Tone Vold

Playful participation for learning in higher education — The introduction of participatory role play simulation in a course at Hedmark University College

A playful approach to supplement theoretical input in lectures, are role play simulations. The role play simulation tested out at Hedmark University College, diverts from the more generic form of role play simulations by its participatory approach. This paper presents the results from this complete testing of a methodology developed iteratively. The methodology consists of four stages, where each has been developed separately or in pairs.

Using games for teaching crisis communication in higher education and training

Terror actions and catastrophes are frequently described in media. As more and more countries experience terror actions and natural disasters, there has been a greater focus on learning how to handle and to manage them. In Norway on the 22nd of July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik placed a bomb in a car that exploded near the Governmental Offices killing 8 persons. He went on to an island where there was a political camp for youths killing another 67. The rescue operations unveiled an unprepared task force. The Gjrv-report provide a massive critique towards the call out services [1]. This kicked off a major work on updating safety routines in all municipalities. The municipalities are now obliged to have a plan for crisis preparedness [2]. This again triggered the need for education within the area of crisis preparedness, crisis training and crisis management. Hedmark University of Applied Science now offers different study programs, including a BA within these areas. It is, however, very expensive to train realistically and the need for different approaches regarding training has been discussed. One of the solutions that the University is currently working on, is the use of games. Game based learning, also called “serious games”, has become an academic genre and using games for learning and training has proven fruitful [3-12]. In the military, games have been used for simulation purposes [13] and spin offs from these have also reached a commercial market [14, 15]. Using games in education opens up a range of opportunities. One of them is within the area of Crisis Communication. Crisis Communication as a curriculum is about how to approach the area of crisis communication, understanding the key concepts and develop skills within the curriculum. Games that support communication between the gamers can for instance contribute towards a greater understanding of communication in a crisis situation. What is needed to communicate and how messages are received, in order to support handling a crisis, are amongst the concrete learning objectives one can attribute towards this type of training. To use games to support the hands on training can thus provide the learners with valuable know how, and support their learning outcome. The learning from this will be beneficial to the organizations they work in as they will have an experience that will aid them in the work on planning for and preparing for crisis in their own organizations.

Gamers and learning

Games and simulations have been a part of military education for a long time. With the emergence of the computer gaming industry, with its continuous improvement in technology and fidelity, there is a potential for synergy. Simulations and games developed specifically for the military are generally costly as the full development cost must be covered. These are also expensive to update to match current technology.

Enhanced learning outcome using participative role play simulation

The aim of this paper is to explain how a new type of participative role play simulation can be used to improve a learning situation. A learning goal is presented to make a concrete example of how to use the tool. The paper will address the particular learning goal, and how a total learning situation can be created to support the wanted outcome. We will discuss game design principles and the pedagogical benefits of using participative role play simulation and argue why this improves the learning situation. The testing is still undergoing as part of a PhD project and one of the reasons for this paper is to receive feedback from a different target group. We will use examples from the testing of the model and also where only the first part of the model is tested. The last project was regarding netiquette amongst parents and children in elementary school, as bullying on the internet and improper exposure to children has become increasingly harder to combat.

Flipped gaming for enhanced learning outcome crisis preparedness courses

Preparing for crisis and incidents have gained an increased focus, also within the educational system. At The Inland University of Applied Sciences, Campus Rena, in Norway, a Bachelor study is developed to cater for the increased need for educating staff not only in municipalities, but also in private organizations. Regulations and governmental instructions have also created a void between staff that can and know how to handle crisis and staff that need to know how to handle crisis. In addition, the preparedness issue, in order to avoid crisis, has received a lot of attention. The study has until recently been a mix of ordinary classroom education and exercises, both live and table top exercises, both which is costly and time consuming both in planning and execution. Two years ago, some faculty staff and a small group of students started to look into using games for educational purposes. Some of the games were free ware and downloadable from the internet, another game was developed by Bohemia Interactive Simulations (https://bisimulations.com/). Combining using MeTracker (http://www.concorde-project.eu/index.php/results/developments/the-training-tools/1-metracker) for organizing the work during a training process, and the developed game, this has proved to be a powerful tool for learning about how to be prepared for and handle crisis. Even if the initial costs for development and licenses have been somewhat substantial, the tools will provide the students with a unique possibility of simulating crisis in a higher volume than what is possible using live exercises. So far, the faculty staff has developed the scenarios for the students to play. The change from this is now to use a game based environment to play scenarios developed by the students themselves. The students that have tested this is in the third year of their study and the preliminary feedback from the students on this approach has been positive. The paper presents the results from interviews and observations, looking to establish how this approach has supported an enhanced learning outcome. Preliminary results provide support to the ideas of using the students own backgrounds and starting the reflection processes earlier (than in “ordinary” exercises). Also letting the students be actors in their own scenario can contribute towards the learning outcome. This combination of utilizing a game based and computer-based environment, with a physical play sphere, in combination with a prior session with scenario development, can prove to be the next step in utilizing game based learning. The paper also present a theoretical reasoning for utilizing games, and discuss how developing scenarios support reflection processes that will in turn enhance learning outcomes from a course. Kolbs experiential learning cycle in its original form provide valuable clues towards the processes that needs to be considered, and Donald Schöns works regarding the “reflective practitioner” contributes to enhance the understanding of how the learning process and how we as faculty staff can support our students in becoming reflective practitioners that are better equipped to prevent and handle crisis.

