Hello and Welcome to Retrieving the Social Sciences, a production at the Center for Social Science Scholarship. I'm your host, Ian Anson, Associate Professor of Political Science here at UMBC.
On today's show, as always, we'll be hearing from UMBC faculty, students, visiting speakers, and community partners about the social science research they've been performing in recent times. Qualitative, quantitative, applied, empirical, normative. On Retrieving the Social Sciences we bring the best of UMBC's social science community to you.
One of the most frustrating things, at least to me, is when somebody promises to follow up and then doesn't. In an era of text messaging and push notifications, Google calendars, a strange social response to this sense of 24/7 availability seems to be the phenomenon of chronic ghosting. In fact, Dr. Royett Dubar, a professor of psychology at Wesleyan University, recently wrote that this phenomenon, described as when someone cuts off all online communication with someone else without any explanation, is on the rise. It seems that for a variety of reasons, including our own anxieties about being misinterpreted, we often leave threads hanging, perennially suspended in a broken email chain or a buried group chat or a text message that will never escape its unread status. Thankfully, here at Retrieving the Social Sciences, we have no problems with ghosting, in part because we don't want our listeners to miss out on even a second of great social science content, and that is why I'm so delighted to bring you a second episode devoted to the social science of board games. Several months ago, I interviewed Dr. Kerri Evans, Assistant Professor of Social Work here at UMBC, about a project with social scientific, pedagogical and applied research components. A board game that center's the experience of immigrant students in K-12 schools, and the quest to secure resources that will help them thrive. No ghosting here, we've reconnected with Dr. Evans, as well as her collaborator Dr. Keisha Allen, formerly of UMBC, who recently joined the College of Education at the University of Maryland College Park as an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning Policy and Leadership. But before we hear from the faculty who dreamed up this innovative project to hear about its current status, we will also hear from a panel of UMBC students who recently participated in a seminar with Dr. Evans on the subject of immigrants students in public schools. These students had first hand experience working with the board game and have some great insights into the value and utility of the game for students, teachers and other members of the K-12. educational setting. I had a wonderful time learning from undergraduate students Nettie Lichtman, Brittany Murillo, and Kaylee Reyes. And I think you'll enjoy hearing what they had to say about playing games in the classroom.
All right, and delighted next to welcome a panel of really enterprising students who are going to tell us something about this game, how it was played and their experience, both in the classroom and more broadly. So I'm really pleased to welcome Brittany Murillo, Kaylee Reyes, and Nettie Lichtman to the podcast. Welcome to all of you. And thank you so much for taking a moment to talk to us today.
Thank you for having us. Thank you. I'm excited. Thank you.
Awesome. So obviously, some introductions are in order. I wanted to first of all, ask the three of you to tell me a little bit about yourselves. Some basic stuff, maybe you're here at UMBC I'd love to know your major or your majors. If you've got a couple of them, maybe minors, etc. And especially your interest in the fields that you're studying. So, obviously, we've got a bunch of people a bunch of voices in the room here. Why don't we just start with Kaylee and we'll go from there.
Alright, awesome. I just graduated. So I guess I was a senior (Dr. Anson: Congratulations). I, thank you. I majored in Political Science and minors in modern languages and community, what is it? MLL in Spanish, and Latin American studies as well as social welfare, which is how I ended up in this class, really interested in immigration law, which is why immigration and education are like two of my huge passions, part of my research, so I saw this course and really, really wanted to take it.
Excellent. Yeah, it sounds like this was a very valuable experience for you going forward. Brittany, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Uhm, I am also a newly alumni of UMBC. I just graduated (Dr. Anson: Congratulations, also). Thank you! I majored in social work and minored in Psych. I am first generation so that's what inspired me to take this class because I had previously taken an immigrant and refugee class where it was like my junior year. It was my first time like asking my dad about the whole like process of immigrating here. And that like, opened my eyes. And I was like, Oh, I really want to work with like, children, like children, migrant, migrant children, I should say. And yeah, so that's what got me to register for this class. I was really excited. I was following Dr. Evans' studies, so when I saw her post this, I must have been like the first one to register. Super excited, and I did not regret it at all, it was definitely worth it.
