Training teamwork through play – the Alexx-Boxx at PJ-WarmUp

As part of the PJ-WarmUp, we used the Alexx-Boxx for the first time at MITZ as a gamified team-building exercise. Fifteen PJ students had the opportunity to try out the format and experience communication, decision-making, and collaboration in a playful way.

The Alexx-Boxx combines elements of an escape game with specific learning objectives. Participants work together to solve various tasks and puzzles, which requires them to exchange information, make decisions, and organize themselves as a team. This is precisely the approach of serious games: playful elements are specifically used to stimulate learning processes and to address skills not only theoretically but also to make them tangible through hands-on experience. Further information on the Alexx-Boxx concept can be found at www.alexx-boxx.de.

© MITZ

For use in the PJ-WarmUP, the students worked on the box in small teams. The session was facilitated by a tutor to ensure that the tasks could be completed within the allotted time frame and, in particular, that the experiences gained from the collaboration could be discussed and reflected upon together afterward.

Feedback and Evaluation

Overall, the format received a very good average grade of 1.67.

• Particular praise was given to the design of the puzzles, the playful approach, the forms of interaction, and the collaborative problem-solving.
• We received valuable feedback for further integration into the curriculum, particularly with regard to an even stronger application to real-world situations in everyday clinical practice.

Conclusion and Outlook

Serious games like Alexx-Boxx offer a valuable addition to medical education. They create situations in which learners take active roles and directly experience their own team behavior. This creates a common ground for reflection and discussion, which is particularly important when addressing topics such as communication and interprofessional collaboration.

Following this successful debut, we intend to continuously refine the application scenario and explore additional ways to utilize Alexx-Boxx in medical education.