Easy Induction: A Serious Game Using Participatory Design

College freshmen often face difficulties adjusting to the new academic and social environment of university life. It is critical to help them adapt to academic and personal life, while also improving their sense of belonging and engagement with the university. In this paper, we focus on the context of an international joint venture university, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), and present a participatory design approach to identify potential solutions collaboratively. We conducted three participatory design workshops with freshmen in undergraduate and postgraduate studies, where we discovered specific challenges, developed serious game content and design alternatives, and delivered a board game that supports academic and social integration at XJTLU. To evaluate the effectiveness of the board game, we collected both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative analysis revealed that the board game is effective in improving freshmen’s knowledge acquisition of academic affairs, increasing their familiarity with the environment and resources, and enhancing their ability to access information and resources. The board game also received high scores in system usability and user experience. The qualitative analysis indicated that the board game was engaging, interesting, and well-received by students. They found the board game helpful in their academic and social integration and expressed a desire to play it again in the future. Our participatory design approach and the resulting board game provide a promising avenue for universities to support freshmen’s transition to university life.