It’s a bright Monday morning. Outside summer is still clinging on, but for some students, vacation is over. One by one, they show up at the fourth iteration of the ENLIGHT course Innovation Game at Uppsala University. Two weeks of developing games to address global health challenges are waiting. Uppsala University ENLIGHT coordinator Jonathan Schalk tags along for part of the course.
The Segerstedt building is a hypermodern white, glass and steel building hosting the lion part of the administration at Uppsala University. After passing the multi coloured glass carousel to enter the building you’ll find yourself staring right into a vast atrium with green plants growing along the walls. The building seems nearly empty, which is perfectly reasonable considering that almost everybody is on vacation in Sweden in the beginning of August. But the university doesn’t actually ever close for holidays, except for bank holidays like Christmas eve. For the next two weeks, this space is dedicated to students taking the ENLIGHT course ‘Innovation Game - Serious Game Design for Better Health’. They come from all over the world and they all represent a great variety of educational and professional backgrounds and ages. This will be very handy in their task to develop brand new ideas for serious games targeting global health challenges. In anticipation of the last students to arrive, Professor Erik Olsson has lined up his multinational and multitalented teaching staff from Uppsala University, University of the Basque Country and Ghent University. This year the course has more registered students then ever. Maybe the fact that the course won the ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Award in 2022 has helped spread the word?
Erik steps forward clapping his hands together drawing attention to himself. He introduces himself as ‘Rocky Nobel, the CEO of Deathstar Studios Inc’. Rocky will be Erik’s persona these two weeks. Rocky, who has a lifetime of doubtful businesses in his past has come to realise that the power of innovation and creativity should be used for good and not for bad. Therefore, he has challenged two teams, one based in London and the other based right here in Uppsala, to develop the best games possible that should address global health trends. Only one team can win. Will it be London, or will it be Uppsala?
It’s time for the students to introduce themselves to the class and their teams. They each also have a persona for the purpose of this course and you wouldn’t believe the achievements and competencies this amazing group collectively possesses! There are Olympic gold medallists, two-time Nobel laureates, Fortune 500 CEOs and more and more and more. Now these absolute heroes of students will join a series of workshops and lectures to learn about design thinking, innovation practices and group dynamics. They will practice project management, prototyping processes, presentation skills as well as intercultural and intersectional communication. This is where I leave the class to their destiny to revisit them again towards the end of the course.
“We’re exhausted, it is very demanding and intense” exclaims Bojana when I return ten days later. “But in a good way!” Khaled chipped in. They are both part of the team “the Orchestra”. They have entered crunch time and now their prototype is nearly finished. There are a few wrinkles to iron out. In the past few days their idea of a game that addresses plastic pollution has gone from abstract thoughts to a playable 8-bit prototype bringing me back to fond childhood days spending the combined duration of a bachelor’s degree playing Nintendo. “Does anyone know how to programme in this team?” I asked. Patrick shakes his head, “I learnt for this”. I am of course curious to know how they ended up here. What was the process? There’s a deep sigh in the room and the group leads me through a journey that contained hills and valleys, obstacles and solutions and a tension in the group that at some point just seemed to dissolved in agreement. The intensity is part of the design of the course and so is the journey the students experienced. They look happy with their prototype! Bojana gets up from her chair, leaves the room stating that “we need more people to test it!” There’s only two days left until their final pitch in front of the judging panel so any feedback is worth gold.
I stay in the room. Patrick has one more thing to add. “Besides the course I have really enjoyed how this group of students have come together. Even though the days have been intense we have gathered in the evenings and during the weekend to experience Uppsala and Stockholm by summer. We’ve danced salsa, gone canoeing and even celebrated birthdays together!”. I realise I have a slight smile on my face as I also exit the room to leave the students to continue their preparation for their final pitch.
Jonathan Schalk, ENLIGHT Coordinator Uppsala University
The course 'Innovation Game - Serious Game Design for Better Health’ is a 'Blended Intensity Programme' (BIP) which means students from several different universities take part of the course online and part of the course on campus. Read more about different types of internationalisation supported by ENLIGHT in the ENLIGHT Stepping Stones.
