IPSIG stands for "Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare". The University of Antwerp organizes the module in collaboration with the Artesis Plantijn Hogeschool, the Karel de Grote Hogeschool, the Thomas More Hogeschool and the Hogeschool Zeeland.

IPSIG aims to bring students from various healthcare courses (medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing, nutrition, speech therapy, etc.) into contact with each other in order to learn how to work together efficiently and in a problem-solving way.

This year the IPSIG week was completely online and the organization approached us for an online introductory game. The big challenge: introducing 1017 students and 98 supervisors to their learning group in an informal way during a 2-hour online session. The students came from 58 different learning groups, 2 of which were entirely in English.

In September 2020, we held an online brainstorming session with Giannoula Tsakitzidis from the University of Antwerp and her colleagues on how to tackle this. Ultimately we built a game around the 5 steps of "learning with, from and about each other":

1. Getting acquainted
2. Drawing up a plan
3. Reflecting / evaluating
4. Acting ethically
5. Communicating

A number of questions and assignments were linked to each step. For each completed part, the team earned a piece of fuel for their rocket and a hint to crack the launch code. The goal was to launch the rocket within game time and so fly into IPSIG week.

Using our know-how and the Mobile Adventures app, we developed a custom-made game in a budget-friendly way. The participants were sent clear instructions in advance to download the app and to log in to their Zoom meeting in time. Since we were over 1000 participants last minute, we set up 2 separate Zoom meetings, each with their own game host and game support.

During the briefing video, the participants were linked to their specific breakout room according to their learning groups. In that room, after the briefing, they played the game for 90" and got to know their fellow students. The game also included some photo and video assignments in which acquaintance and teamwork were central. Ultimately, 90% of the teams managed to launch their rocket within the allotted time.

The feedback from both the organization and the participants was extremely positive and certainly gives us extra confidence to continue to develop tailor-made online engagement programs through our online team building solutions.

Do you have an idea for an online teambuilding concept? Let us know via team@eccolaluna.be or plan a one-on-one meeting with our online teambuilding expert Hans Vanooteghem through this link.