Apps increasingly enter our legal lives. Last night my youngest daughter challenged me: “Come’on dad play this game with us”. I expected another time waster. I was not disappointed. The app is called halfaminute.
However, next day a brainwave suggested an alternative application. This app would be an excellent learning tool for what is known as collaborative learning; a clear example of how gamification can upgrade serious processes like learning law.
Why did I get excited? If you have not downloaded the app, to get an idea please find some of the games’ rules.
The competition is between two-pair teams. Team aim: beat the other team(s) in points. A team earns a point when one team member correctly derives the intended legal term from the description provided by his/her teammate. The adrenaline rises from the fact that the team only has half a minute to guess as many listed terms as possible.
Example:
Teamplayer 1: Guess what term I am referring to: tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to make profits ‘disappear’ for tax purposes or to shift profits to locations where there is little or no real activity but the taxes are low resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid.
Teamplayer 2: BEPS!
Teamplayer 1: That’s right. You are great and our team won a point.
Notice how both players actively work with the concept to be learned (BEP).
Collaborative learning works towards building shared knowledge. The focus of the “learning”activities is the social and cultural sphere. The group constructs a shared outcome. In playing the app, both teammembers are not only cognitively active in finding agreement on the meaning of a legal team.
In addition to cognitive activities, this app also provides motivational fuel. I had the longed for Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi’s flow experience. This is a powerful motivating force.And of course the points earned and competitvely beating the other team function as excellen motivators as in any kind of game.
If anyone wants to use this app for legal learning, please let me know.