At a glance
For: Students and prospective students
Topics: suitable field of study, practical insights into campus and everyday student life, MINT courses, gamification, mentoring
Sub-project of Welcome&Stay@THM
Location: Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM)
Playful to the subject of study
For many young people, choosing a course of study is the first big decision in their lives. The range of study subjects - there are almost 40 different bachelor's degree programs at THM alone - doesn't make it any easier. But why not make study orientation a playful experience?
Quests and missions lead across campus
In the game-based study orientation program “mission:me”, students can complete self-selected missions and quests for two weeks, experience everyday life at a university - and discover the various MINT study programs at THM. In the end, the greatest success is deciding on a specific field of study. The highlight: The players only find out which course of study the content belongs to during the course of the missions. In this way, orientation and decisions are guided by interests rather than by prejudices or narratives.
The voluntary study orientation program mission:me is currently carried out once a year in person at the THM. It lasts ten days and is often used by students as part of school internships to get to know the course content and the university campus.
During their time on campus, participants select “missions” (courses that represent degree programs), carry out “quests” (tasks that give them an understanding of campus life) and collect competitive points. The students are accompanied by mentors with whom they reflect on their experiences and identify strengths and weaknesses. A “mission log” (notebook) records the experiences and findings, and the participants exchange ideas about them in an “online community”.
The highlight: The players only find out which course of study the content belongs to during the course of the missions. In this way, orientation and decisions are guided by interests rather than by prejudices or narratives.
This is how it continues with mission:me
After the first successful years of mission:me, the program will be further expanded and expanded. A variant that also provides digital study orientation offerings is in the works. In the future, the learning and information materials will be available digitally on the web. This means that the content can be developed asynchronously, independently of location, self-directed and at your own learning pace. Content support (videos, podcasts) and incentive systems (points, awards, quizzes) are also intended to promote motivation.
Contact person
Julius Jay Butler , Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen
