INSYSTED: An Open-source Platform for Blended Learning Based on Serious Games in Operations Management

Operations management is a quantitative core area of Industrial Engineering and Management education where students need to tackle the stochastic-dynamic interdependencies of processes within a supply network. In order to do so, students need to acquire a deep understanding of the underlying theortical concepts, methods, and tools. This is especially challenging for students at an introductory level. The heterogeneous knowledge and interests as well as the sheer number of participants in typical introductory courses urgently require new solutions for personalized learning. Against this background, the serious game ProTUce was developed at Technische Universität Berlin. Here, problem-oriented, quantitative methods of operations management are taught – using a virtual learning factory. In subsequent game levels, students are confronted with different challenges of everyday production based on the progress of the course, experience system dynamics, and improve their analytical skills. ProTUce is built on the open-source platform INSYSTED (Integrated System for European Digital Learning), which is currently being developed in a consortium of Technische Universität Berlin, University College London, Politecnico di Milano, and CentraleSupélec in Paris. The INSYSTED platform supports lecturers in creating, playing, and sharing serious games. In this paper, we introduce the INSYSTED framework and illustrate its application, using the serious game ProTUce.