Apply for 2019 Learning and Teaching Grant by Feb. 28
Professor Michael Baumtrog and his team received a $12,000 Learning and Teaching Grant last year to develop and test a digital-game learning tool.
Imagine a learning tool resembling a “choose your own adventure” story.
Michael Baumtrog and his team were able to bring such a digital tool to life with the $12,000 Learning and Teaching Grant they received last year.
“Our project aims to take traditional business case studies – in our case, an ethical decision to be made – and turn them into digital, playable games,” said Baumtrog, professor of business ethics and critical thinking at the Ted Rogers School of Management.
The goal of these games is to help students develop critical thinking and decision-making skills for ethical leadership, and better prepare them for the business environment.
“The games are meant to be used with a facilitator, so students play the game and then we talk about it – ‘What were the central decision points here?’, ‘Could this have been made to go another way?’, and so on,” said Baumtrog. “That allows the students to feel the impact of the decision as they’re able to think through the technicalities of the ethical reasoning involved in their decision-making.”
Two new games developed by Baumtrog’s team focus on racism and sexual harassment – pressing issues for students entering the work force, or early career employees. .
“In the racism case, for example, students have to choose how to respond to a case where a colleague is in competition with them for a promotion but is unjustly discriminated against,” said Baumtrog. “In the sexual harassment case, students have to handle a situation where there’s an unwanted advance from a male colleague who’s been a longtime friend but has recently taken a romantic interest.”
The game asks students to make a number of decisions.
“No matter which decision you make it brings you to another screen that outlines some of the results of the decision that you’ve chosen and you will eventually end up at a final result,” said Baumtrog.
The Learning and Teaching Grant and a $7,000 research and development grant from Ted Rogers School of Management, were critical to the development of the games and testing to measure their effectiveness.
“The combined funding has allowed the whole project to become a real thing,” said Baumtrog. “We want to keep refining the existing games - as well as developing new ones and creating teaching notes. But without this initial source of funding, we never would’ve been able to develop this. As these games are open source and will be available to other instructors at no cost, online, they have the potential to benefit the larger community.
As principal Investigator on the project, Baumtrog heads up a team of five that includes Hilary Martin, director of strategic initiatives, Ted Rogers Leadership Centre; Sahar Ahadi, post-doctoral research fellow; Zahra Vahedi, PhD candidate, psychology; and Assem Kroma, masters in digital media; with guidance from Chris MacDonald, director of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre. The project is supported by the centre’s GameLab.
Working closely with the team is Wendy Freeman, interim director of the Learning and Teaching Office. “The Learning and Teaching grant program is an important way for the Ryerson community to advance excellence and inclusion in teaching and learning,” said Freeman. “We have so many projects that demonstrate the value of experimentation and scholarship and have contributed to the student experience. I'm excited to see the innovative and creative ideas proposed this year.”
Applications for the 2019 Learning and Teaching Grant (LTG) may be submitted until February 28, 2019. Learn more about the program at the LTG website.