Learning from failure: Simulating pandemic agreement negotiations in a global health classroom

Serious games, including simulations, are increasingly used in university teaching, including in medical and humanitarian fields, as well as in political science and international relations. There is less evidence of application in global health pedagogy. This article reports and reflects on the use of a simulation of global pandemic treaty negotiations in a Master of Public Health class on Global Health and International Affairs. Through participant observation and thematic analysis of students’ reflective essays we found that the simulation enabled deep learning in line with the assignment objectives (to apply learning from past health crises, engage with key concepts, and experience global health cooperation and challenges), as well as prompted critical reflections on moral dilemmas related to global health cooperation and decolonizing global health. The simulation provided students with an opportunity to engage with wicked problems embedded within global health by drawing on multiple perspectives and approaches. While the students ultimately failed to successfully negotiate a pandemic treaty, it was these failures that provided opportunities for deep learning and critical reflection as they questioned constraints on their underlying motivations and actions. This experience suggests simulations can serve as a particularly apt approach for teaching interdisciplinary approaches to global health as they enable students to apply different sets of knowledge to a particular problem, explore unfamiliar concepts, and critically assess their assumptions.Author summary: This article reports on the use of a serious game, developed around the concept of a pandemic treaty negotiation, in a global health graduate class. It finds that while the students ‘failed’ to negotiate a pandemic treaty, the simulation enabled deep learning in line with the assignment objectives, as well as prompted critical reflections on moral dilemmas related to global health cooperation and decolonizing global health. It suggests that serious games can provide an innovative and effective approach to global health teaching, calling for greater documentation and analysis of pedagogic outcomes.