DynamicWIL
Transforming education research framework into something people can actually play with.
DynamicWIL is a research-led framework for creating more meaningful and scaffolded Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) experiences. Working with lead researcher Vy Anh Vu, I helped translate its findings into a board game where students, educators, and industry partners can explore real WIL challenges, discuss possible strategies, and build action plans together.
Roles
Designer · Game Designer · Game Producer
In collaboration with Vy Anh Vu — Lead Researcher & Project Lead
Areas
Game Design · Experience Design · Visual Design · Research Collaboration · Prototyping
Recognition
RMIT Vietnam Learning & Teaching Week — Best Poster Presentation Prize | 2025
National Conference on Educational Science — Hanoi | 2025
RMIT Learning & Teaching Festival — Melbourne | 2025
Beyond 1&0 Symposium — Ho Chi Minh City | 2025
Research is useful. Getting people to engage with it is another challenge.
DynamicWIL was developed to help embed meaningful Work-Integrated Learning throughout the Digital Media curriculum, supporting students through flexible, industry-connected experiences that build confidence, adaptability, and professional readiness.
The challenge for the game was different: how do you turn all of that research into something stakeholders can understand and respond to without simply presenting them with another report?
Turning the framework into a game
Working from the research findings and recommendations, we transformed real WIL issues into a playable journey.
Players move across a W–I–L-shaped board, encountering obstacles based on real challenges within Work-Integrated Learning. Item and interaction cards, developed from the research findings, give players different ways to respond.
My role was to help translate the framework into the game itself: shaping the mechanics, information, visual system, and physical experience so the research could work as play rather than simply being explained.
"A physical board shaped around the letters W–I–L gives the research a tangible structure, taking players through a series of challenges inspired by real Work-Integrated Learning issues."
"Strategies and recommendations from the research are translated into cards players can use while navigating challenges, transforming academic findings into actions and choices."
Designing for conversation, not competition
DynamicWIL was designed for students, educators, and industry partners, so the game needed to work for people approaching the same issue from very different perspectives.
Rather than focusing on winning, the game creates situations players can react to together. A broad question like “How can we improve WIL?” becomes a specific obstacle on the table: What would you do here? What resources would help? Who needs to be involved?
The board game became a playful translation layer between the research and the people expected to act on it.
"Designed for cross-disciplinary use, the game creates a shared environment where students, educators, and industry partners can compare perspectives and co-develop responses."
From research outcome to co-creation tool
The resulting game gives stakeholders a shared space to explore challenges, connect the research to their own experiences, and develop possible action plans for their WIL practices.
For me, the project demonstrated how design can do more than communicate research visually. By turning findings into rules, scenarios, objects, and choices, the research becomes something people can participate in.