Integrating game-based learning for intercultural skills development in higher education

Abstract

Europe has historically been and still is a multicultural space in which a large number of cultures have coexisted and mixed. However, multicultural coexistence often crashes against problems of social integration, discrimination, economically deprived realities, violation of human and social rights and racism (Ostergren & Le Bossé 2011). Thus, it is key to increase cultural awareness as a way to value each other's culture and promote tolerance to educate future generations within the values of social justice and knowledge democracy. With this purpose the subject Inclusion, Multiculturalism and Coeducation was included in the curricula of the degree in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education at the Universidad Loyola Andalucía (Spain). Unfortunately, Covid-19 obliged to migrate to online teaching and learning, hindering the practical approach of the subject. To address this problem, this article explores game-based approaches to help to develop collaborative learning enriching the understanding of cross-cultural realities. The project has a two-fold objective. It aims to foster integration in the multicultural classroom as well as game-based teaching training. With this purpose, a gamebased project was designed using the ADDIE model (Yeh & Tseng 2019) as a spine. In addition, an online intercultural exchange between students at the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (Mexico) and Knox College Illinois (United States) served to nourish the intercultural content of the project. Mexicans and Americans gathered the content of their online conversations in a document and shared it with students in Seville. Afterwards, Mexican and Spanish students had the opportunity to interact online in groups in a Q&A session. Finally, there was an online session with an expert to evaluate the games and reflect on game design principles. Qualitative data was gathered from the 27 undergraduate students in Seville. Results in this study highlight the power of game-based learning and intercultural exchanges to increase student's engagement and motivation through social interaction and enjoyment. However, the use of the ADDIE model for game design was perceived as too challenging by students.