Strategy Hackathon: A Virtual Exchange in Innovation and Collaboration

Wajdi Ben Rejeb & David Anderson

In November 2024, we launched a cross-continental virtual hackathon that brought together undergraduate Business Strategy students from Lincoln International Business School (LIBS) and Communication Management students from North-West University (NWU), South Africa. This teaching innovation reimagined how we deliver strategic thinking skills by swapping traditional case studies for real-time collaborative problem-solving.

Working in diverse teams, students tackled a real-world strategic challenge presented by Mosaic SA, a non-profit serving marginalised communities in South Africa. Using a Nonprofit Strategy Canvas, co-developed for this project, students ideated practical solutions and pitched them in front of the NGO’s representative. This fusion of experiential learning, intercultural exchange, and social impact cultivated creativity, empathy, and transferable skills that employers demand.

The hackathon’s structure, short, intensive, and team-based, encouraged students to collaborate across disciplines, navigate cultural differences, and co-create under pressure. It’s a model that scales and adapts well to various educational contexts. Participants gained certificates but most importantly confidence and global competence.

This initiative aligns with LIBS’s strategic vision for challenge-led education and internationalised learning. If you’re interested in running your own hackathon, we are developing a resource pack with templates, session formats, and student-ready materials. We’d love to help you bring virtual hackathon experiences into your classroom, if you need any support please contact us at:

Wajdi Ben Rejeb: wbenrejeb@lincoln.ac.uk

David Anderson: danderson@lincoln.ac.uk

Learning through bite-sized videos: Academic writing skills

Lee McHugh, Mohammad Manesh & David Anderson

We’ve developed a series of 10 short, interactive videos to support academic writing. Each video is designed to provide step by step guidance to introduce students to new skills. Videos are full of infographics, friendly narrative and embedded with “pause now” activities encouraging learners to reflect, practice, and engage more deeply with the material and develop their academic learning.

Designed specifically for new and international students in mind, the videos cover core skills such as paraphrasing, referencing, & plagiarism, in an accessible and engaging format which is easy to embed into digital spaces like Blackboard or Learning@Lincoln. The interactive style and relatable design of the videos break down complex writing concepts into manageable, bite-sized learning moments, which can help support students learning and success rates.

This project was funded by the CoASSH Teaching and Learning Innovation fund, creating a collaboration with a third year design student which provided a valuable experience to enhance their CV and expand their creative portfolio.

This project also supports our broader goal of promoting social mobility across student groups in Lincoln International Business School. By offering accessible, engaging and student-led resources, we’re helping to level the playing field for learners from diverse backgrounds.

Overall, the video project has been a success in combining student employment, skill-building, and inclusive education. It aims to have a positive impact on learners, helping them build confidence and competence in their academic writing.

The videos will be released very soon.

If you’d like to learn more about these resources please contact:

Lee McHugh: lmchugh@lincoln.ac.uk

Mohammad Manesh: mmanesh@lincoln.ac.uk

David Anderson: danderson@lincoln.ac.uk

Educational Escape Rooms: A Playful Route into Deeper Learning

Davina Bird, David Anderson

Educational escape rooms are a great way to get students excited about your subject & engaged in classroom discussions. Through this funded teaching and learning project we have developed an adaptable template to customise your own educational escape room. The template offers a structure for five interlinked puzzles, into which subject content is embedded.

The project is designed for educators who want to use escape rooms for learning, but don’t know where to start. By customising your own escape room you’ll understand how puzzles hang together & can be used as part of your educational toolkit.

Budget was a priority in the design, as a result, all resources – including the locks – are printable, you just need to provide a large and small envelope. However, with a small budget (approx. £25 per box) you can make greater use of materials, giving your escape room a polished finish.

If you’re interested in customising your own educational escape room you can download the step by step Resource Pack, or you can work with us to co-create something more bespoke. We’d love to help you bring escape room experiences into your classroom, if you need any support please contact us at:

Davina Bird: dbird@lincoln.ac.uk

David Anderson: danderson@lincoln.ac.uk

Resource Pack (Download)

Resource Pack – Puzzle Templates, Examples and Locks (002)Download

Playing for Change: Using Card Games to Teach Sustainability and Responsible Management

David Anderson & Davina Bird

At Lincoln International Business School, we’ve been exploring new ways to bring the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) to life. With support from the PRME UK & Ireland Seed Funding competition, we co-developed a suite of four interactive card games designed to make sustainability education both meaningful and memorable.

The goal? To turn complex global challenges into accessible, engaging conversations – where students are not just learning about sustainability but actively playing with it.

We’ve embedded the impactful five (i5) principles—Iterative, Joyful, Meaningful, Active, Social – into the design, making the games adaptable for diverse teaching contexts.

The full Educational Packs are now ready to support colleagues across disciplines. If you’re looking for practical, playful ways to bring PRME values into your teaching, drop us a message—we’d love to share ideas. Games developed include:

  • 17 SDG Memory Game (Pair matching game)
  • Sustainable Development Trumps (Trick taking game, based on Top Trumps)
  • Cards for Sustainability (Party game, based on Cards Against Humanity)
  • Concord (Cooperative deck builder, based on Dominion)
17 SDG Memory Game
Cards for Sustainability

The PRME Educational Packs includes cards, game instructions, and ready-to-use classroom activities. Whether it’s helping students develop awareness of the 17 SDGs through a memory game, debating which PRME-inspired action has the strongest impact, or engaging in strategic cooperation through the deck-building game Concord, each game offers a fresh angle on embedding responsible leadership into the curriculum.

Play them in your own classes, download the Educational Packs below which include free print & play versions of each game and teaching support resources, available below.

We want to help you bring these into your classroom, if you need any support in printing or playing please contact us at:

  • David Anderson: danderson@lincoln.ac.uk
  • Davina Bird: dbird@danderson

Educational Packs (Free Downloadable Resources)

Teaching Support Resources Pack

The teaching support pack provides an overview of each game, instructions for setup and game play, as well as suggested classroom activities. We encourage you to adapt these as required to best suit your student needs.

Teaching Support Resources PackDownload

  1. 17 SDG Memory Game
  • Contents: 17 x SDG Cards, 1 x Setup instructions.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, in colour, single sided.
  • Note: you will need to print two copies to play the memory game.
  • See teaching support resources to help integrate classroom discussions.
1_Print2Play_SDGsDownload

2. Sustainable Development Trumps

  • Contents: 34 x Trump Cards, 1 x Setup Instructions.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, in colour, single sided.
  • See teaching support resources to help integrate classroom discussions.
2_Print2Play_TopTrumpsDownload

3. Cards for Sustainability

  • Content: 204 x Playing cards, 1 x Setup instructions.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, single sided.
  • Note: To play this game you will also need one copy of the 17 SDG Memory game.
  • See teaching support resources for various ways to play and to help integrate classroom discussions.
3_Print2Play_Cards4Sustainability (w Cut Guides)Download

4. Concord

  • Content: 204 x Playing cards, 1 x Rule Booklet.
  • Print instructions: print on card for best results, in colour single sided.
  • See teaching support resources to play and to help integrate classroom discussions.
4_Print2Play_ConcordDownload