Do Something that Scares You

We invited contributors to share a promising practice or innovation they are testing in their work with students. In the post below, Tricia Seifert shares the process of creating a game to assist students in the transition to post-secondary education.

A friend’s advice: Do something that scares you. For some, launching into space is scary. For others, writing for a professional audience is scary. Writing scholarly and practitioner-oriented journal articles and blog posts from a decade’s research from the Supporting Student Success and Blueprints for Student Success projects didn’t scare me. I’m an academic; writing is what I’m trained to do.

Launching my research into a totally different orbit, now that is scary. Check it out here.

Success Prints Crash Course is launching. Check us out here.

It began by creating a board game, Success Prints Crash Course, which incorporates findings from a decade of my research conducted across North America. Designed to help students transition to higher education, I found the process of developing the board game exciting, exhilarating even. My creative energies were on fire. Rather than writing about the findings from my college impact and student success research, I was re-presenting, re-fashioning the implications directly for the people the research was intended to help, students and those invested in their success.

I have found so much joy in developing Success Prints Crash Course for students, with students. Not long ago, the Magic Sail Games team (Branson Faustini, Waylon Roberts, and Austin Boutin) confronted higher education’s hidden curriculum themselves. They brought this student perspective to the game’s central challenge: managing time to maximize academic performance and social connections while managing stress, earning enough money to pay tuition, and rolling with life’s unforeseen events.

Bran and Waylon with the first game prototype on the first 1000 mile road trip around Montana.

For the last 18 months, we’ve designed, played, iterated, and played some more. I’ve presented at 8 state, national, and international conferences; run 100+ play test sessions; and traveled 10,000 miles to share the game with students, parents, teachers, counselors, and higher education professionals.

None of this scared me.

What scared me was how to respond to the inevitable question at the end of a test play or conference session: how do I get a copy of the game?

I didn’t have an answer. I had been traveling with 2 prototype copies in the trunk of my car or on a plane. I didn’t know how to go from 2 games boards to 2000. I knew nothing about game manufacturing or how products are brought to market.

But I knew I had to push beyond my comfort zone if the game was to reach its potential and intended audience. I had heard high school students like the ones in rural Montana exclaim the game helped them realize they could ‘do college.’ I had played with first generation students, huddled around a game board during orientation, testing out their time management strategy. I had shared the game with higher education faculty and staff who emphatically stated how much they wished such a game existed when they were in school. It was from this group that I imagined how valuable the game could be for new faculty (or even better, tenured faculty) to understand the many demands today’s students balance.

How was I going to go from 2 game boards to 2000? There was a clear answer; I had to start a small business. I needed to source game manufacturers. I had to create a website to sell the game. I had to learn all the back-end business functions from shipping to search engine optimization.

This scared me. I am an academic after all.

I created Success Prints, LLC because it allows me to get my research into the hands of the people who can benefit from what I’ve learned in a form that will resonate with them, a game. Success Prints Crash Course is for students, parents, teachers, counselors, and higher education faculty and staff. Some call this ‘knowledge dissemination’ — I am disseminating in new and innovative ways what I’ve learned from talking to hundreds of students, staff, and faculty in both high schools and higher education institutions about students’ questions and concerns and the support needed to promote their success.

The website is now live and people can purchase copies of Success Prints Crash Course for their classrooms, residence hall lounges, or dining room tables. We are able to ship to Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the UK — — all countries where students are playing prototype versions. I invite you to check us out: https://successprints.shop/

It’s been a crazy road and it’s just the beginning. I feel better knowing as I get more comfortable, it will scare me less. In many ways, I feel like the first-year student who has pulled up outside of the residence hall and is unpacking to begin their post-secondary journey. They are scared and the idea of leaving home and starting in a new world feels uncomfortable. But if they can just hang in through the first two weeks, they will find the rhythm and flow. Their discomfort begins to shrink and their comfort zone grows.

Here’s to doing something that scares you and growing in the process. Here’s to harnessing the power of games to teach students in fun and engaging ways.

Dr. Tricia Seifert is Associate Professor of Adult & Higher Education and Head of the Department of Education at Montana State University. She is also a game designer and student success innovator. You can follow the trajectory of the Success Prints Crash Course game @TriciaSeifert and @_blueprints on Twitter; @blueprints4success on Instagram; and Blueprints for Student Success – Montana on Facebook.

Gaming the Transition to Post-secondary

“The first week was confusing.”

