Teaching Experience: How to Make and Use PowerPoint-Based Interactive Simulations for Undergraduate IR Teaching

ABSTRACT

This article is about designing and implementing PowerPoint-based interactive simulations for use in International Relations (IR) introductory undergraduate classes based on core pedagogical literature, models of human skill acquisition, and previous research on simulations in IR teaching. We argue that simulations can be usefully employed at the early transition from “novice” to “advanced beginner” in a learning process, where the student begins to leave behind rational rules in favor of an own situational experience. However, currently available IR simulations for teaching purposes are often high-cost/high-tech and especially time-intensive: if they do not require custom-made software packages with difficult interfaces and expensive licensing fees, they are often targeted at course-long or at least day-long activities that demand extensive preparation of both teachers and students, with book-length manuals, intricate rules, integrated assessment tools, and specific secondary literature, and conventionally target more experienced students. This article explains how teachers can create an easily accessible and class-long (50 minutes) interactive experience for undergraduate IR students to encourage theoretical linkage with own in-class experience at a very low cost. We do this by employing PowerPoint, specifically in-built features such as hyperlinks, interactive pathways, or audio or video integration that can be used interactively rather than passively (as in a standard presentation).

KEYWORDS:

• Active learning
• decision making
• games
• PowerPoint
• practical learning
• simulations
• teaching

Notes

PowerPoint has two functions that allow for linking slides within a presentation: hyperlinks and “action buttons.” We demonstrate the creation of our simulations by employing hyperlinks here, as they are more versatile (they can also link to elements outside the slideshow), and can be placed on existing elements on the slide, while “action buttons” are an additional element. “Action buttons” are accessed through an additional submenu (under “Insert”/“Shapes”), and thus harder to find. Beyond these reasons, employing hyperlinks or “action buttons” comes down to user preference.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Learning Technology and Innovation (London School of Economics and Political Science).

Notes on contributors

Gustav Meibauer

Gustav Meibauer is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he has previously taught “Concepts of International Society” (IR100).

Andreas Aagaard Nøhr

Andreas Aagaard Nøhr is a Teaching Fellow at the University of Erfurt. He has previously taught “Concepts of International Society (IR100)” at the London School of Economics and Political Science.