Online games to learn about poverty
An initiative of Professor Isabel Rodríguez Tejedo has obtained the award for the best disruptive project at the V Innova Forum.
15 | 06 | 2022
"Bringing the concept of poverty closer to classroom through online games". This initiative led by Schoollecturer Isabel Rodríguez Tejedo has been awarded result as the best disruptive project at the 5th Innova Forum organised by the University. Developed in the 2020/21 academic year at subject Global Political Economic, its goal is to facilitate deep learning and reflection on topic poverty and development sustainable. "Students acquired the theoretical content, but with superficial learning. They memorised terms and theories, but there was a disconnection between 'knowing' and 'feeling and doing'," says Rodríguez Tejedo.
Professor Juan Carlos Molero and two lecturers from the Public University of Navarra also took part in project, which has enabled active and quasi-experiential learning through online games. As a result of this initiative, COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) collaborations have already been set up with teachers from various countries, a presentation has been launched at an international congress and the case has been published in the book Revolutionizing sustainability education, which deals with innovative teaching practices in sustainability.
41% of students have been made to think about poverty
"Although there are other ways of bringing students closer to situations of extreme poverty, such as volunteer activities programmes in countries in development, they are not a realistic alternative for most of them", says Rodríguez Tejedo. Along these lines, the impact that this experience professor has had on the students has been very significant. Thus, 41% indicated that it has made them think about poverty, and 21% stated that they have realised that poverty is not just a lack of money.
The project was developed in a single academic year, but arose from previous teaching activities carried out with online games. academic year As a result of the good experience, the initiative "knowledge, emotion and action. The use of games and simulations to favour deep learning of topics with social impact in a class of Economics".
