Diplomats and Spies: 8-Week Simulation

FACET Innovate Awards 2023
Category: Collaborative Activity

Andy Tuholski, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Indiana University Kokomo

Activity Description:

A pre-test was administered to my Comparative Politics class to determine their views on government, division of resources, how power should be wielded, and other factors. From there, they were grouped into teams of four with likeminded students and formed countries. The traits of the individual nations varied greatly: several nations were poor, others were economically rising, and others still were major world powers. The type of government also varied: democracy, dictatorship, monarchy, or theocracy. Students named their countries, states, provinces, major cities, and even designed flags.

The online aspect of this exercise was built upon the Statecraft Simulations platform. This allowed students to visualize borders, track resources and developments, and provided 24/7 access to the activity. Each week represented a “turn” in which they could make trade requests, conduct spy missions, launch military offensives, receive approval ratings from constituent groups, and track the health of their economy, people, environment, education system, and other factors.

In addition to competing with rival nations, students needed to work together on global challenges that I incorporated at different times in the simulation, including climate change, terrorism, a pandemic, and a massive data leak that threatened security and economic stability.

To accomplish this, in-person diplomacy was essential. Every Wednesday, our classroom transformed into a “World Summit” in which students proposed, negotiated, voted upon, and enacted international resolutions and even developed entirely new organizations. Throughout the experience, they submitted written assignments that were internally focused on their nations and externally focused on world problems; earned simulation points by accomplishing goals through competition and collaboration; evaluated their peers and themselves; wrote reflections; and were debriefed in significant detail. 

This activity allowed students to take issues that we learned about in lectures and readings and bring them to life. It provided them autonomy. Alliances formed, strategies developed, resources were traded, resolutions presented, and crises were analyzed. Sometimes this unfolded in ways that were completely unexpected; just as in the real world, there are irrational actors and actions.

Importantly, students were allowed to make mistakes. Since this was a multi-week, multi-platform activity they were provided innumerable opportunities to course correct when necessary. Also, because they selected their own type of government and leadership structure---but not their relative level of wealth---students learned how such elements can impact decision-making ability and relative power. By combining in-person and online elements, as well as a variety of goals and assignment types, every student was given an opportunity to participate and excel.

Much has been written about the impact of a global pandemic upon student learning and the isolating experience of online education. This activity was designed to get students out of their seats and regularly interacting with one another. Diplomacy is inherently social---relationships must be forged and cultivated over time---but beyond the aims of the assignment itself and its connection to learning outcomes, I wanted this to be a chance for students to feel immersed in a weeks-long project and develop a camaraderie through competition and collaboration. This was an effective activity in terms of both student learning and creating a fun, engaging atmosphere. Students wrote very positively about the experience in their reflection papers and course evaluations.