IP Education Series #6

This Kat is excited to introduce the latest instalment in the IP Education Series [previous episodes: Intro, #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5]. 

This time, it’s over to Dr Sabine Jacques from the University of East Anglia for her account of how she has made IP learning (even more!) fun:

IntangAbility: using gamification in IP law education to foster student collaboration, motivation and engagement.

As IP educators, we try to find ways to keep students engaged and meet their learning expectations. In a world where students are used to fast-paced technologies and entertainment, available at the push of a button, this may prove to be challenging. Arguably, today’s students are multi-taskers, tend to prefer collaborative environments (compared to didactic teaching) and rely on teachers as facilitators (to navigate the endless sources of information available).

With this in mind, I decided two years ago to research the use of gamification in higher education and eventually designed a board game as a revision technique for IP law. After a couple of tests, conference presentations (like EIPTN 2017, Icepops 2019) and a peer-reviewed publication (in the Nottingham Law Journal), the project has received funding for a more professional-looking board game and the development of a web-based app.

The board game

Upon entering the classroom, students become inventors at a science fair. They sit in teams around

one of the boards and must pursue two goals: (1) as an individual player, students must win intellectual property rights protection for their inventions; (2) students must earn money as a team for future innovative ventures. These goals trigger a peer-based learning process that allows students to thrive and encourages collaboration.

The rules are straightforward. In turn, students draw a card and must answer an IP law question correctly to win IPRs. With every correct answer, they make progress on the board. If the answer is incorrect, the player stops playing for his or her personal goal but can draw a chance card. This card must be answered as a team and contributes to the second goal mentioned earlier. This pile of cards includes questions as well as funding grants, research expenses and a spinner card, which changes the course of the game. The value of these cards is therefore monetary and goes into the team’s pot.

To add an extra thrill, there is one last set of cards to mirror an industrial espionage scenario. At any point, a player can stop the progress of another by playing a threat card. These are secret cards, which have been distributed to each player at the beginning of the game. Unless the threat is countered, the player cannot progress.

The first player to reach the end of the board and the team having earned the most win the game.

The web-based app

Thinking about ways in which to adapt this project to the digital world, we are currently developing two versions of this IP revision game: a single player and a multi-player version.

Both adopt the same interface. Here, instead of drawing a card from a pile, players are prompted with cards of different monetary value (according to the level of the question). Depending on how confident they are in their knowledge, students can pick an easy or a more difficult card. If the answer is correct, the player progresses on a virtual board. If several answers in a row are incorrect or if the player progresses too quickly, the player will land on a bonus box that either includes an easier or harder level question to keep the player motivated. To assist each player, there is a support deck with a limited number of options, including removing some answers and a poll.

There are three main differences with the tangible board game: (1) the possibility for the player to tailor the main deck of cards to one IPR, some, or all; (2) the ability to choose the level of difficulty at the beginning; and, (3) the fact that the game is timed. At the end of the game, a revision report is generated to help students identify where their main gaps in knowledge are.

The multiplayer version intends to create a virtual classroom. The design of the game is similar to the single player version but includes a ‘threat’ possibility where a team can send a threat to another team that will pause the progress of that team until the threat is eradicated.

Benefits and disadvantages of gamification

Using gamification in higher education is not an easy task. The entry costs for creators are significant. First, there is a huge amount of time that must go into developing simple rules that will keep players entertained while not distracting them from the primary goal of learning about legal concepts. Second, the reliance on badges and leader boards will not be sufficient to realise the benefits of gamification. These gamification features must be fully integrated.

But is it as much fun as this Kat has playing with a mouse?

However, this project puts the learner back at the centre of the learning experience. As such, students perceive directly the consequences of their actions and a clear improvement in performance is witnessed as the game develops. The mixture of group discussions and individual questions accommodates different levels of knowledge within the same activity without creating frustration or disengagement, as the feedback attests.

As an educator, the digital versions enable me to access anonymised data as to the performance of students, so that I can focus teaching content towards areas where students struggle prior to the summative assessment.

IntangAbility: where are we now?

This project currently contains about 400 questions covering all intellectual property rights and a website is under-construction. If you are interested in trying this game, please do contact me. I would love to share this project outside my institution and to get your feedback!