Here’s the report from the University of Kentucky’s IGD event – ironically, despite happening after everyone else’s IGD, it’s coming out before the official report on the day! We’re still busily collating the information that’s coming in via the survey – which you should fill in at http://bit.ly/igd14survey if you haven’t already – and as usual will have a final report for you in the next week or two. But meanwhile, here’s part 2 of UK’s coverage of their entirely apropos use of IGD as a way to welcome international travellers to their community.
Approximately 60 students from different countries participated in International Games Day at the University of Kentucky. The day had a different twist as it was designed to bring students from different parts of the world together to play games. The goal was to provide a place where students from different countries could interact in a social environment and have fun.
The event was held in the Hub of the William T. Young Library in the multipurpose room. The room was set up into 5 areas: food (popcorn and soft drinks); video games; card and board games; bean bag toss; Mexican Bingo and Jeopardy. A quartet playing music from different parts of the world on traditional instruments provided live music (all from the Center for English as a Second Language).
The music and the smell of the fresh-popped popcorn drew the students in and several of them texted their friends to join them. There was a nice mix of students playing in all areas. The finale of the event was “International Jeopardy” where the participants divided up into two teams and tried to supply the answers to the questions. All seemed to have a good time trying to provide the questions to answers supplied by other students.
All in all, the day was a success, as we had students from a number of countries interacting with one another. The event generated interest on campus and the student newspaper wrote two articles on the event. The cost to put on the event was minimal (less than $200) and all the units involved agreed that it was something to consider building on for next year.