This was overheard from a student playing the first round of Tabletop University, a game designed to simulate students’ first semester in college or university.

“You know what else can be confusing?” asks the game master.

“The first week of college.”

Social events, the start of classes, and the litany of questions: What’s your name? What’s your major? Where are you from? Figuring out what to do and with whom can be bewildering for students in their first year of post-secondary study.

Players confront all of this and more in Tabletop University, the Blueprints for Student Success college transition board game. The object of the game is for players to manage time strategically with the goal of maximizing GPA and social connections while earning enough money to pay tuition and managing life events and stress. Simulating students’ first semester, it’s a lot to manage in a game. But it’s also a lot to manage in real life.

In addition to time management, players (or teams of 2 to 3) learn about the student success programs and services that exist on college/university campuses. Dr. Seifert’s research team has shown that students may be unaware of these supports and benefit from peers who connect them with campus services. By playing Tabletop University, students are introduced to areas such as Financial Aid and Supplemental Instruction. Players choose whether to allocate time to take advantage of their benefits, like grant monies/bursaries or enhanced peer-to-peer tutoring.

Tabletop University is the result of a collaboration between Dr. Tricia Seifert, Associate Professor of Adult & Higher Education and Principal Investigator of the Blueprints for Student Success project, and Magic Sails game development company. Dr. Seifert approached the Blackstone Launchpad at Montana State University where she met Waylon Roberts venture coach and game developer. After sharing an early prototype, Waylon suggested Magic Sails could bring to life a game focused on the college transition.

After several iterations and game play with hundreds of students in Montana’s rural communities, the verdict is in. The game is fun AND students learn from playing.

Recently, Dr. Seifert and Wendi Fawns of Valley Oak Education Resource Center played with students at Darby High School, Florence High School, and Victor High School, small rural schools in Montana’s Ravalli County with fewer than 30 students in their graduating class, as part of an #iGraduateMT grant project.

One of the school counselors observed,

Anyone who has ever worked with high school students knows you can tell them a piece of information and a month later some will tell you they never heard that piece of information before. Watching students play Tabletop University, I could see the information being imprinted in a different way than just informing students about college.  For example, students were able to hear about academic advising, and then make a strategic decision about how to spend their time and money that week in the game.

Students at our school were paired in teams, so they were able to discuss strategy with each other.  It was obvious that this information was being imprinted on students watching them play the game for a second time when they were advising each other and talking strategy about the nuances of the game. One student was overheard saying; “Last time I played I did academic advising and my GPA rose, so we should definitely do that.”

Meeting with an academic advisor and identifying a good academic fit ignites interest in the subject matter and results in a higher GPA. Students learn this and other strategies through repeated play. The first time students play the game they may spend all their time in academics and have no friends at the end of the game. Let’s face it; it is hard to be successful in college with no friends. The next time students play they allocate their time in a way that balances academics as well as social life. Moreover, they realize they don’t have to do it all alone; they recognize the people, programs, and services on campus that can help them along the way.

Games allow students to try, fail, learn, and succeed in a space where the consequences are as simple as a ‘do over.’ This is the beauty of game-based learning. This is not the case when students are flung onto a post-secondary campus without the practice and knowledge of how to ‘do college.’ The consequences in this case can be dire. Students try college for a couple of weeks, fail to connect academically and socially, and deem they are simply not ‘college material.’ The key motivation for the Blueprints for Student Success project is to assist students to develop what David Conley and others refer to as the ‘college knowledge’ they need for early and ongoing success. This contributes to students persisting and achieving the academic and personal goals they set for post-secondary study.

It’s exciting times for the Blueprints for Student Success project with plans to make Tabletop University available for high school, college and university educators. It’s not enough, however, to make the game available. The long-term plan is to follow-up with students as they transition from high school to college, examining if they engage differently as a result of game play. If you find this as exciting as we do, we would love for you to be a part of this project. Let us know of your interest by leaving a comment and stay tuned!

If you would like project and game updates, follow Blueprints for Student Success – Montana on Facebook or @_blueprints on Twitter.

Generous funding to support the development of Tabletop University and the Blueprints for Student Success research project has come from:

A collaborative grant project of the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Office of Public Instruction, and Montana Department of Labor & Industry

College of Education, Health & Human Development at Montana State University

Montana State University’s Outreach and Engagement Council

Success Begins with a Blueprint

It is an honour to have the Supporting Student Success research project covered so thoughtfully in the current issue of University Affairs.

