Play bill

South African legal students are now able to game their way through learning the intricacies of South Africa’s legislative process.

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) law department has developed a gaming app called Pass that Bill, which aims to alleviate the tedium often associated with studying the law-making process.

The app – the brainchild of Associate Professor Cathleen Powell and developed in tandem with gaming app developer Allister Petersen of the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching – is available to UCT Constitutional Law undergraduate students.

‘The legislative process can seem distant and complex. Our app brings it into the students’ hands, making it accessible and interactive,’ said Powell.

Simulating the real-life parliamentary process, the app challenges students to help navigate the way ahead for draft legislation and to make critical decisions at key points.

‘Creating this app was all about making something cool and useful. We wanted to make law fun and easy to get into, breaking down those big, complicated ideas into something everyone can grasp and enjoy playing with,’ said Petersen