Playful learning, serious impact with LEGO® Serious Play®

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Playful learning, serious impact with LEGO® Serious Play®

What if the key to deeper learning, stronger collaboration, and more creative thinking in universities wasn’t found in textbooks, but in a box of LEGO® bricks via LEGO® Serious Play®?

At RMIT Vietnam, educators are discovering that serious learning can emerge from playful exploration. Through the LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) method, faculty and learners are using creativity, metaphor, and storytelling to navigate complexity, strengthen collaboration, and reimagine what learning looks like in higher education.

This vision is championed by Professor Robert McClelland, Dean of The Business School, who has been instrumental in providing the big-picture strategy to scale LSP initiatives across the School’s disciplines.

“The outcomes demonstrate not only creativity but also a community commitment to address real world needs. Thank you to those who are involved in this LSP project. Your efforts advanced out School's vision of preparing future leaders who think critically, act responsibly, and innovate with positive impact,” he said.

Building understanding, brick by brick

LSP is more than a teaching tool, it’s a mindset. Developed to unlock imagination and strategic insight, the method invites participants to “think with their hands”, transforming abstract ideas into tangible models. In doing so, it opens a pathway to deeper reflection and shared understanding among learners, educators, and professionals alike.

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RMIT Vietnam integrates playful learning across disciplines, from business to sustainability, to inspire creative thinking and inclusive leadership.

RMIT Vietnam has been actively embedding LSP into classrooms, workshops, and leadership development initiatives across disciplines, from business and management to communication, education, and sustainability. Supported by certified LSP facilitators and cross-campus collaboration, the approach aligns with RMIT’s learner-centred and future-focused teaching philosophy.

“Learners are not just recipients of knowledge, but active participants in co-creating it,” shared Ms Jodie Altan, RMIT Vietnam’s Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement, emphasising the University’s commitment to innovative pedagogies such as LSP and the i5Impact framework that are advocated by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME).

A new way to learn and lead

Associate Professor Elaine Chew, a certified LSP facilitator, has introduced the method to educators and corporate trainers seeking more engaging and inclusive learning experiences.

“Playful learning doesn’t mean easy learning,” she explained. “It’s about creating a space where diverse people can explore complex problems, share perspectives, and discover solutions together.”

Other RMIT experts echo this sentiment. Dr Jessica Helmi, RMIT Australia, noted that while AI can increase access to information, it can also diminish the social fabric of education.

“Playful learning brings people together,” she said. “It encourages risk-taking, reflection, and rediscovery of the joy in making mistakes.”

From an industry perspective, Ms Thuong My An, a member of the Saigontourist Group’s Members’ Council, shared her experience in using LSP to foster innovation and unity.

“It removes hierarchy,” she said. “Everyone, including leaders, managers, and staff, can build and contribute equally. Sometimes the smallest model sparks the biggest strategy.”

Learning through play in action

Across RMIT Vietnam and its regional networks in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, LSP has been applied in creative and discipline-specific ways:

Business education: Students build models of supply chains, organisational structures, or market systems to visualise complexity and identify opportunities for improvement.
Leadership and teamwork: Participants use metaphor and narrative to surface values, communication styles, and shared visions, leading to stronger cohesion and empathy.
Sustainability and innovation: Learners construct representations of personal and societal change, exploring what sustainable living means to them through storytelling.
Language learning: Hands-on modelling enhances engagement and memory, transforming classrooms into collaborative, joyful spaces of discovery.

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A hands-on workshop invited participants to use LEGO to explore generational perspectives and workplace dynamics.

A recent hands-on workshop titled “Bridging Generations, Brick by Brick” exemplified how LSP can deepen understanding across differences. Participants built models to express generational perspectives in the workplace, then shared reflections in a “magic circle” of open dialogue. What emerged was more than a collection of LEGO® creations, it was a mosaic of shared insights and empathy that ironed out differences for better cross-generational collaboration.

As RMIT Vietnam continues to embed LSP across programs and professional development, the approach is proving that play and purpose are not opposites. When learners engage their imagination, emotions, and intellect simultaneously, the results are lasting -- higher engagement, deeper understanding, and stronger human connection.

“LSP reminds us that creativity isn’t a distraction from learning,” said Ms Karen Benson, Senior Manager of Learning & Teaching at RMIT Vietnam. “It is learning, hands-on, reflective, and profoundly human.”

Story: Ha Hoang

Business and management

19 November 2025

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