business school curriculum.

You're also going to want to tell students when they're going through this. This is going to be after the sim or at the very least towards the end of it. We recommend mentioning that engagement in the Sim is going to be important for success in the exam. The reports that students navigate in the exam are structured just like they are in their simulation. Learning to navigate and interact with them is going to set them up for success in Capsim Inbox XM and should help keep them engaged in the Sim, especially if they're working in teams.

You might also get some questions about 'Why?' I suspect that if you're watching this video, you have some sort of assurance of learning requirement, and maybe that's your 'why.' However, I will say that it's great to mention that this individual assessment is pairing with our simulation, which may be team-based. If maybe you have a student who feels like their team is bringing their grade down, here's an opportunity to bounce back, and maybe in that case where they might be a free rider on their team, here's us trying to hold them accountable again. Here's an opportunity just to stress that you can't be loafing during that simulation.

And then, grading is likely going to be a question too. A lot of professors like to just put this up front in their syllabus. With standardized exams like this, we never recommend that you equate a raw percentage score to their grade. Curving this makes a lot of sense. The two most common approaches we see are grabbing the top score in the class and basing your curve from there, or maybe dividing your class's scores into quartiles and awarding grades that way. In some cases, it might even make sense for you just to have the exam be bonus points.

Now, the next time you want to talk Capsim Inbox XM to the class, we recommend a more formal introduction later in the course as you're about to launch the exam. These are going to be more visual-based slides, so you can borrow the images and throw them up in front of the class if you'd like.

So, you can throw this slide up in front of the class while you explain the scenario. The narrative is carrying over from the sim: you're the CEO of the Andrews Company, and you've got your shareholders meeting coming up. While you're preparing for that meeting, you've got a slew of emails coming in from your board of directors, and those are going to look something like this. You'll get an email from a board member, likely from their domain. You see this is a finance colleague here. They might give you some background information, and you might be able to answer them just based on what they've sent. With the next image here, you see another example. I'd strongly recommend that you reiterate that just like Outlook or Gmail, replying to an email is final—they can't pull those back once they're sent. You'll note in both of these examples, many of the board members' questions will be data-oriented. Sometimes we're going to throw randomized numbers directly into the email, other times students will be required to view and analyze reports in the drive on the left-hand side of the page here to get the direct answer, and you see that called out right here. As we reinforced earlier, those reports should be familiar to anyone who is engaged in the simulation. The structure is identical to what they've already used; however, this information is unique to each student. Positioning financials, even product names, will vary from student to student.

Now, while we're recommending that you preview this with students, you aren't the only line of defense. The scenario and interface is going to be shared with them prior to starting their assessment. That said, a quick preview goes a long way in calming some of those nerves.

As for FAQs at this point, there's a few you can share prior to the exam starting. For one, how many items are there in the standard exam? There are 36 emails, and students will get them all at once so they can easily track their progress. Second, how long does it take? Inbox XM should generally take about two hours. It's not timed, but it'll fit within the final exam period if that makes sense for your course. Otherwise, you may just want to give it as a take-home assignment. Give students a week to complete it and call it a day. They can leave and come back; it doesn't necessarily need to be completed in one sitting.

With all that said, your students should be good to go, ready to dive into their Capsim Inbox XM assessment. As always, just a reminder that our team is available with any questions that you might have. So, send us an email, and we'd love to help you out."