Facilitating public engagement through making and playing games

This event was recorded - you can now view the recording here

A Learning Sciences Research Institute Seminar

Presented by Dr Jo Iacovides, Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University

Alongside traditional research and teaching duties, academics are strongly encouraged by funding bodies and their own institutions to devote time to public engagement activities. However, researchers can face a significant challenge in terms of how to inspire interest and curiosity in their work. In this talk, I will present a case study of a persuasive game competition that was carried out as a part of a wider research project investigating medical device safety. The competition challenged university students to design a game that would raise awareness about and promote reflection on human error within a healthcare context. Participants were given control over developing a game, though domain experts were also involved to ensure that the messages delivered were relevant to the wider project. The competition aimed to engage the wider public in two ways (1) by involving students unfamiliar with the domain in game development and (2) by making the games freely available online for other people to play. In addition to outlining the approach, I will consider the extent to which the competition was successful at supporting informal learning and public engagement.

Please feel free to check out the games that were submitted to the competition, on the Errordiary public engagement portal