Derek Dayton - Shenendehowa High School

You are about to enter New City, a brand-new and unique place meant to give you insight into the world of business. We have learned a little about how to navigate around this new, unfamiliar place because we have (hopefully) created our avatar characters and played through the tutorial.

Remember, New City may be confusing - because the world of business has its own vocabulary. If you are unsure about any terms or concepts that appear in New city, you can always look at the "Glossary" of terms in your in-game "Journal" interface to see what they mean.

For instance, a term that may be used to describe your role in New City is consultant. A consultant is a business professional who provides specific or specialized knowledge, or expert advice in a particular area of expertise.

In some situations, organizations like the New City government undertake major projects - or are faced with a critical situation - and need additional staff to assist with the increased workload for a specific period. As a result, they hire - or, in other words, enter into a contract with another organization to provide them with consultants just like you. The organization to which you belong is know as a professional services firm, and the New City government, for which you work, is known as its client.

You are in New City as a consultant working for the city government. You and your team are competing with other teams in your class, and around the country to see who can best revive a virtual living city that has just experienced an environmental disaster - and restore it to its pre-disaster conditions. the team that accomplishes the most complete environmental clean-up of New City at the lowest price wins the competition.

During the course of the simulation, you will helping your client make specific decisions based on information available only in the "in-game" research. You must have completed the decision by the time the next Task begins. Also, there are many opportunities to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in other areas around New City - so take the time to thoroughly explore the world and become familiar with it!

Remember, as you begin the game, you are part of a team that is actually part of a larger organization, a professional services firm. So, the first step is to check in with your boss once you arrive to New City. You work for the Chief Executive Officer, or CEO, of the company. The first step is to get directions for your task from your team assistant, Evelyn Hu. Left click on Evelyn when you first enter the team office to begin.

Task Two Handouts: Ethics
Handout #1
Math/Ecological Questions
In-Game Curriculum Questions

You are about the enter New City and your second task. You will have a new set of decisions to make and goals to pursue, as well as new guidelines to follow, people to talk to, and things to do. Hopefully, you have learned enough about how to navigate New City, because things will not become more difficult.

Log onto the official Virtual Team Challenge website and listen to your CEO's opening briefing. He will give you important information about you upcoming task.

After watching the video, log onto the game. Talk to Evelyn and then exit the team office and make you way up to City Hall. After you get your briefing from Will Standon, someone will walk up to you and ask you for a favor.

Task Three Handouts: Decision-Making
Handout #1
Math Questions
In-Game Curriculum Questions
United Way Questions

This is the third and last simulated task in the Virtual Team Challenge. Through the first two tasks, we completed a series of steps to investigate, select, and then hire vendor services needed to assist New City's relief and recovery in the wake of an oil spill. Now, however, you will be facing a different kind of decision altogether that you must make in order to complete your last task in New City.

Log onto the official Virtual Team Challenge website and listen to your CEO's opening briefing. He will give you important information about you upcoming task.

Your next task may be the most important you have to complete in the simulation. However, you will be presented with an entirely different kind of decision to make.

Additional Handouts
United Way Questions
Environmental Awareness
Portable Skills
Problem Solving
Math and Ecological Questions/Answers

To check your individual progress, click here and select the Team tab.
(You will need to sign in when you access the website)

Important Things to Remember

Vendor Notes - Research

Make sure you research all 4 vendors. Notes must appear in journal. Use all sources available - Ickipedia, newspaper articles and books from library.

Weekly Vendor Cards

Make sure to collect all 5 vendor cards.

Vendor Interviews

Make sure to interview all 4 vendors before you hire.

Signed Contract

Make sure you get a signed contract each week.

Weekly Trash Redeemed

Recycle as much trash as possible.

Weekly Additional Opportunities

Make sure you earn all 8 opportunities each week. Making poor decisions will prevent you from obtaining all 8 additional opportunities.

Tasks:

The Virtual Team Challenge - Spill! simulation challenges students to complete a variety of missions intended to model decision-making in the real business world. Participants play in teams of four players. If students cannot be divided into even groups of four, teams of three are allowed.

With each task, your teacher will take classroom time to introduce basic business concepts that will be useful in the Spill! simulation and in real life. It's a good idea to take notes on these concepts since they will help you in the game. Additionally, you will hear from the CEO of the fictional professional services firm that your team works for in the simulation. He will speak to you from the simulation world and give you suggestions for doing well and perhaps...winning!

Your teacher may give you time in class to work on the simulation -- but you can sign in from any computer once installing the program that meets the minimum requirements and has broadband Internet access as outlined in the Updates section of this website. This means you can spend time in the simulation at home. You can work alone or collaborate with team members at school or at someone's house. Only one team member at a time can be signed on at each computer.

Search the research sources in the simulation for the information you'll need to perform your tasks and win the Challenge. You should assume that any facts appearing in the simulation that don't appear in the research are FALSE. The simulation world will open at the conclusion of the first days' in-class curriculum, and conclude on the last day of the Challenge at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time.

In the game world you can check your progress by clicking on the character sheet button. Check your individual progress by going to the Stats portion of this site and check your team's progress by going to the Team portion.

At the end of the Virtual Team Challenge you will gather one last time in class to hear a final message from your fictitious CEO, Stan Freeman. He will reveal final score tallies for each team. Winners and prizes will be announced on the home page of this site. Check the Updates section or home page for the exact dates, times and other details.

Teams:

Teams will be assigned by teachers and need to be set up to have four members each.

The simulation provides a chat feature that allows you to talk to your team members -- and you will be able to see their characters in the simulation world! Your team members and you must be logged into the simulation world at the same time to take advantage of these features.

Even though the decisions that each individual team member has to make in the simulation are different from other team member's decisions, the Challenge functionality and scoring works the same way for all participants and each player's actions have the same impact on the team score.

Once you are assigned a team for the simulation, you may not change teams or change your role within your team. Sharing personal login information with your teammates or other teams will result in disqualification.

The Virtual Team Challenge is a competitive situation. All information is confidential. Other teams should be treated like competing professional services firms. Collaboration with other teams is forbidden and will decrease your chances of winning.
Here are some hints to playing successfully in teams in the Deloitte Virtual Team Challenge:

Each team member must finish their mission by the conclusion of the time allotted for the decision.

Every team member should answer as many individual challenge questions, and complete as many tasks as they can find, to increase the team's chances of winning.

Each role is central to team success and all roles contribute or detract equally from the team score.

Here are the four player roles:

Roles

Fast Tracker: Responsible for Support Services including decisions about hiring emergency services and logistics vendors to make sure the cleanup runs smoothly.

Smooth Operator: Responsible for Media and Volunteer Management including decisions about a hiring public relations firm and a spokesperson for the cleanup so that support-donations from the public adequately fund the cleanup.

Grime Stopper: Responsible for the physical aspects of the environmental cleanup including hiring oil spill containment, recovery and disposal vendors. If the cleanup is environmentally effective, New City will be saved and the team will receive the most support-donations from the public.

Green Machine: Responsible for crisis administration including hiring vendors to write the disaster assessment document and handle legal and compliance issues.

Note: You can create teams with only three roles filled if necessary. A computer-generated player will fill the fourth role.

This page is maintained in accordance with Shenendehowa's web publishing guidelines by Derek Dayton.