2022/05/07 Time to test our simulation game “sustainability”

On the 6th & 7th of May 2022, we were able to test the sustainability simulation game, we had developed in IO5, with students for the first time.

This was done in the course of the “Spring School” of the Master’s programme in Social Economy and Social Work, which annually addresses current topics in science and practice. This year the topic was Social Economy and Sustainable Development. The students of FH Campus Wien had to deal with the question of whether measures for ecological, economic and social sustainability should be implemented in a fictitious organisation. In a practical game environment, the students could playfully take on the perspective of the management, the board of directors, the workers’ council, the clients, the members and donors and a initial group and discuss and negotiate strategies and goals. The dive into a role, the negotiation of demands and concerns and the discussion at the fictitious general assembly brought many insights into ecological and social, but also economic sustainability. The game was a successful follow-up to the students’ personal engagement, which had already begun before the Spring School with the help of specialist literature and a lively discussion in online forums, and was supplemented by an online conference on the day before the game. The online conference focused on the joint consideration of ecological and social issues and what contributions social work and social economy organisations can make globally and locally to ecological and social transformation. Four keynote speakers were present at the online conference to present on these topics on the one hand and to discuss them with the students on the other.