教養特別講義「ボードゲームで社会人基礎力を伸ばそう」

＜English version follows Japanese.＞
摂南大学寝屋川キャンパスでは、2025年度に国際学部の2名の教員が「ボードゲームで社会人基礎力を伸ばそう」と題した日英バイリンガルのプロジェクト型の教養特別講座授業を開講しました。全学部・全年次が対象の科目で、学生は実践を通じて問題解決能力を重視した学びの機会を得ました。「交流イベントを成功させるにはどのような社会スキルが重要か」という問いへの答えを見出すことが授業の主目的でした。学期末にはプロジェクトとして履修生以外の学生を対象としたGame Night(ボードゲームの夕べ)を計画しました。ゲームナイトに向けて学生はさまざまなボードゲームに取り組み、議論し、自ら考案したアイデアを実践する機会を得ました。
（画像はすべてGame Nightの様子）

履修生が習得したスキルには以下が含まれます：
・人を知る方法：初めて知り合った他者を知るための障壁を低くする方法を学びました。
・ボディランゲージの読み方：他人の表情やボディランゲージを注意深く観察すれば、気持ちを理解しやすくなり、それによってゲームを有利に運んだり、意図的に相手を惑わせたりする方法も習得できます。
・自分のネガティブな感情への対処法：ゲームにおいても現実においても、常に勝つことは不可能です。ゲームに負けることへの見方を変えたり、勝者と敗者が明確な状況で他者をどう扱うかも大事です。
・明確な指示の出し方：例えばゲームのルールについて指示が不明確だと、プレイは楽しいどころか、ストレスの原因になります。学生たちは互いにわかりやすく明確にルールを説明する方法を鍛えました。

・歓迎的な雰囲気の作り方：新たなビジネス関係、新しいクラブ、新しい友情などのコミュニティに後から参加するのは、ちょっとためらうことがありますね。特に新規の相手に対しては、受け入れ側が歓迎的な雰囲気を作り出すことが重要です。科目を履修していないゲストも参加するゲームナイトに向け、学生たちは歓迎ムードの構築法を議論し、考案したアイデアを実践しました。
・グループをリードする方法：リーダーの役割を引き受けやすくなる方法の一つは、実際にリードする経験を積むことです。授業では毎回グループワークを実施し、交替で誰かがリーダーシップを取りました。説明役が先に新ゲームを予習したり、強いプレーヤーが勝つ方法を伝授したり、参加者がもっと楽しめるローカルルールを考案したりもしました。

ゲームナイトでは、学生たちは学年を問わず、各テーブルの責任者の役割や開閉会のアナウンス役を担いました。ポスターのデザインやゲーム紹介画像もすばらしい出来です。リーダーシップを発揮する機会を数多く得たことで、学生たちは今後、より容易にリーダーシップを発揮できるようになるでしょう。

興味を持たれた方は、ぜひ将来、摂南大学でプロジェクト型の授業や、学部・学年横断型の教養特別講座に参加してみませんか？毎年、様々なテーマで開講されています。ご自身の興味に合った授業を見つけて、実践を通して学び始めましょう。この科目は２０２６年度も開講します。ボードゲームを通して、社会人基礎力を伸ばしましょう！

(記事／写真：トッド・フーパー、齋藤安以子)

Special Liberal Arts Course: “Developing Essential Social Skills Through Board Games”

At the Neyagawa Campus of Setsunan University, two professors from the Faculty of International Studies offered the project-based course titled “Building Social Skills through Board Games” in the spring semester of 2025. This course was open to students of all ages from all faculties on the Neyagawa Campus. Ｓtudents have the opportunity to learn by doing with an emphasis on problem solving. For this course, the main project at the end of the semester was hosting a board game night for students outside of the course, so the main aim was to help students answer the question, “What social skills are important to make a social event successful?” The activities and projects leading up to the board game night gave students the opportunity to discuss this question and put into practice the ideas that they came up with. Among the skills they learned were:

How to get to know people: With so much of modern life taking place on screens, it can be intimidating for those that haven’t had many opportunities for interacting with people they don’t know face-to-face. In this course, students of different ages and from different faculties were able to practice introduction and icebreaking strategies that make it easier to get to know others.

How to read body language: It can be difficult to know what other people are thinking, but it is possible to get an idea of how people feel. Emotions are most often expressed in facial expressions and body language. Being able to make careful observations of these will make it easier to understand how other people feel. In this course, students practiced reading body language through playing games that feature bluffing or deception. Through playing these games, students could learn how to notice small changes in body language.

How to deal with negative emotions: In games, as in life, it is impossible to win every time. This requires people to be able to deal with the negative emotions that come with losing. In this class, students practiced dealing with the negative emotions of losing by playing games that feature aggressive moves. Through playing these games, students learned how to change their perspective on losing and also learned how to treat others in situations where there are clear winners and losers.

How to give clear instructions: When doing something for the first time, people might be confused about what to do. For example, a game may have complex rules. This requires someone to give clear instructions on how to play the game. If the instructions are not clear, playing will become stressful rather than fun. In this course, students practiced teaching game rules to each other and provided each other feedback on how to make their instructions clearer. As a result, they were able to give clear and easy-to-understand explanations at the game night at the end of the course.

How to create a welcoming atmosphere: People often hesitate to participate in something new: a new business relationship, a new club, a new friendship, and so on. Therefore, in most workplaces, it is important to create a welcoming atmosphere for customers and clients, especially for new ones. In preparation for the game night, which would include guests from outside of the course, students discussed how to create a welcoming atmosphere and practiced the ideas that they came up with. As a result, students could gain valuable insight into how to make a welcoming atmosphere.

How to lead a group: Sometimes it can be intimidating to step into a leadership role, so people often hesitate to do so. One thing that can make it easier to take a leadership role is to gain experience leading. This course featured group work in every class, which requires someone to take leadership. Also, in playing games, students took on leadership roles as rules explainers. At the board game night, students took responsibility as leaders of game tables. Having so many opportunities to lead will make it easier for the students to step into leadership roles in their future classes and careers.

If this course seems interesting to you, why not join a project-based courses at Setsunan University in the future? Every year, a wide variety of such courses are offered. Find a course that covers a topic that is of interest to you and start learning by doing!