University of Jena: IDEAS

International online simulation game

For increasing intercultural skills in teacher training

Accessible and easy to integrate

The Lehramt.International- project IDEAS piloted the intercultural and digitally structured simulation game ‘Megacities’ at several stages. Its low-threshold accessibility and comparatively simple organisational sequences make it ideally suited for increasing intercultural skills in student teachers ¹: it is characterised among other things by the fact that no prior knowledge is required for participation, it can be offered free of charge and it is easy to integrate into a standard study period, since no physical mobility is needed.

I’m pleased to note that in my future school routine with multilingual groups, the key aspect is that we understand one another and that it’s not just a matter of grammatical correctness. The main objective of communication is satisfied if the other person knows what you’re intending to convey.

From anonymous data collection

The ‘Megacities’ simulation game

‘Megacities’ enables authentic intercultural encounters in the digit domain as well as practice-based collaboration, since students from three international higher education institutions can participate and intensively collaborate in a lingua franca. The game can be realised in semester-based sessions or condensed into a week. It is played synchronously via Zoom and the online whiteboard ‘Miroboard’.

The Moodle-based platform ‘Glocal Campus’ is also used to provide information about the sequence of the simulation game, multilingual game materials and further learning materials.

Game sequence and rules

A fictional scenario is depicted in the introduction to the game in which a large brownfield site bordering three cities is to be gifted – provided that all of the parties agree to a concept for its common use. The basic idea is not to win the game individually, but rather to cooperate in designing a common spatial concept.

This involves the students switching into ever more heterogeneous group configurations as the game progresses, getting to know other students, negotiating modes for the best possible cooperation and developing joint solution strategies in a targeted manner.

Regular reflection

The game management team initially sets specific tasks, but appreciably reduces this close guidance as the game progresses, which means that the students increasingly work independently. Regular phases for meta-reflection are a key component.

The effectiveness of these so-called debriefings and the need for intensive mentoring of intercultural encounters are now well documented: especially in the case of student teachers, they increase their ability to competently deal with multilingualism, to recognise and surmount situations seen as precarious and to work as a team.² ³

Given appropriate support, the participants are also able to derive guiding principles and actions from what they experienced in the simulation game.

In terms of my everyday school life, I’ve learned that experiences with intercultural groups are extremely important in gaining sensitivity for understanding and language.

From anonymous data collection

Simulation game specifically for student teachers

Based on these results, a simulation game specifically for student teachers was newly developed in collaboration with the project MIL (Multilingual Intercultural Learning).

This new learning game scenario involves international student teachers jointly establishing a transnational school that is intended to accommodate an international teaching staff and pupils of different nationalities. Immersion in this school-based scenario enables the practice-aware student teachers to develop needs-oriented skills for designing their own lessons.

They also learn about specialist content from the fields of intercultural cooperation, multilingual didactics and communication science. The ‘edUcatioN’ simulation game was piloted in summer semester 2024 and the intention is that it be offered in subsequent years in the form of a regular summer school that is open to other participating students at international higher education institutions.

Networking and exchange

Participation in the simulation game is open to students involved in other Lehramt.International projects. Lecturers and staff from other Lehramt.International projects come into close contact as the game progresses and, like their students, they closely collaborate.

The IDEAS project cooperates among others with the following universities: Tbilisi State University (Georgia), Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), Université de Montréal (Canada), Université de Strasbourg (France), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) and University of Turku (Finland).

Cooperation also exists with the Lehramt.International projects IDEAS, University of Jena, ILAP (University of Education Weingarten), IMPACCT (University of Gießen), Partners in Mobility (University of Flensburg) and UNITE Cologne (University of Cologne), Humboldt International Teacher Training (HU Berlin) and INVITE (Ludwigsburg University of Education). Joint presentations and publications, joint professional development events and the initiation of events for students and colleagues have also been arranged in addition to administrative exchange.

Further information & contacts

Contacts

ideas@uni-jena.de

Sophie Elly Ewers
sophie.elly.ewers@uni-jena.de

Philipp Kramer
philipp.kramer@uni-jena.de

Bibliography

¹Intercultural expertise can be understood as the ability to competently deal with indefinite, or unknown situations, cf. Bolten, Jürgen: Einführung in die Interkulturelle Wirtschafskommunikation. 3rd Edition. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2018.
²Cf.among others Braselmann, Silke, Sophie Elly Ewers and Philipp Kramer. ‘Kompetenzvermittlung durch digitale Auslandssemester im Studium. Eine Studie zu den Potenzialen für eine interkulturelle und reflexive Lehramtsausbildung’, Herausforderung Lehrer*innenbildung – Zeitschrift zur Konzeption, Gestaltung und Diskussion, Vol 6 No 1, 2023, pp. 113 – 129.
³Nietzel, Ewers, Kramer: Mit unbestimmten Situationen konstruktiv umgehen können. Interkulturelle Kompetenzentwicklung in der Lehrendenausbildung durch virtuelle Planspiele. In: Teacher Education in (Post-)Pandemic and (Post-)Digital Times: International Perspectives on Intercultural Learning, Diversity and Equity. Berlin: Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/document/1288779