Together as a consortium, the Universities of Göttingen (coordinator), Uppsala, and Groningen have been awarded 400,000 Euros for their joint project ‘ROCKET: Role Playing Games on Conflict Transformation for Equity in Higher Education through Virtual Exchange.’ Now a part of the EU Cooperation Partnerships program, the initiative is co-funded by Erasmus+ through June 2026.
The project launched in January 2024, with an official Kick Off taking place in February at Göttingen university. ROCKET aims to foster inclusion and diversity, stimulate innovative teaching and learning practices, and promote interconnected higher education systems both within and beyond the ENLIGHT network. This will be achieved by developing a concept for a ‘Critical Virtual Exchange’ which will allow students, lecturers, administrative staff and consortium members to connect online. By implementing the practices of role-playing games and conflict transformation, online interaction can be innovated, allowing for interdisciplinary collaboration and a change of perspective. As a result, the areas of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will be strengthened throughout European Higher Education.
Succinctly put, Virtual Exchanges consist of teaching formats in which participants from different cultures and/ or locations come together in a digital space in order to jointly develop solutions to social challenges. Yet these setups can remain superficial and bear the risk of reinforcing present inequalities. Therefore, ROCKET aims to improve upon existing modes of online collaboration by allowing for a more engaging exchange via Role-playing Games, which can teach participants Conflict Transformation skills while also guiding their attention towards issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Resultingly, ROCKET will develop open educational resources and materials which may be re-used, adapted, and shared by interested students, lecturers, and administrative staff members. With a work package on Critical Virtual Exchange for each of the three target groups, ROCKET will pilot, reiterate, and optimize a majority of project activities. In the spirit of co-creation, the consortium will work in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders at each university during this process. In total, twenty Role-playing scenarios will be designed and two Critical Virtual Exchange courses for students as well as four Critical Virtual Exchange training courses for teaching and administrative staff will be implemented.
ROCKET’s upcoming trainings for teaching and administrative staff will be open to members of the ENLIGHT network once they have been piloted. Our outreach conferences, beginning with an exciting hybrid event in Groningen from 28 – 30 October 2024, will also be open to everyone. If you would like to be kept up to date, you can subscribe to our newsletter or follow our social media.