Learning Empathy, One Choice at a Time

“We are not a product of just yesterday; we are a product of multiple histories, people coming together,” said Godfried Asante, associate professor in the SDSU School of Communication.

This perspective is central to Asante’s research on intercultural communication through the use of interactive, branch-learning simulations in which he collaborated with Professor Rati Kumar, associate professor in the School of Communication, and Stuart Voytilla, lecturer in Film and New Media in the School of Theatre, Television and Film.

Their paper, “Branching Narratives for Intercultural Learning: Enhancing Empathy and Agency through Gamified Simulations,” has been accepted as a Top Paper for presentation at the 112th National Communication Association (NCA) Annual Convention this November in New Orleans.

The paper analyzes interactive video simulations that use branch-learning scenarios in which multiple action choices lead to different outcomes. It specifically examines how branch learning can help students develop greater empathy and cultural competence, especially in intercultural settings.

Asante pioneered the development of the content, providing insight into intercultural communication theories. Voytilla led screenwriting efforts and developed the characters and courses of branching actions. Kumar, as the director for the Institute for Dialogue and Social Justice, provided a unique intercultural and social justice perspective while emphasizing real-world transferability.

Asante developed the idea for the project after noticing the shortcomings of traditional methods of learning.

“[Students] were able to memorize the concepts and the theories, but when you give them a case study or when you try to give them a different scenario to explain themselves, then they’re stuck,” said Asante.

The ultimate goal of the qualitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of interactive branch learning by encouraging students to apply empathy and agency in everyday life. This was done by placing participants in a hands-on, purposeful simulation.

Asante explained, “We want to be able to let people see their own reasoning and the outcomes of your decision-making and be able to make different kinds of choices.”

The 2D simulation was presented and built through WeVideo, in which students are able to immerse themselves by clicking on the presented action choices as they move through the scenes.

In the simulation, students experience a tense intercultural situation through the eyes of Afi, a Colombian international student. In her home, students playing as Afi must make various choices as Afi’s friends make a racist comment in Spanish about the name of another character, Shaniqua, who is Afi’s African American friend. Monica, Afi’s African American roommate, is present and understands some Spanish, clearly identifying the racial implications of the scenario.

Students playing Afi are presented with three options: laugh alongside her friends, remain neutral, or speak up and shut down the comment while explaining the hurtful significance. Depending on what choice they make, the rest of the video plays out in various ways and exemplifies the consequences or benefits of their actions.

“Most of the time when people see sexual assault or situations that are dire, they may not want to intervene because of personal stake,” said Asante. “In this case, we’re trying to intercept that kind of reasoning. So, you’re able to see how your brain is working, how you’re reasoning, then you’re able to adapt to it later.”

According to Asante, the video itself lasts about seven to nine minutes, but with students required to reflect on their decision-making between each question, the process takes 12 to 15 minutes.

Creating and developing the project took the team over two-and-a-half years of collaboration, brainstorming, and research.

Stuart Voytilla said the most challenging part of the project was writing the screenplay and developing characters for the branch-learning format. The process required a deep understanding of how each character might respond to a wide range of situations. He believes that immersive storytelling such as this should be integrated into classrooms whenever possible.

“My belief is it also strengthens retention of the material, as well as the application of what [students] are learning. They’re actually having to participate in it as opposed to reading or memorizing a case, or having the professor present it,” said Voytilla.

Regarding student feedback, Voytilla said that it was positive and affirmed the foundations of the study.

“They were like, ‘This is great, this is terrific, a whole other layer of being able to understand and empathize or identify with that character,’” said Voytilla.

Professor Rati Kumar is a critical health communications scholar with a focus on culture. She explained that the idea of branch learning can ultimately be successful because it allows for what she calls “safe failure,” or being able to learn from one’s choices without being directly impacted in real life.

“Maybe you still might not do it in real life, you still may not make that choice because that’s just not you, because the consequences are much more real,” said Kumar. “But it was showing a recognition that if I choose to use this agency, you would have a more positive consequence if you were willing to use your agency in a certain way.”

The paper’s selection as a top paper for presentation at the 112th National Communication Association (NCA) Annual Convention in New Orleans this November marks an important achievement for the researchers. They said the recognition could help open doors for further research and a greater understanding of branch learning.

“It is great not just because it’s a pat on the back, but it’s a way for us to have this spread out in the discipline and further the mission of not the award itself, but get recognition from peers who have overtly mentioned that this is something that would be fantastic to deploy in classrooms across the discipline,” said Kumar.

In addition to the prestigious top paper award, Godfried Asante was also selected as the recipient of the SDSU 2026 Faculty Diversity Excellence Award, which reflects the extraordinary impact of his work across research, teaching, and service.

“My approach to diversity is thinking about the ways that we complement each other, our strengths, our weaknesses. So, diversity is actually our strength, even though it’s been demonized a lot as a weakness,” said Asante. “There’s a sense of a more complete picture of how we approach knowledge, and so my research is equally like that.”

Additionally, the researchers are building an AI prompting tool called M.I.R.A. (Meaningful Intercultural Reflection Aid), which targets reflection as students proceed through the branch-learning action choices.

The next steps are to continue collaborating to develop a secondary follow-up paper, which analyzes the responses and choices of the students. Asante, Voytilla and Kumar hope to examine more closely how gender, race, sexual orientation and cultural background influenced decision-making in the previous study.