Playing public health: An interactive demonstration of a game-based assessment for health systems and public health learning at a higher education institution
1
Health Systems and Public Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):A1104
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Health systems and public health teaching can be challenging in crowded curricula, yet these competencies are central to equitable, inclusive, and sustainable health. In a South African undergraduate medical programme, we used a student–staff partnership process to co-design and implement a set of low-resource educational games for use in assessment to fourth-year medical students.[1,2] The development process combined collaborative ideation, rapid prototyping, feasibility testing for large cohorts, and rehearsal for delivery within strict time and space constraints. Gamified assessments are useful because they promote active learning and retrieval practice, create immediate feedback loops, and enable scalable participation in a high-throughput format while sustaining motivation through play and social interaction.[3]
METHODS:
This organised session translates our game-design and implementation approach into an interactive workshop. Facilitators (students and academics) will briefly introduce the partnership-based design process, design constraints (large groups, short station rotations, resource limits), and how health systems and public health concepts were mapped to game mechanics and question formats. Participants will then rotate through selected games designed for rapid engagement and formative assessment. Game materials, facilitator scripts, and example question sets will be displayed for participants to examine.
RESULTS:
Participants will (1) experience multiple game formats that operationalise key health systems and public health concepts; (2) identify how game mechanics can assess knowledge application, reasoning, and reflection under time constraints; and (3) leave with practical design principles for adapting game-based assessments to their own contexts, including pacing, group management, and low-resource material options.
CONCLUSIONS:
This session offers a practical, inclusive, low-stakes way to explore how game-based assessment can strengthen HSPH learning at scale.[4] The session concludes with an open question-and-answer discussion with student and academic co-designers on the development process, implementation lessons, resourcing, facilitation, and transferability to different settings.
Health systems and public health teaching can be challenging in crowded curricula, yet these competencies are central to equitable, inclusive, and sustainable health. In a South African undergraduate medical programme, we used a student–staff partnership process to co-design and implement a set of low-resource educational games for use in assessment to fourth-year medical students.[1,2] The development process combined collaborative ideation, rapid prototyping, feasibility testing for large cohorts, and rehearsal for delivery within strict time and space constraints. Gamified assessments are useful because they promote active learning and retrieval practice, create immediate feedback loops, and enable scalable participation in a high-throughput format while sustaining motivation through play and social interaction.[3]
METHODS:
This organised session translates our game-design and implementation approach into an interactive workshop. Facilitators (students and academics) will briefly introduce the partnership-based design process, design constraints (large groups, short station rotations, resource limits), and how health systems and public health concepts were mapped to game mechanics and question formats. Participants will then rotate through selected games designed for rapid engagement and formative assessment. Game materials, facilitator scripts, and example question sets will be displayed for participants to examine.
RESULTS:
Participants will (1) experience multiple game formats that operationalise key health systems and public health concepts; (2) identify how game mechanics can assess knowledge application, reasoning, and reflection under time constraints; and (3) leave with practical design principles for adapting game-based assessments to their own contexts, including pacing, group management, and low-resource material options.
CONCLUSIONS:
This session offers a practical, inclusive, low-stakes way to explore how game-based assessment can strengthen HSPH learning at scale.[4] The session concludes with an open question-and-answer discussion with student and academic co-designers on the development process, implementation lessons, resourcing, facilitation, and transferability to different settings.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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