A new educational gamification emergency preparedness app is emerging from a New Orleans-based company, set to launch in summer 2015. PrepBiz teaches kids, teens (and adults) how to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters, emergencies and hazardous incidents.
PrepBiz was developed by the New Orleans-based PrepWorld, which specializes in emergency preparedness and disaster management consultancy, in May of this year in response to the increase in the frequency of disasters that disproportionately affects youth and teens and the lack of educational material for that vulnerable population.
Founder Kenneth Bibbins said he decided to do something different. “I launched the app with a defining principle that learning and fun are not mutually exclusive.”
PrepBiz, which is a collaborative effort between PrepWorld, Marvel Comics and Gamedesk, recognizes how gamification can engage young learners by speaking their language. The ultimate mission is to develop the next generation model of education: “engagement knowledge.”
Bibbins explains, “PrepBiz makes the learning experience dynamic by collaborating the objective of education with the fun and engagement of gamification using technology that ends up in the hands of the learner as players learn key concepts in disaster risk reduction and mitigation which increases the chances of success later when a similar task has to be performed or unsafe situation avoided in real life dangers.”
Gamification, he continues, has proven to be successful in engaging people and motivating them to change behaviors, develop skills and solve problems.
Bibbins said he had no problem getting the other partners on board. “Many people have seen emergency preparedness materials before but never like this!” He is also joined by Giorgio Cosenza, who handles marketing and advertising, and creative consultant Peter Robins-Brown.
The company is working to partner with other interested socially conscious partners to embark on an aggressive 2015 campaign called “Bringing Youth Emergency Preparedness to the Forefront Using Social Media and Gamification!”
“We’ll be developing additional products,” says Bibbins, “and of course adding more characters and levels to the game than the four characters now and 25 levels of game plan.” As PrepBiz moves into the new year, the company plans to add more disaster incidents to the platforms as well.