Megagames as a Methodology to Foster Learning in Higher Education

Megagames are large-scale collaborative games with elements of role-playing and board games. Players need tosolve wicked problems together and explore multiple solutions. When applied to higher education, megagames createopportunities for learners to work in multidisciplinary teams solving ill-structured problems, and in this way prepare learnersto deal with complex social processes and different actor's interests. Despite the promising potential of megagames, thereis limited research on the use of megagames in education. The project ‘Megagames as a Methodology to Enhance GlobalAwareness’ (MEGA) involved a multidisciplinary team of teachers, researchers and game designers and its aim was toinvestigate the potential of megagames as methodology for higher education to address global problems, which cannot besimply solved from a fragmented disciplinary approach. In this paper we present and discuss insights gathered during theMEGA project. The guiding research question was: How can megagames be used in higher education to create immersivelearning experiences that foster learning about global issues? We addressed the research question throughphenomenological research because we wanted to capture the players' experience. Phenomenological research emphasizesthe importance of direct experience for understanding the essence of a phenomenon. Within this methodology wedeveloped and piloted a megagame centered on AI and Ethics, a relevant global issue for our university’s students and facultyand investigated players' experience. The game event took about 4 hours, and it was open to students, faculty staff and otherprofessionals. Thirty people participated in the game. We investigated participants’ learning and personal experience andhow they envisioned the implementation of megagames in education through open questionnaires and semi-structuredinterviews. In this paper we focus on the results from the twenty-eight participants who answered the questionnaire. Thedata was analyzed qualitatively. Results reveal dimensions in the participants’ megagame experience that are valuable forpreparing students to deal with complex situations and global problems. In particular, experiences that were connected withmoral values and social skills, which are increasingly needed to prepare students for a democratic society. The megagameapproach can help meet this need by offering immersive learning experiences.