SEMINAR PROPER

The game was successful in breaking the tension between hosts and students, introducing the more playful nature of the breakout rooms. However, it was observed to be unintuitive for the students. Its instructions took the longest of all the games to explain; despite this, several mistakes were still observed. Examples of such were the lack of a rhyme, or a student directly saying the word they meant to describe. 

Unfortunately, none of the word chains formed reached a double-digit value, hence why it was concluded that this game was the most difficult. This was reflected in the post-activity discussions, where the main conclusions drawn largely focused on the difficulty of communicating through a rhyming or acting manner, rather than on a strategy they used or an insight they gained.

For the speech segment, the message would often be corrupted within only a few passes; the students found this stage to be the most difficult. The writing segment was more successful, but only slightly; it was noted that the students struggled to quickly summarize the message within a time limit. Lastly, passing the message through actions was the most successful medium, likely due to the relative simplicity of the prompt. 

While the messages were not passed perfectly, the students gained many insights from the game. Most importantly, they were able to provide their own thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of each medium, alongside their different use cases. For example: writing is the medium that takes the longest, but it is best for accuracy and clarity. On the other hand, actions are an intuitive and quick way of communicating, at the cost of easily being misunderstood.

Notably, this was the easiest game for the students to understand. This was reflected in its result—of all the games played by the students, they had the best performance for this game. In every breakout room, the large majority of the picture prompts were successfully drawn and guessed. 

Post-activity discussions for the game did not yield any particularly complex insights or strategies from the students on how they tried to make their drawings more understandable or unambiguous. However, the game did impart a better understanding of the real-world applications of visual aids and illustrations in informational material. The students realized that visuals, when done correctly, can quickly and clearly show off a concept, without complications such as a language barrier or the use of technical jargon.

The activity was extremely successful in engaging the students. This may have helped them understand the game quickly, despite the relatively unorthodox instructions and gameplay. It can be said that the students showed all three desired qualities, albeit at different levels. Notably, cooperation was the lowest of the three and urgency the highest, likely for the same reason: time pressure coupled with excitement. Specifically, the students were observed to be making snap decisions, causing division within the groups. 

After the activity, the students were asked about their approach to the game. For the most part, they gave literal answers on how they wanted to avoid the hazards, escape, and “not die”. They also noted that the main difficulty of the game came from a lack of cooperation within the group. From this, they realized that relying only on adaptability and quick thinking is not enough; it is best to prepare an agreed-upon evacuation plan for everyone before any disasters.