Awesome. Well, it sounds like it was really a right place, right time kind of opportunity. And I'm glad you were able to jump on it and that way. Last, but not least, Nettie, now you tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yeah, so I am going into my senior year at UMBC. I am studying social work with a minor in the Spanish language, and then the mention in intercultural communications. For my career, I'm looking to go into immigration as well, immigration social work in particular. So again, this class was definitely something that I was interested in. I've been kind of surrounded by immigrants my entire life, through the workplace, through my friends, and I felt that since I had been supported by this amazing community, I wanted to give back and go into that field. So I think I'm looking at macro work, I think I'm looking at policy or community building within the immigrant community, but I'm still not sure. All I know is that this is something I'm very passionate about.
So excellent. And you have time, obviously, to think about some of these distinctions. And presumably at the next level, if you're thinking about going on to the MSW, or whatever path that takes you on as you continue your career towards social work. That's fantastic. So wow, what a great panel. It sounds like we've got some really awesome expertise here in this field to talk a bit about the experience you had of actually getting to put this into practice, actually engaging through the coursework with, with this game, which is, again, such an interesting game, such an interesting sort of pedagogical tool, and also something that, as I've discussed with Dr. Evans, elsewhere, the recording something that we hope is going to have some long term impact for educators, both here and perhaps elsewhere. But I want to know a bit about your experience with this in the course, your experience actually interacting with with the content. What was this like? What stood out to you?
Yeah, so this course was definitely different than anything else I'd taken. I feel like the majority of my college career had been just lectures for my classes, or if it was a lab, then you know, there's a lab courses as well. But this class was very interactive, and very different in many ways. So we had a couple of different formats. So sometimes it would be where we have speakers come in, and we interact with them, we have conversations, or we listen to their positions. There was the game, of course, which I feel like was kind of the central component of the class, where that's definitely like the opposite of a lecture. I mean, everybody in the class is gathered around, and we're getting passionate about trying to win this game while simultaneously learning the lessons that are coming along with it. And then we had other kind of formats of the class too. There was the one time when we sat in class and listen to, what was that? It was like a, audio experience, kind of like a, put yourself in that perspective, where we're listening to the, or listening to Dr. Evans, walk us through like the story of a migrant child crossing, migrating into the United States and trying to fathom what that had been like for the child. But overall, it was fascinating, I want to say. It was very interesting to me to have a class that, a class that was able to break past just the lecture format, and really get everybody involved in such interesting ways.
Wow, that really sounds like a unique experience. And I was hoping that perhaps Kaylee and Brittany can chime in and tell us a bit about what it was like for them to be in the class as well.
Yeah, I can go. So I was thinking that this class was a lot like a partnership or collaboration in a way, or it felt like different from my other classes in the way that Dr. Evans and Dr. Allen really wanted to learn from us as well. So I remember like Brittany during her interview specifically, like our interview assignment where we interviewed somebody who had experienced education in another country versus when they immigrated here. And I remember Brittany and I sharing about our interviewees and Dr. Evans and Dr. Allen actually wanted to know more. They wanted to understand exactly who our interviewee was, what they went through, and it just felt like, we were each sharing something, we each brought something to the table, which I don't think I've ever experienced in a regular lecture class where that just felt like you sit, receive the information, you leave. But this was a lot like I had something to say. I had something to share. And it felt really empowering to have a class like that. And knowing that every class, everything that we read, we'd actually be able to act on it or see it in a lecture or see it in a guest speaker in the game, it felt really nice that like we're seeing it in practice. So it was very hands on experience.
I would have to agree with both Nettie and Kaylee 100%. It was such a shift of learning for me as well. Because when we enter the classroom, like every class, they're like, like the teachers, what are better ways that we can support you? Oh, that's different. You know, I mean, I was like, That was very nice. Like, nice is not the word that I'm looking for. It was very, like I said, it was just a shift, I was like, I matter what I think matters, what I bring to the conversation matters. I'm not the type of person that can sit in a lecture for two hours and pay attention to my attention span is maybe 15 minutes max, and then I'm daydreaming,
I don't think you're alone in that. I think that's probably a lot more common than you think
Then when we're doing simulations, and then roleplay. And then, you know, you need a bit of lecture, because there are things to discuss. But then it switches to like discussion, you absorb the information better, and you have time to digest it as you collaborate with your class, your classmates and discuss like, this is what I interpreted from the situation, and they share what they interpreted. And then you just share that kind of like how you would at work, we would look up like pictures of like protests and different things like this. And we're like, this is what we got out of the picture. And we could share that with the class. And they would also give their own interpretation. And now we're all discussing it. It was very, like hands on, it was, it was fun. I've never been like excited to come to class, because class brings so much stress, because you're always like, sometimes getting the assignment done is more important than learning. But here learning was emphasized. And I really enjoyed it. I really Yeah.
Well, I think that, to me, this all speaks to the notion that this is, in a way, both pedagogical about student learning, but it's also kind of the hallmark of good social science. If you think about it, right. This is, after all, a podcast about the social sciences. And in this sense, the kinds of insights that you all are bringing to the table as students and collaborating with the instructors in generating knowledge in this way, this is, this is all valuable qualitative data, essentially helping an entire class come to a broader understanding of phenomenon. And so I really appreciate all of these these ideas that you're bringing in here, thinking about how Dr. Evans is able to help facilitate, right this this communication, this dialogue that is, at its core, in my view, sort of social scientific enterprise. So that's awesome to hear. Speaking of that social scientific enterprise, I want to focus in a little bit more about this game, I want to I want to focus on this game a little bit, and ask you about your experience, and maybe some of the surprising or interesting or useful things that maybe you drew out of this experience.
So coming in, I am competitive by nature. So I heard we're having a game I'm like, Oh, how can I win? You know, we're separated into two groups. And then each player gets a client and you get a background of what they're experiencing. And as you go through the game, you realize is less about like to win, you have to support your client, and how can you help decrease their stress levels, as well as getting them the resources that they need. But you also need to make sure that everyone else, all the players that you're playing with their clients get the resources they need. So as you continue to play, you get like a little over protective over your client and you advocate for them. You're like, Hey, I know that you need tutoring, but I need church. This is so important. Religion is very important for my clients. So how can we collaborate and by working together because usually in games, you're like, competing against each other, but to win we have to work together and that was so fun, and it kind of I know that a lot of careers get this but for social work, you get field practicum so you get you intern somewhere, and that's kind of what it felt like, um, I feel like had I taken this class before I would have been more ready for field kind of like you said, up into the shoes and like you're doing the job without like the stress of messing up, because at the end of the day, it is a game, but you learned so much from it.
Kaylee it seems like the collaborative element of this game was really resonating with you, as Brittany was describing it. Tell me a little bit about your experience.
Yeah, so it was very interesting the way that my group specifically because I think we kind of tended to go to the same groups every time kind of developed a strategy every time we play the game. So at first, it very much was like, work, like worry about your student, but then worry about winning the game, they felt like two separate goals. But by the fourth time that we played, it was like, No, these are very much the same. We understood the foundations that we were trying to win the school support the language, home support everything about that. And so it was like, Okay, here's a puzzle piece for this person across the circle in the group, you need this more than I do. And we actually ended up winning that like last time that we played. And it was because we understood who our students were, what they needed, what resources were important. And with all the knowledge that we'd actually gained from the class, like foundations of knowledge and fountains of knowledge and stuff like that. It felt like we were actually better prepared, not just to play the game, but to understand every single student. That was like the hypotheticals in the game.
Was it was it hard to win?
I think that I think our group won, and the last time we played, but I don't know if anybody else one throughout the entire class, did they? It was kind of frustrating, because it's like, firstly, it's just kind of the competitive nature of Yeah, we want to win. But then secondly, it's kind of like you sit with the material and think like, wow, like there really was no way to win in that situation, which is tough, is tough with what we're dealing with stuff with what we're learning about.
Just going to add on that so many external factors affected the game as well, like things that were beyond our control. So we would pick up a card and they're like, oh, COVID happened, all the teachers quit. What do you mean, all the teachers quit? We're like, scrambling, we're like now we have to, like take out funding from another resource that we really needed. And that's what real life is. And as social workers, we're not really looking at the teachers perspective. They're burnt out, they're going through their own struggles, but also like the lack of resources and how we have to be creative when those things occur. So that was an additional thing that made it hard to win, but made us like, be more creative on how we can step up and fill that gap momentarily as we try to figure it out as we end the support, like the students
So do you think that the game was realistic, or were there certain ways that maybe it was not realistic?
I feel like it prepared me better than, like I said, some of the things I experienced in real life in my internship.
See, one thing that I did appreciate about the game as well was like, kind of the the jargon. Like there were some there was some vocabulary that we learned from the game. And then you know, like, when you're playing the game, it's kind of like, could be throwing random words at you at any point. And then you kind of pick it up as you go. But then to have these words actually like topics in the field, I feel like I was able to understand a lot more of what we talked about in the classroom. Just from seeing it in a physical perspective, like seeing it physically happening, like this is what this resource actually will provide. This is what this service center actually does like this can provide this lesson that I feel like that was really helpful for me.
Yeah, I also think that about it being realistic. Dr. Evans was always asking us to speak up if something seems a little bit off. So I do remember, someone in our group, Nettie spoke up and was like, this wording doesn't actually sound very organic, or it doesn't really sound. It's not sensitive enough to like real life. And Dr. Evans immediately was like, Okay, tell me what I can do. That's better. So there was always that aspect of like, we were kind of guinea pigs, we Dr. Evans wanted to our feedback and wanted to know how we could always make the game better, better to play
Yea, play testing. I mean, that's, I think one of the best ways to make a game better. I mean, certainly, the video game industry knows that well, and they hire people to do this kind of thing all the time. So it must be really cool to think that you also had a really positive impact potentially on the overall quality of the game when it gets debuted in schools. So that's a thing to be proud of as part of your contributions to this classroom environment. So but of course, you all are soon to if not already, halfway into going out the door and taking on new challenges outside of the UMBC curriculum. And I wanted to ask, as we bring this really stimulating session to a close, just a little bit about your futures and how you might see your experience in this course, informing some of the the future endeavors that you might be undertaking in the social work field or beyond.
Yea! So this class has really taught me the different components that can affect, particularly like the students lives. So I want to work with kids. So you think I mean, you know, you have to work with parents and families when you work with children, but there's so much more that contributes to the story. So there's one class that we did a roleplay. And they brought in like the mom, the child and the teacher, and you think, okay, you have everything you need. But then they also included the nurse. And I was like, why would you include the nurse? What did she have to do with anything, however, the nurse contributed information that the student was, would come in, often for headaches, and it would show that all the stress was causing the student headaches, and we wouldn't have gotten that information had we not invited the nurse into the conversation. And that's not something that I would have initially thought of. So going forward from this class, when working with like a client, I would explore how many other people can contribute to helping the client and thinking more broader than just like the student, the parent.
Yeah, for me, then I feel like this was a lot of exposure to different areas of potential clients life. Like for example, I didn't even think I was going to be interested in school social work. But we talked about like community schools, for example, where those can be a wonderful resource for immigrant students that are connecting the families to the school system. And I was thinking about even doing that, for my field placement, I'm still looking for my field placement, but it opened up my eyes to a lot of different areas that I was not thinking about before.
Awesome. And good luck as you begin that process. And hopefully, that field placement is a really productive one and gives you a lot of insight into the field and to potentially your future in the discipline. Kaylee?
Yeah, I think that this class really gave me that extra oomph, that extra little vision that I needed, because I've already done an internship, seeing the Immigration and Citizenship side of what immigrants go through. So seeing this very ground level of like, what students go through what the parents go through how materials aren't always in English, they don't always prove or they aren't English, they aren't always in other languages for immigrant parents to be able to understand what their kids are going through. So I think kind of like what Nettie said it showed me different places where I could advocate. So it's not just the citizenship side for immigration law, but I could also advocate for parents, I could advocate for students getting the support they need from their teachers, their homeroom teachers and everything. So I just think that this gives me like so many more avenues that I could take with you the next three years of schooling that I have, and just like really decide where I want to go, who I want to help the most. And just knowing that there are lots of places that I could put myself.
Well, I'm sure I speak for all of our listeners in saying that, I'm really impressed by the passion that you all have brought to this subject matter to the dedication. And so the real, genuine interest that you have in people's lives. And I'm sure that going forward, you all are going to make a really tangible difference. And I'm hardens to think that your experiences in this class may have helped you to focus in and understand where your contributions can be the strongest. So again, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today. I really enjoyed the segment, and I wish you all the best in the future.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Today, I am delighted to welcome back to the podcast, actually Kerri Evans, and also delighted to welcome another guest lecturer Keisha Allen, to talk about the wonderful world of the social science of board games. Obviously, we've gotten a chance to hear from some fantastic students in a different audio environment. But today, we want to bring these two fantastic faculty members together just to talk a bit more about the process of creating a board game for pedagogical purposes, and the ways in which that board game has both sort of effects for learners and also effects for the community. And so Dr. Allen and Dr. Evans, first of all, thank you so much for being here.
Thank you for having us.
Yes, thank you. I'm happy to be here.
So well, you know, first of all, I want to just jump in thinking about the pedagogical aspect of the the board game, obviously in this environment, right? We're creating a board game, right? That is interdisciplinary. That's it uses active learning techniques. What is the mindset? What's the theory behind this right? Why are we doing this in a way that tries to engage students on those levels.
Great question. So I think there's a couple of pieces to it right, that we all know that students engage more with active learning, right? Everybody knows that. But I think the game is unique, because it's one of those experiences that will last with you, as opposed to a case study or a guest speaker, right? Maybe you really connected with the guest speaker or the organization they work for. But more games just aren't commonly used in classes. Right? So it has that element of surprise of uniqueness, right? Before you even get into the content, if you will.
I think another way that the board game board game helps our students to make connections between the content. And you know, the realities of immigrant students is that the board game helped us to understand help students to understand the implications of various, like, if a social service was lost, or, and a particular issue that a student might have in K through 12 education, so then it wasn't, you know, it just made, we could have done that through case studies. But it just made it come to life in a different ways so that they could see how different services and outcomes are interconnected. And I think that that's a beautiful thing that games are able to do.
Also, as you're saying that it made me think, you know, the feeling that you get when something's taken away from you, when you lose a turn, like you feel that upset, or that anger, or that frustration, right. And so that's different than hearing a lecture where you don't feel the emotions yourself, right, you get excited when you get your puzzle piece, and you know, you're moving towards your end goal. Right. And so I think that's cool for the students to feel the emotions themselves.
Yeah, I definitely agree with your first point, Dr. Evans, as well as everything else that you said, Dr. Allen, but I do I do really think about racking my brain here about whether I've ever played a board game as part of a class experience. And I gotta say, I don't think I ever have in all of my years in higher education, it really is a pretty unique thing. And yeah, definitely to think about the roleplay element here, it may be a role that students are preparing to work with, but don't necessarily embody. And so I think that's such an important thing to be able to truly try to gain the mentality of a student who's working in this way, or a teacher who's working in this way. That's absolutely a fantastic insight. And also, you know, I think a bit about the current sort of external importance of what these things are achieving for students in terms of getting that feeling right. You're describing the emotional layer here. Do you think that that has an impact on the degree to which the students who experienced this board game are able to effectively engage in advocacy?
I think so. Because I think when you feel those emotions, it's more likely that you'll be compassionate about an issue, if that makes sense, right? Like we had some students who enter the course because of the connection to schools. And we have some students who enter the course because of the connection to immigrants. But by the end, I really think that they were all passionate about that intersection, right about how are our schools, not always providing equity for immigrant students? Right, they were passionate about that issue. And I think that some of that sense of frustration that they felt throughout made them more likely to advocate. I don't know if that's a good segue into our final projects that the students did, they each got to pick a different type of assignment. So they could do a podcast, op ed, writing up potential like a grant letter of intent.
You know that I love option number one.
And so in it, basically, what they were trying to do was do a little bit of advocacy. So they picked a particular issue that we talked about throughout the course. And they had to do some critical thinking around how would I address this issue? What might a potential solution be? Or what do I need people to know about? And so they all did different projects, and they really weren't able to embody that bringing the content together with the advocacy skills that we taught in class and like putting it to action, doing something about it.
One of the things that was really exciting to me towards the end of the semester, one of our graduating seniors actually had decided that she was going to apply for Social Work positions in schools, and she hadn't seen that as a possibility prior to the course and she said that so I'm not just saying that. And so that just really, you know, excites me and you know, adds another layer of how she was able to take the content Take the theory and recognize, you know how she could apply that and how she could advocate for immigrant children and youth in ways that were meaningful to her. And that that could be a career pathway for her. And that it didn't have to just continue to live in this, like abstract. Oh, that's messed up thing she actually made, made a life choice to work with that population.
That's really awesome. I mean, I think about, you know, some of the the theories of pedagogy that I've engaged with in the past, really emphasizes the notion of meaning making the idea that when we're creating assignments, when we're writing essay prompts or whatnot, a lot of the time our students are writing with a single audience of mine, and that's usually just the instructor. And it's like, I'm going to write this essay to get an A or something. And, you know, that's a very instrumental kind of goal, right? But it seems like with this assignment, and then with the subsequent assignments, you're describing these final projects, the goals becomes very obvious, I think, are far beyond just the the course. And so I wonder if you could talk about I mean, did the students experience kind of the artificial nature of the assignment, and then felt like they wanted to break free of that and kind of move into the real world? Or was it something that it helps ease to kind of as a springboard? Right? Does it help to kind of launch them towards the real world? You know, because, you know, the board game is necessarily an abstraction, right? Do you feel like it was something that encouraged them to want to grab a hold of the real world for that reason? Or was it some other kind of dynamic?
So, my initial thought is that it wasn't just the board game, that it was the entire design of the course that we had a board game, we had practitioners who would come in, whether in person or virtually, and speak with our students. And so I, I think that it was, yeah, beyond just the game. But I think the game kind of served as an entree into the conversation for them, and engage them from the very beginning.
Yeah, and I think that's interesting, right? They, they played the game four times throughout the semester. So if you think about it is four hours out of a three hour week in class, right? It wasn't a huge proportion of the class. But we very intentionally played the first day. Right? Yeah, we quickly went over the syllabus, and then that's what they did. And so it was their first experience, their first thought on the topic was this game, which was fairly immersive, right? And then it really kind of set the tone for like, all of the different issues and components that would come out throughout the semester, you know, we to we got into theory, right? So so we intentionally started with it as a, if you know nothing about this topic, the idea of the game is that in one hour, you can get a breadth of information, right? You're not gonna be an expert, you're not gonna know everything. But it creates that desire to learn more, and to really be excited for week two, and to do your reading and to come to class prepared, right?
Do you think students from various disciplines encountered this experience? The course experience? Were there? Big differences, you know, did some students latch on to this stuff immediately and see the relevance for let's say, their career objectives? Did other students maybe find this to be further afield? Or did sort of everyone uniformly kind of see the through lines
I guess? I do think there were differences and how folks experienced that and saw the through line, I'm not sure if it was discipline related, though, if I can just mention what we're here. So there in the course, there were six Social Work majors to bio majors to psychology, one political science, one media, and one Latin American Studies. And then for minors that were folks from psychology, sociology, social welfare, modern languages and linguistics, intercultural Communications and Education. So a huge variety of students, but I wouldn't say that I saw a particular difference between how they engage with the content, I think some of them it may have taken a little bit longer, but that may have just been, they were signing up because it was an elective that was at the right time. Right, versus versus other people joined for the mission, if you will. But by the end, I think they were all on board, and they all saw the relevance and we're cared, right. And we're taking it away as something that I'm going to acknowledge this in my future, whether it's with my co workers who are immigrants, or whether it's actually in my client base that I work with, but I think they all saw a connection to the real world.
