Students are clamoring for a college education that meets them where they are. Before the COVID crisis, higher education was contending with the relevancy crisis. Students were crying out for admissions and onboarding communications that engaged them. Wanting more than flipping through glossy viewbook images or listening to another student panel, prospective and first-year students want to interact and engage with the institution.

Games engage because play is learning theory in action. "Play, Lose, Learn, Play, Win!" We learn by reflecting on what failed in our game strategy and then testing a new strategy in the next game. In the SEM context, games invite students to actively engage with an institution and its resources, test strategies for success, reflect on choices, and make sense of their play. Game-based learning is experiential education at its finest.


This will be an interactive session in which a variety of games used to promote college success will be highlighted. These include games that 1) develop middle school students’ college aspirations (Future Bound, Application Crunch, Mission Admission, and Graduate Strike Force (all by Future Bound Games, part of the USC Game Innovation Lab); 2) orient and onboard a diverse student body to postsecondary education (enRolled by Andrew Peterson on the Game Crafter; the Universal Student by University of the Sunshine Coast; Just Press Play by Rochester Institute of Technology) and 3) prompt students to think critically and creatively about majors & careers (Sparkpath Challenge Cards).

The presenter will share her slide deck using the "share screen" function in Zoom to present for the first part of the session. This portion of the presentation will include a discussion differentiating between game-based learning and using game mechanics (gamification) to motivate learning and behavior in non-game contexts. Then, the attendees will be invited to Zoom breakout rooms to discuss how their institutions use games and gamification in their work with students. Once reconvened, the presenter will invite attendees to share ideas from the small groups. The presenter will then synthesize across ideas, drawing on theory and empirical literature.

The presenter will then share her personal experience developing a college transition game with students, Success Prints Crash Course®. She will discuss the three principles she learned as a result. These principles transcend the act of developing a game; they are the catalyst for transforming higher education.
1. Listen to students
2. Learn from students
3. Lead with students

Higher education transformation hinges on having conversations about curricular relevance and resonance. Are we meeting students where they are or where we wish them to be? It may be radical but imagine re-framing learning as something that is literally ‘fun and games’ with the student at the center. Empirically-proven, it may be the linchpin to transform higher education.

Submission ID:

13780

Presenter(s):

Tricia Seifert Montana State University - Bozeman