Spatial and economic science in higher education – addressing the playful potential of simulation games Erasmus Project

Project Title

Spatial and economic science in higher education – addressing the playful potential of simulation games

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Research and innovation

Project Summary

The idea of the gamification of a learning process is definitely not new in (higher) education. The Czech philosopher and educator Jan Ámos Komenský (John Amos Comenius, 1592-1670) promoted an approach “Schola ludus” (School by Play). In the digital era of the contemporary world, the learners could be literally swamped with a huge amount of information and data. It is then needed to help them to orient in such volumes of information. The learning process is easier if it contains playful features. It is then more pleasant to acquire new knowledge and mastering our skills. Simulation game-based learning appears to be more playful and experiential compared to traditional teaching.
This project aims to innovate the way of teaching about the distinct field of economics, business, geoinformatics and geography, all encompassed by game studies, via modern methods of informal teaching (gamification and playful education) and virtual telecollaborative techniques. The project tackles the issue of learning-by-doing by playing a serious and scientifically based simulation game. This game-based learning transforms traditional means of higher education classes into innovative, creative learning environments in which all participants (teachers and students) will be engaged in solving real-world issues through gaming scenarios.

The project also aims to share best practice across disciplinary and national boundaries. The project will encourage to develop deep interdisciplinary cooperation and research sharing among the involved institutions in the field of geoinformatics/geography, economics/business and game studies. This unique combination will be accompanied by the idea of bringing more spatial and economic science into the gaming domain by tackling the issue of “lacking science and real-world situations in educational games.” During the blended mobility, students will learn and adopt joint methodologies/techniques/tools and they serve as actors in “spatial economic/business analytics games”, deployed to structure group-based and student-led investigations of advanced spatial economic data analyses. Students will be enrolled in the process to think, use, write and talk about their experiences. The project will entail more attractive and relevant pedagogy than lecture or seminar based approaches.

The key objectives of the project are to:
1) teach students about advances in spatial economics and game studies (via blended mobility within interdisciplinary and multinational ECTS course),
2) assess and frame the potential of playful, experiential simulation game-based learning
3) develop and apply playful open access methodology in a learning process
4) develop a proof-of-concept stage of the simulation game (“plug & play”)
5) bring scientists with different background together in order to boost research in the field of playful methodologies in higher education (as part of SciLab 2.0 activity)
6) to disseminate and exploit unique project result in the field of spatial-economic-game studies to a wider audience.

The Spationomy 2.0 delivers an intensive encounter between students and staff from different disciplines organised in major blended learning activity – Virtual Education and Summerschool (VirES). The staff will be tied together during Scientific Laboratories (SciLabs 2.0), representing short-term joint staff training event. The project conferences, Game Cons (Multiplier events) will be held at the end of each project cycle in order to playtest the simulation game and to present the results to a wider audience. Strategic Project Meetings will be organised for proper project goals implementation.

These project results are expected:
1. Annual Spationomy 2.0 courses
2. The methodology of the innovative assessment of the playful potential of spatial-economic simulation games and blended learning using modern ICT
3. Spationomy 2.0 learning and teaching materials
4. Significant research results
5. Simulation game as a compact plug & play package with the conceptual framework
6. Popular-scientific articles
7. Students projects about the selected geographical, geoinformatic, economic, business informatics, and game studies topic
8. New students’ playtested game rounds
9. The innovation of the participating institutions’ curricula
10. Conference proceedings

The main expected result is a unique annual Spationomy 2.0 interdisciplinary and international programme producing experts in their fields with unforgettable experiences of playful methodologies. As a result, there will be 90 students and 11 academic staff directly supported by the grant, with 100 more participants joining the multiplier events, and many more reached through dissemination outputs.
All results, materials and outputs will be available in the open-access format. It is intended that the project will produce activities that could be maintained after the end of the Spationomy 2.0 project funding due to the great playful potential of the simulation games.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 199909 Eur

Project Coordinator

MORAVSKA VYSOKA SKOLA OLOMOUC O.P.S & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
• UNIVERZITA PALACKEHO V OLOMOUCI
• UNIVERZA V MARIBORU
• RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM