As online education progresses, the interaction available in the classroom must also be available to our external students to make teaching impactful.

Faculty of Business and Economics Online Coordiator Dr Mauricio Marrone has tackled this challenge in a winning way,  receiving the NSW iAward for Eduction at the 2014 State iAwards Gala for an online trading game..

“Traditionally, international trade can be a very dry subject,” said Dr Mauricio. “With generous support and guidance from Professor Leigh Wood, we’ve modernised our approach and developed an online game titled Traders of Macquarie University.”

The game is designed as an introduction to how international trade works, and introduces topics such as supply and demand, trading, and tariffs.

“Through gamification, we wish to transform the way we teach in this unit,” said Dr Marrone. “Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game applications, and its most common objective is to increase user experience and engagement with the subject matter.”

Traders at Macquarie University allows for synchronous and asynchronous play and helps students in the online world break the ice by giving them a reason to interact and get to know each other.

“The game provides a shared experience that students can refer to during class and throughout the unit. It allows students to represent a country and experience almost authentic emotions triggered by inequalities in world trade, such as greed, frustration, powerlessness, the desire to escape poverty, amongst others,” said Dr Marrone.

Dr Marrone will next to represent Macquarie and NSW at the  National iAwards competition.