In this LILAC session, we would like to present a new training designed for PhD students of the Swiss Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, organized and given by the campus’ Library team. The topic of the training is the discovery of the scientific publishing context, its mechanisms and issues. It is intended for groups of 15-20 PhD students in two-hour sessions. The innovating teaching method for this training takes the form of a strategic card-game we created in 2018. The game main objective is to help PhD students develop critical thinking about which publishing strategies to develop as a researcher. Also designed to be played in a self-training fashion, we plan to implement the game into a classic training session by contextualizing the "game rules explanation" phase in the real-world context. Some knowledge needs to be transmitted during this phase - such as the concept of open access and bibliometrics – for participants to understand how the game’s mechanics apply in the real publishing context. Learning aspects are particularly relevant for designing a game, as noticed Jane Secker and Chris Morrison for their game Publishing Trap (Gilson 2018). Séverine Erhel and Eric Jamet also showed how this part was crucial for learning effectiveness (Erhel and Jamet 2013). To introduce learning, we will blend game instructions and teaching during the introduction of the session (15 minutes). We want to use the micro-teach session to test the so-called "game rules explanation" phase and get feedback on the approach (storytelling) and the clarity of the instructions.
