One of the core principles of Macquarie’s vision of providing a transformative learning experience to our students is making students co-creators in their learning. This vision is a reality for our Department of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (PICT) postgraduate students who recently took the lead in their learning experience through scenario events and gaming activities.
The students who took the lead in developing the gaming activity were Molly Rydon, Kara Kelly and Sarah Iannantuono.
“Playing a lead role in turning what originated as an idea by a couple of postgraduate students into something experienced by the rest of the student cohort was an incredibly valuable experience,” explains Molly. “It provided an opportunity to develop skills not often taught in the university classroom. Being able to stand in front of your classmates and deliver an activity such as this one with confidence and assurance is a skill that all students should have the opportunity to develop. I am now taking this skill into the professional world, grateful for the opportunity I had to play a lead role in this activity.”
The students applied their creativity in leading a learning experience for their class by adapting a game activity where they synthesized some of the work done by one of their lecturers, Dr Charles Knight on gaming of 'violent design' with existing matrix concepts.
“This resulted in a new hybrid game that has particular teaching merit,” said Dr Knight, Associate Lecturer in Security Studies. “Their work to produce briefing packs, presentation material, maps and other supporting material set a professional scene and enabled coherent gaming. The leadership and management of the event by the students were exemplary.”
The simulation activity involved a scenario depicting an historical and politically violent event where teams of students, working on the basis of geographic and historical data supplied in briefing packs before the event, were asked to plan a campaign in pursuit of a distinct, long-term political objective. The plans were then exercised within the framework of a 'matrix wargame'.
For each move/turn, a team had to specify the actions it intended to take, and state three good arguments for why it would succeed. Then the opposing teams were invited to propose counter arguments and the adjudicator determined a percentage probability for the first team’s success. This was followed by the adjudicator creating a description of the success or failure of the move in accordance with a dice throw. The game proceeded by turns of the red (insurgent) and blue (State) teams, with the description of events in each turn building on the prior narrative.
The lessons that emerged from the students undertaking this activity appeared to align with the historical realities of the scenario event depicted in the game. The game also highlighted for the students many of the challenges that counter-insurgents face, especially unintended consequences of actions, and policy issues arising when different adversaries are using violence in different ways to elicit different State responses.
“The use of gamification to teach complex theories, and the involvement of students in creating the learning experience, has resulted in a deeper learning experience along with a greater sustained student engagement,” explains Dr Knight.
The students who took the lead in developing the gaming activity were Molly Rydon, Kara Kelly and Sarah Iannantuono.
“Playing a lead role in turning what originated as an idea by a couple of postgraduate students into something experienced by the rest of the student cohort was an incredibly valuable experience,” explains Molly. “It provided an opportunity to develop skills not often taught in the university classroom. Being able to stand in front of your classmates and deliver an activity such as this one with confidence and assurance is a skill that all students should have the opportunity to develop. I am now taking this skill into the professional world, grateful for the opportunity I had to play a lead role in this activity.”
The students applied their creativity in leading a learning experience for their class by adapting a game activity where they synthesized some of the work done by one of their lecturers, Dr Charles Knight on gaming of 'violent design' with existing matrix concepts.
“This resulted in a new hybrid game that has particular teaching merit,” said Dr Knight, Associate Lecturer in Security Studies. “Their work to produce briefing packs, presentation material, maps and other supporting material set a professional scene and enabled coherent gaming. The leadership and management of the event by the students were exemplary.”
The simulation activity involved a scenario depicting an historical and politically violent event where teams of students, working on the basis of geographic and historical data supplied in briefing packs before the event, were asked to plan a campaign in pursuit of a distinct, long-term political objective. The plans were then exercised within the framework of a 'matrix wargame'.
For each move/turn, a team had to specify the actions it intended to take, and state three good arguments for why it would succeed. Then the opposing teams were invited to propose counter arguments and the adjudicator determined a percentage probability for the first team’s success. This was followed by the adjudicator creating a description of the success or failure of the move in accordance with a dice throw. The game proceeded by turns of the red (insurgent) and blue (State) teams, with the description of events in each turn building on the prior narrative.
The lessons that emerged from the students undertaking this activity appeared to align with the historical realities of the scenario event depicted in the game. The game also highlighted for the students many of the challenges that counter-insurgents face, especially unintended consequences of actions, and policy issues arising when different adversaries are using violence in different ways to elicit different State responses.
“The use of gamification to teach complex theories, and the involvement of students in creating the learning experience, has resulted in a deeper learning experience along with a greater sustained student engagement,” explains Dr Knight.
