The Supporting Responsive Curriculum (SRC) project developed a game to address the issue of trying to share project outcomes in an engaging and thought-proking manner. The game was devised by Rachel Forsyth (see her reflections here) with game design support from Nicola Whitton. The graphic design of the final game was carried out by Peter Whitton.

The aim of Accreditation! is that players learn about the processes involved in course design and accreditation, and have the opportunity to discuss the issues that arise when trading off quality and timeliness, while still being responsive to a range of stakeholders. The board is divided into three sections: strategic approval, detailed planning, and final approval, and players move around the board by making decisions which are presented on the cards in each section, or by landing on ‘chance’ squares.

The game board is freely available under a creative commons licence, and the board and cards (including editable versions) are available for download.

Game board

chance cards (pdf print ready)

chance cards (pptx editable)

strategic_approval_cards (pdf print ready)

strategic_approval_print_v2.1.pptx

detailed_planning_cards (pdf print ready)

detailed_planning_cards (pptx editable)

final_approval_cards (pdf print ready)

final_approval_cards (pptx editable)

Printing tips: we recommend getting the poster printed on thick glossy paper like a poster, easy to transport. It works printed to A0 size, trimmed to a square. Cards should be printed to A7 size to fit on the board.

Rules

The game is played with 2-4 players (people can play in teams: either way, we will refer to them as ‘players’ throughout). Each player chooses a token and places it on the ‘Start’ square. The aim is to be the first to get to the ‘Finish’ square and get your course accredited.  

There are three zones. Each zone has a pile of cards of the same colour. Players need to collect quality stars to enable them to move around the board. Players must pay 5 quality stars to leave a zone, so they will keep looping the zone until they have enough stars and reach the point of transfer to the next zone (the arrowed square). Place 5 stars back in the pot when you move up a zone. You can keep any other stars you have accumulated for use in the next zone.

Select a player to start. The person on the right of the player picks up a card of the appropriate colour and reads out the dilemma and the options available, but not the consequences of the options. Once an option has been selected, the player moves and/or picks up quality stars as directed on the card. If a player lands on a ‘C’ square they must take a chance card and move and/or collect stars as directed on that card. The first person to reach the Accreditation! square is the winner.

Equipment

In addition to the board and sets of cards, you will also need:

• four playing pieces;
• forty quality stars.

Evaluation

We are keen to receive feedback from anyone else who has used the game to find out what you think of it, how you used it, and any modifications you made. If you would like to take part in an evaluation, please contact Nicola at n.whitton at mmu.ac.uk.

See also a JISC webinar given by the project team about Accreditation! and models of responsiveness