Published: 28th June 2024 Last updated: 22nd August 2024. Website Tilburg University.
The complete article can be read here.
‘Exemplary’.
The 2024 review committee called Tilburg Law School (TLS) ‘s learning environment rich. Good instructors who teach lively lectures and classes combine online and offline learning activities. A case in point is the REAL game for the Regulation, Ethics, Acceptability, Legitimacy (REAL) course, part of the hybrid Master’s program of Law & Technology.
The REAL game challenges students to find solutions to the ramifications of new technologies. Their task is to regulate the technology with the tools, techniques, and theories taught in class. However, the chance factor makes the outcomes of players’ choices unpredictable, just as in real life. The game lasts about three hours and – ultimately, in line with the Master’s program itself – can be played in person or online.
‘Complexity lends itself well to gamification.’
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Practising the subject matter on a game board
Leenes: “In class, questions are dealt with: What do we mean when discussing technology? What are the legally relevant characteristics of the technology? What social, ethical, and economic issues emerge when new technologies are developed? How do we establish what law already exists on this particular subject? If the answer to the latter question is unsatisfactory, how can we as a society intervene? What instruments are available? What suitable objectives can we identify? When is intervention justified? What are the boundaries of legitimacy?”
The students learn from each other’s perspectives and knowledge and group dynamics.
A playful way of coming up with an intervention
“The pathway for each new technology starts with a problem analysis and then proceeds to an analysis of (the gaps in) the law and ends with an intervention,” Ronald continues. “In the REAL game, a team of five students follows the same steps, but in a game environment. The playing cards determine the technology to be dealt with, the perspective to be taken, and the relevant parameters. Examples of technologies include commercial space travel, self-driving cars, or brain-computer interfaces.
In the course of the game, the students make motivated decisions that determine the course and outcome of the game. In a so-called ‘public consultation round’, teams give each other feedback. The game ends when an intervention has been agreed on. Students submit a report on the outcome of the game.”
Practice makes perfect
Since October 2023, Ronald has used the REAL game to allow his students to practice for their exams. “Like a kind of pressure cooker, to test whether they have understood it all!” he laughs. “They need to understand the subject matter to play the game, but they still have the opportunity to look something up during the game. The students learn from each other’s perspectives and knowledge and group dynamics. The response I have received is unanimously positive.”
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