Singapore Management University (SMU) has received a Highly Commended award at the Digital Education Awards 2025 for “CSI: Statistics Learning”, an innovative digital game-based learning initiative created by Principal Lecturer of Statistics Ms Rosie Ching. The accolade, conferred under the Digital Game-Based Learning Product of the Year category, places SMU among a select group of internationally recognised universities and education organisations for excellence, impact and innovation in digital education.
Evaluated by an international panel of judges, “CSI: Statistics Learning” was described as “one of the most distinguished examples of game-based learning in higher education. The judges lauded the game as “an extraordinary and long-standing innovation” that reimagines the learning of statistics, a subject often perceived as intimidating.
Launch and steady reception amongst undergraduates
First launched in 2012, CSI has been steadily refined and expanded over more than thirteen years into a full Trilogy: CSI: Agent on a Mission, CSI: The Prequel, and the forthcoming CSI: Back in Time. To date, it has engaged over 4,000 SMU undergraduates, accumulated more than 720,000 views, and reached learners in 54 countries worldwide. The judging panel cited such sustained impact, strong learner feedback and longevity as CSI’s defining strengths, evidence of both quality and influence in “a deeply innovative and pedagogically rich experience that has made a lasting contribution to digital learning.”
Lauding CSI’s “unique ability to transform a traditionally challenging subject into an engaging, emotional, and empowering experience”, judges at the Awards highlighted the game’s authentic data tools, problem-solving quests, and narrative depth for fostering deep conceptual understanding and student confidence. The thoughtful integration of multimedia, game mechanics and inclusive design choices were collectively observed to be elements that elevated CSI well beyond conventional educational software into a benchmark in serious games and digital pedagogy.
Set in a highly competitive international field with submissions from Europe, North America, and Australia, SMU stands out as the only Asian-based university recognised alongside well-established global organisations and commercial platforms. In 2025, the Gold Award in the category was won by Kahoot!, the globally recognised education technology company founded in Norway.
Educational impact and design excellence
Against this landscape, SMU’s Highly Commended recognition reflects strong endorsement of an educator-led, university-based innovation that competes credibly on both educational impact and design excellence.
At the heart of her teaching, Ms Ching wrote and designed all the CSI Games to tackle one of the most persistent challenges in teaching statistics: students’ long-standing fear, resistance, and disengagement from numbers. CSI transforms statistics into a narrative-driven adventure, where students become undercover agents solving real-world data problems across global locations, with voiceovers from Ms Ching’s own students of various nationalities and authentic soundscapes, competitive leaderboards, celebratory moments, and custom-designed CSI Passports stamped at every mission.
Student feedback collected over more than a decade shows consistent and profound shifts in mindset and confidence. Many students begin the course describing themselves as “bad at math” or “afraid of numbers”. After engaging with CSI, they leave markedly different reflections, including: “There should be a ‘Higher than Excellent’ option. I used to hate math but this game inspired me,” and “I wasn’t even aware that four hours had passed while playing.” For Ms Ching, this shift from fear to fascination, and from anxiety to resilience, represented impact at its deepest.
Beyond awards, CSI has achieved significant global academic exposure. The CSI Games showcased and presented locally and at international conferences, have contributed to scholarly conversations on digital pedagogy and online learning in higher education. In 2025, “CSI Games: Thirteen Years of Innovation in Teaching” received Best Paper Presentation recognition at two international conferences in Prague, Czech Republic, and in Helsinki, Finland, underscoring the academic rigour and research depth underpinning the CSI initiative created by Ms Ching.
The Highly Commended recognition at the Digital Education Awards 2025 adds to CSI’s track record of international validation, where it had clinched the 2015 QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Global Bronze for Best Educational App. This impact is also reflected across Ms Ching’s wider teaching portfolio, which earned her the 2016 CEEMAN Champion Teacher Award, 2021 QS Reimagine Education Global Silver Award for Presence Learning and Teaching and the 2023 Global Gold for Blended & Presence Learning.
Reflecting on the recognition, Ms Ching said, “This Highly Commended honour strongly affirms SMU’s belief that learning can be both rigorous and joyful. I built CSI purely for my students to play and replay statistics as an enjoyable spy adventure, leapfrog over their fears, shatter their past baggage and build confidence in their abilities to master statistics!”
Student comments regarding CSI Games:
Cheryl Toh Wen Qi: Overall, 11/10 experience.
Wang Guang Liang Vincent: I LOVED the CSI Experience, I hope that there would be more mods like this that encourages interactive learning.
Caliph Muhammad Yazid Bin Moezar: The scenarios are quirky and keep us on our toes. Especially those with countdowns, it really kept me alert. The overall concept is wonderful, unique. I really had a blast while learning.
Tan Jun Keong, Darryl: I am proud to partake in such an adventure since in my lifetime I never had the opportunity to play such a role.
Low Jen Kun: Thank you for coming up with such meaningful game, I might have flunked my mid-term exam if I had not played this game.
Min Yong: I cannot imagine how much effort and time spent from Ms Ching have put in to make these game for better understanding of statistics for the students. I think it is one of the greatest ways to learn.
Koh Kay Hau Justin: Code Level: Dragon, Difficulty: Dangerous, Interest: High.
Yang Yung Ching, Hailey: OVERALL, AMAZING!
Yeow Zhenmei Natalie: It’s very unique and I don’t think there is a game like it outside that is this engaging and teaches me about statistics.
Do stay tuned for Ms Ching’s upcoming CSI: Back in Time, which introduces students to the pioneers of statistics through a time-travel narrative, on the cusp of one last thrilling ride in the CSI Trilogy.
View the CSI Games created by Ms Ching and Nicholas Lee Jing Hui, one of her early CSI Student Agents at: CSI: AGENT ON A MISSION GAMES.