International co-creation in Citylab Haarlem
Games for Goals; students and teachers from Belgium, Lithuania and the Netherlands design games
“It was incredibly beautiful to experience how students from different backgrounds started working together in a short time, as if they had known each other for years. By working together on a game that is interesting and challenging for their peers, a mutual bond quickly developed. This resulted in hilarious moments, for example when testing the game, but it mainly led to very educational moments”. Says Ine Hustinx-Schaekers, learning coach and co-creator.
Games for Goals (G4Gs), an international Erasmus Blended Intensive Program on “creating games to inspire students to work with the Sustainable Development Goals and Inner Development Goals”, took place from 17 to 21 April in Citylab Haarlem. Students, teachers, researchers and professional field partners from the Netherlands (Creative Business Living Labs Inholland), Lithuania (Creative Industries Faculty Vilnius Tech) and Belgium (3ID-LABS Artevelde) worked in mixed teams to develop a game that can be used at universities of applied sciences in the field of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In five days, the participants developed new insights for their game through Design Thinking, which was related to a theme such as sustainable energy, poverty reduction, mental health or gender equality. An important step was the realization of prototypes. It soon became clear what should be an important basis of most games: achieving a goal, with obstacles that prevent the goal from being achieved. For example, an Escape Room with zero obstacles turned out not to be a good game (students could just walk out the door and the goal was achieved within a minute)….
In the test phase, second-year Tourism Management students tested the prototypes and in the last two days the “classic” roles of student and teacher were reversed. After the game was first played by teachers as a prototype test, the students and teachers continued to co-create together as equal partners. And this is especially valuable for students, says Business Information Management student Fahd Zoubair; "I learned a lot from co-creating with teachers and with 'strangers'. And Britt Vlug, student of Creative Business Haarlem, adds that “it is very special to get to know new people from other countries and cultures in this way and to step out of your own comfort zone”.
The week ended with a game pitch by the students and a reflection exercise using a LEGO artwork per team. Together at the LEGO leads to interesting insights and beautiful metaphors. Let's hope the games launch soon, just like the co-built LEGO rocket!
Knowing more? Then check Citylab Haarlem or the other Creative Business Labs