Shuffling perspectives: a card game-based approach to DEI training for higher education professionals
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2025-11-07
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en
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Over the past decades, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives have gained increasing attention within higher education. In the Netherlands, governmental policy emphasizes the need for evidence-based interventions that support inclusive educational environments and reduce inequalities. Despite these commitments, empirical insight into how DEI training fosters meaningful change remains limited. Traditional training formats, such as lectures, often lack opportunities for reflection and practice, which are essential for deeper learning. Serious gaming approaches may offer a promising alternative. This study therefore investigates the use of an intersectional serious card game as an approach to DEI training for higher education professionals. Guided by transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1978; 1991; 2000; 2003) and intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1989; Collins & Bilge, 2020), this research examines how the Caleidoscopia card game-based training enhances intersectional analytical skills and supports intended behavioral change. A mixed-method, quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design was employed, using individual written case analyses (n = 6), participant observations (n = 9), open-ended surveys (n = 7), a group discussion (n = 6), the Transformative Learning Environments Survey (n = 6), and an interview with trainers and game developers (n = 2). Findings show improvements in participants’ intersectional analytical skills, particularly regarding intersecting power relations, relationality, and social justice. Participants demonstrated increased awareness of their own positionality and greater motivation to apply intersectional insights in educational practice. This study demonstrates how serious card game-based DEI training can foster transformative learning and operationalize intersectionality in higher educational practice.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen