I’ve now run the 2 hour “Persuasion” session twice for sixth form students from two different schools. I’m pleased to say that the mechanics of the game appear to work really well and we’ve had some wonderfully productive discussions in both sessions. All this starts to beg the question ‘what next?’
I think there are 3 main lines to develop, with a fourth that may emerge later - let’s take these in turn.
1. More playtesting and awareness raising
The groups that have tried this game so far seem to have enjoyed it. It also seems to be a useful learning/teaching tool. I’d like to be able to take this out (or have students come in) to play it many more times. That will, I think provide some useful feedback to improve not only the delivery (the teaching of the game) and its usefulness as a learning resource.
This has to be job #1 and so I’ll be looking to try and run the 2hr session with as many groups of students as I can. It will certainly feature as part of our curriculum next year - but it’s a tool that was conceived with sixth form students and university students in mind and that means (provides an opportunity to) working with more schools and colleges.
2. Developing the look of the game
Although I’ve listed this as number 1, it may end up being the last thing that I’m able to attend to. The reason is pretty simple: it’s the issue I’m least well-equipped to deal with. Certainly, I will need the help of a professional designer and that will mean working to get some sponsorship or other funding to pay for their work.
I’m pretty clear how I think it should look - it’s a fun game and therefore needs a light-hearterd, perhaps cartoon-y, style that will have fairly broad appeal. I think the activities and the employee cards lend themselves to this sort of approach - the manager cards will need to be designed as disposable sheets, perhaps on a pad. The alternative might be to offer these as printable sheets which can be cut-up (much as they are at the moment).
3. Teaching resources
Ultimately, if this game is to be useful to other people it will need some resources to help with its delivery and to help highlight some of the possible teaching elements. As it is used in the session I run I encourage students to think about what it takes to becomes a confident and capable manager and then we return to these discussions after the game, and after they have worked on the discussion sheets. We’ve already had useful discussions about the application of management theory to the game - perhaps how managers might use Herzberg’s ideas as a way to improve employee engagement.
I’d like to work on resources for the two current ‘levels’, including an introductory session. That will mean thinking about ways to link to 2 or 3 core theories from the A-level Business and BTEC Business curricula. It might also be useful to create a set of slides to use.