The Learning Lab

The idea behind gamification is simple—borrow what’s great about the experience of playing video games, and use it to make other things more enjoyable! Competition, scoring, prizes—these are just some of the ingredients of what gamification can bring to just about any user experience, if you know how to do it right. Our guests for this episode of The Drawing Board offer a wealth of insight and experience on the subject, and we’re going to discover what they’re working on. We start by exploring an upcoming video game with Ubisoft’s Kenneth Strickland, then we talk to Gina Gotthilf of Duolingo, go up to Strava to hear from Chief Product Officer Aaron Forth, and finally we sit down with Amelia Lin, one of our own gaming experts here at Udacity.

Puzzles have been around for centuries, and claims about their value run the gamut from being simple, brain-teasing fun, to potentially preventing Alzheimer’s. Companies like Google are famous for incorporating puzzles in their interviews, but can puzzle skills really predict programmer success? The Drawing Board tries to solve the puzzle of puzzles in this new episode, which features: anthropologist Marcel Danesi, New York Times Crossword editor Will Shortz, author and tech recruiting expert Gayle Laakmann McDowell, programmer Zef Hemel, and HackerRank CEO Vivek Ravisankar.

In Episode 1: The Art of "No," we talked with former Secretary of the Navy during the Obama administration, Ray Mabus. In that episode, we aired only a portion of the full audio. But it was such a profound interview that we decided to air the raw audio in its entirety. In this interview, Sec. Mabus talks about the challenges of prioritizing projects, education, equal rights in the military and more.

Can learning to say “No” make you a better employee? A better leader? A better person? In our inaugural episode, The Drawing Board explores the art of saying “No” to create better products and programs. The idea was first popularized by Steve Jobs nearly 20 years ago; we explore it today with: author Carmine Gallo (4:30), Navy Secretary Ray Mabus (10:00), psychologist and CEO coach Camille Preston (17:00). Learn how resisting the urge to say “Yes” can help you optimize both your work and your personal life.

The Drawing Board is a podcast from Udacity focused on discovery. “If you’re not at the drawing board, you’re not making discoveries.” —Neil DeGrasse Tyson Innovative thinkers have been going “back to the drawing board” for decades to rethink, reimagine, and redefine their amazing ideas. It’s in this spirit that we welcome you to The Drawing Board, a podcast series from Udacity focusing on the remarkable innovations and individuals shaping our world. Discover groundbreaking new products and transformational new technologies. Learn about exciting new career opportunities, and meet the people powering change in tech and beyond. When you want to discover what the future holds, go back to The Drawing Board!