Yeah, I was just going to say honestly, and it could be just that time has passed from week to week. I didn't. I wasn't really aware of you know, who's who was me. During what? Sometimes it would come up like I'm thinking about a student who she was another senior who has started law school and she talked about, she was seeing the content through that lens of the legal field. And so I think that that's, you know, that's one example that I can pick up. But otherwise,
I can think of another example where a social work student talked about person and environment, which is a theory that we use a lot in social work, and a few other people kind of like raise their eyebrow like, what's that? Right. So that we had to take a step back and explain, you know, kind of the context around it, because those who were in social work already understood the connection others didn't. But I think that's some of the beauty of that interdisciplinary work, right? We all have different theories, we all have different ways of understanding and thinking about concepts. And so it really provided that opportunity for students to kind of challenge each other. But also, again, to think about the real world, right? You You very rarely, in a career work with only people who are trained in the same as you. You're always in part of a team with different people in different thoughts. And so I think it gave students that practice, versus a lot of their courses are with their majors, right? That's, that's a piece of undergrad other than the GED courses, right? Typically, they're in your major. And so it was a way to bring that into an advanced level course, where most of the GED courses are more intro level courses.
Yeah, that's, that's a very cool feature. And I mean, you think about the outcome here, I mean, the context of a school, of course, you're going to be working with people with a variety of different trainings and backgrounds. And their perspectives are all contributing as the game kind of demonstrates, right, so the actual outcomes that students are experiencing. Speaking of outcomes, I want to think about what's next for this. So obviously, we've gotten a chance to integrate this approach to the curriculum. And so this course, what are we doing with it next? What's the output here?
Yeah, so a couple of things. Two of the students who took the course have not yet well, a handful have not yet graduated, I would say the majority did. But two of them have joined me this year, and are working through the federal work study program and the shore program as research assistants. And so they're going to help take the game, to other settings, both on campus and off campus. And so we're going to go and we're going to run it in small groups, and kind of continue to get that workshop type experience out. So in other courses, or in with student groups at different meetings, and things like that. And so they're going to help facilitate that, since they have a lot of knowledge about it, and then collaboratively with with Dr. Allen, we're going to be working on a publication out of one of the projects from the course.
Also going to say on the side that I am at a new university now. And I also see the potential for for the game to be integrated into one of the two courses at University in Maryland now and their teacher education program. So it needs to be worked out. But just another setting where we would be able to, to expose the game to to educators.
Yeah, that's fantastic. I mean, first of all, congratulations on your new appointment. That's very exciting. But I also think, you know, in, in much of the scholarship of teaching and learning a lot of the studies that I read, one of the necessarily pitfalls with potential limitations. So some of these publications, really is the fact that they're limited in the scope conditions of the study, because they're usually conducted, you know, one university and one setting with one group of students. And so you can take these these lessons, but of course, there's always the question of, well, these kinds of treatments, or will these kinds of experiences generalize to different student populations? And so it's actually very exciting to think about the possibility of launching these kinds of things at multiple universities and just seeing empirically will these experiences sort of are they are they portable to other contexts, so not only you know, is is a great that you take in this new role, and, you know, we're sad to see you go, obviously, it's actually, it's gonna be a great opportunity, both for you and for the research project as well. So that's really cool to hear about.
I also think, you know, this, this was an upper level courses, we taught it, but I would love to transition it more to a First Year Seminar. Right, which I think, then the interdisciplinary aspect is a little bit different again, right? We're talking about how more students get that early on in their career. But I think that this is an issue right? Equity for immigrant students, is an issue that impacts so many people across UMBC campus. And so I think it would have a big draw, and would help engage some of that thought process early on, right. And really excite students early in their careers at UMBC. And so again, that's a different population because I think those students are looking very different than than, of course, the students we had that were almost all ready to graduate and their last semester at UMBC.
And Dr. Evans, I have seen a little sneak peeks or preview Is have potentially revised game materials? Is that also something that you are working on?