Sparrow McGowan did a great job of sketching the trajectory of this multi-phased project. What came to light over the course of the project was that setting students up for success starts in high school. Interactions with counselors, teachers, peers, and parents set the stage for how students engage the post-secondary application and transition process.

An extension of the Supporting Student Success research has been the Blueprints for Student Success project which seeks to build a bridge between high school and post-secondary. The project demystifies the “hidden curriculum” and helps high school students learn about the people and programs on post-secondary campuses who are committed to student success. One might say the objective of the Blueprints project is

To help students learn how ‘to do’ college before being ‘done in’ by college.

One of the ways the Blueprints project accomplishes this goal is through game-based learning. We have teamed up with Magic Sails game design company to create Tabletop University, the college transition board game.

Rather than being told about time management, players are tasked with managing their time to optimize both their academic performance and social connections. It was amazing to hear a Grade 10 young man comment on how valuable it was to hold “time” in his hand. Tactile and tangible, he could feel time and see how his choices had consequences in the game.

We are excited by players’ and teachers’ responses to the game. We expect to launch a Kickstarter campaign to support Tabletop University (the Blueprints for Student Success college transition game) by the end of the year. You can learn more about the game and rules here.

Follow the Blueprints for Students Success project on Facebook or on Twitter (@_blueprints).

 

U Pick the Conference Proposal – Transatlantic Gaming for Higher Ed Student Success

Rather than a group of faculty members determining which proposals make it on the conference program, potential attendees at SXSW EDU review proposals and vote on what they want to see presented. Think academic conference meets American Idol; crowd support is paramount for being selected.

Kirsty Wadsley (@KirstyWadsley) and Tricia Seifert (@TriciaSeifert) wish to share the Blueprints college transition board game we have been playing with high school students on both sides of the Atlantic but WE NEED YOUR VOTE!

Voting for our proposal is easy but best done on a computer than phone.
1. Click on the this link: https://www.sxsw.com/apply-to-participate/panelpicker/

2. Create an account. You can do that by clicking Sign In or Sign Up in the upper right. Then you’ll need to verify the account via a link sent in email. If your link isn’t hyperlinked, copy and paste it into the browser.

3. Select “Vote Now”

4. Search “Transatlantic”

5. Click “Vote Up”. While you are there, check out the additional supporting materials.

6. And then leave a comment if you are so inclined.

We are absolutely thrilled to share what we have learned from students who have played the @_blueprints college transition game thus far. Comments like, “this game helped me realize there is more than one way to be academically successful in college” to “the game gave me an idea of what time management will really be like.” Students have raved about the games’ fun, interactive nature.

The Blueprints post-secondary/college transition board game is experiential learning at its finest. Students play, fail, learn, and advance. They strategize around time management and learn of the amazing people and programs that exist to help students succeed.

Going to college and/or university is a tremendous change for students. We hope to share the game with high school counselors and student affairs & services professionals. If the old saying “practice makes perfect” holds into today’s post-secondary context, then there is no better way for students to be successful in college than through practiced play.

SXSW EDU – Transatlantic Gaming for Higher Ed Student Success

Research is a lot like life; it’s an unpredictable journey.

The Supporting Student Success research project began in colleges and universities across Canada with conversations with students, staff, and faculty. We learned that students are often unaware of the programs and services available to support their success until they find themselves in crisis. This got us thinking: how could we help high school students make a more seamless transition to post-secondary education?

We knew that whatever we developed had to invite students to actively engage in the learning process. Our answer to this question has been the Blueprints for Student Success project. We have developed a website and series of tools and resources for the Canadian context. But we know that transitioning to college/university can be difficult whether students are from a small town in Montana or a big city like London, England. Recognizing that college access and success are international issues, the Blueprints project has expanded to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Not only has the Blueprints project spread internationally, now we are harnessing the power of games to help high school students and first-year college/university students make a seamless transition into post-secondary. Our recent venture includes the Blueprints board game. Between social events, academic assignments, and life that just happens, players use their time to maximize social connections and academic performance while managing stress.

Together, @TriciaSeifert and @kirstywadsley are excited to propose a session titled “Transatlantic Gaming for Higher Ed Student Success” for SXSW EDU. Check out the board game’s development here: BlueprintsDeck_IntlBoardgame.

Stay tuned for information on how you can participate in the SXSW “picker process” and ensure that our session is included in the upcoming SXSW EDU conference and festival.