Meeting the demand of research based education in higher edcation and training — A case from real estate education

Research based education is required in higher education and training [1, 2]. It is thus necessary to establish research projects that produce results that will have an impact on the education provided. This proposes a “triple helix model” [3] where academia, industry and government will work together in the following pattern: Academia establishes project based on funding from industry and government ; Industry provide access to research material/empirical data ; Results and findings utilization, short term: for academia: develop education ; Results and findings utilization, long term: for industry and government: reduce costs. The project is about the education BA in Estate Agency (EA) at Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, Campus Rena, Norway. A number of estate sales have aftermaths that may result in expenses for agencies, government and the persons selling and/or buying properties. This project will not focus on why sales go wrong. Some sales end with a conflict between buyer and seller after the livery of the property. The conflicts range from minor conflicts solved without the interference of a court, till court cases and the break off of a sale and compensation costs. On the contrary, it is important to look for sales that - against all odds - were successful. This approach focuses on a different perspective and is called Positive Deviance. Positive Deviance is where success is prominent where the environment predicts and sometimes requires failure or a negative outcome [4-6]. Positive Deviance (PD) is mostly used within healthcare and in developing countries [5, 7]. To find the singular factors that end up in a positive outcome where the circumstances are unanimous towards a negative outcome, and use this to prevent negative outcomes, are just as important than always digging in the failures, and about “what went wrong”. The PD found through the project, can be translated in an academic setting into “what to do and keep in mind when broking (/trying to sell) a property with potential significance of failures”. This will raise the standards; prepare the new agents better for the business/industry. Fewer sales will end in expensive negotiations, and fewer cases end in governmental offices such as legal complaints. This represents a win-win-win situation for academia (improved education), industry (better equipped agents), and government (less costs on legal cases).

Exploring positive deviance for enhancing learning outcomes in higher education and training

Due to the terror actions of the 22nd of July 2011 there has been an increased focus on the preparedness and also training for handling and managing crisis. Organizations and municipalities are obliged to have plans for handling crises and plans for training their employees. The focus is often to learn from what went wrong and most reports focus on the improvement areas, implying that there are faults and deficiencies. Positive Deviance (PD) is about looking for success stories, when the statistics imply that it should not be a success. The term PD was in the 1990s introduced and explored by nutrition professor Marian Zeitlin in her book “Positive Deviance in Nutrition” at Tufts University. Also visiting Tufts University was Jerry and Monique Sternin which brought the ideas further and developed it as a tool for social change. From the PD webpage www.positivedeviance.org, we find: “Positive Deviance is based on the observation that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges. The Positive Deviance approach is an asset-based, problem-solving, and community-driven approach that enables the community to discover these successful behaviors and strategies and develop a plan of action to promote their adoption by all concerned.” However, to look for the small successes and explore “why this was a success”, is also possible in other areas than within social change. Which (minor) elements contributed to how this actually had a successful ending, even if the surrounding factors indicated failure? In finding these minor details that contributed to an unexpected success lay a learning potential that is worth exploring, for instance in the area of Crisis Training. One student group in the Crisis Communication course received a task that was about discovering and explaining PD in crisis communication in a municipality. This student group was struck by the fact that the respondents were so positive and elaborated so freely about the success stories and how they seemed to reflect upon the reasons why the successes came about. Their respondents very much appreciated this type of focus, rather than “defending” the cases that went wrong or were unsuccessful.