Yeah. So throughout the course, the students were mostly playing with a game that was made out of cardboard and such materials. But that was intentional, right, we had about 50 students from across campus, test the game prior to the course. And each group that tested it, we made some revisions. And we made some more revisions. And we made some more revisions, right? With this idea of every time people would give us feedback afterwards, on what worked, what didn't work, what was culturally sensitive, what could be changed. And so the students had a an advanced version in the course, but yet it still was kind of a prototype. And so this past summer, a student, I believe, also from biology helped and did a lot of kind of the graphics behind, making the board game a little bit more professional. And we're working now with common vision to print out hopefully, in the next month or so we have our first test in another course at the beginning of November. So we have a deadline to get it out there.
That's really, really exciting. I can't wait to see the finished products, and maybe even one day gets to play the game myself.
Dr. Evans, do you want to mention professional development as a space with in service teachers in the space that you're thinking?
Yea, I may have mentioned that in the first podcast. But if not, you can repeat it. So I think one of the other venues where we're hoping to use this game moving forward is to go into public schools and use it during that in service time, right? When kids have really well, these days, a lot of times the teachers are going through some sort of training. And the idea of using it there would be that we're meeting with teachers, but also with other folks across the school, the school social workers, and psychologists, the administrators, the nurses, and cafeteria workers, right? This is really an issue that can impact regardless of your role within the school setting. And the benefit I see doing it there in addition to right, anyone at UMBC would be would be pre service, if you will. But those who are in the school setting after they play the game, we have the opportunity to really do some action planning, and to sit down and talk about in the debrief. How does this relate to you? How does this relate to your school to your role? And what are some short and long term goals that we can address if if change is needed, right. And I think each and every school will be different with what they're doing and what they're not doing and where they see areas for improvement. And so I'm really excited about that opportunity of how can we help people make change kind of within each individual school rather than if we're playing at free service or even through community organizations, that falls on each individual to think about change. But if we do it together as a school and five or 10, people in the school can have the conversation together, they can have that opportunity to work together on change.
And the timing is really perfect for this. And 2020 legislation for the state, the blueprint for Maryland's future, I think is the name of it passed. And so really the intent of the legislation is to create a world a world class education system and Maryland's for, for students. And one of the pillars of the blueprints, addresses what scholars call emergent bilingual students, which are immigrant students. And so, you know, knowing that that is a population, that one, we definitely need to do a better job of educating in K through 12 education, but that there's legislation that's intended to really, you know, focus on that group of students. I think that the game and that the game is just is a perfect accompaniment to other initiatives that will probably be implemented. And so, you know, that's a service it's a resource, a tool that can be made available to school districts. And, and definitely also then the the planning for the afterwards where the areas for growth, but then also like, what are the strengths within a particular school that are the resources and within the school and in the community? And so that's, you know, it's a perfect time for that as well.
Wow, well this is really is just a wonderful project that I think brings together so many important features and aspects of what social science and social science pedagogy is really all about. And so I'm so delighted to have been able to follow up with both you about this project and to think about the incredible progress that you both made on this the deployment of this game and the way that students have encountered this entire curriculum that you've designed across this entire course. I was really delighted to speak to those students about the the experience that they had in the course and I certainly think that a lot of their remarks echo my Should what you've said as well. But I wanted to just thank you again so much for coming on the podcast and for be willing to talk to me about all this. And I wish you the best as you continue to deploy this. And hopefully, in the next little while, we'll be able to hear about some of the real tangible impacts that this pedagogical approach will have made in schools in Maryland and hopefully beyond. So again, Dr. Evans, Alan, thank you again, so much for taking the time to talk to me today.
Our awesome new production assistant Jean has been hard at work getting settled into her new role at Retrieving the Social Sciences, and we can't wait to hear from her more in the upcoming episodes. For now, though, we'll have to leave you in suspense. No Campus Connections this time. Until next time, stay tuned for more insights from students, faculty, visiting speakers and Jean, and as always, keep questioning.
Retrieving the Social Sciences is a production of the UMBC Center for Social Science Scholarship. Our director is Dr. Christine Mallinson, our associate director is Dr. Felipe Filomeno, and our undergraduate production assistant is Jean Kim. Our theme music was composed and recorded by D'Juan Moreland. Find out more about CS3 at socialscience.umbc.edu and make sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, where you can find full video recordings of recent CS3 sponsored events. Until next time, keep questioning.
