On October 23, Associate Dean Elisabeth Gerber met with Michigan Radio’s The Next Idea to discuss Policymaker, a digital tool she developed with James DeVaney (MPP/MBA '05), associate vice provost for academic innovation at U-M, to help students engage in instructional simulations: "New policymaking simulator lets students make tough decisions, gain empathy."
Policymaker allows students to collaborate, advocate, and communicate. “It’s a great way both to teach students about how those rules work, how the process works, but also how to get them to empathize with all of the different people and organizations and interests,” Gerber told The Next Idea.
Gerber thinks the tool also has potential to go beyond university classrooms, perhaps in K-12 education: “Any time you can help people gain empathy, a better sense of why and how reasonable people can disagree yet still get along and still solve problems together, I think it’s a really important tool that everybody should be learning.”