Last week, the first multiplier event was held at the VSR College of Accounting and Finance, where we presented the completed results of the international project Simulation of Sustainable International Business (S.O.S. IB). The event was followed by a training session on how to use the presented results in higher education teaching processes.
We first introduced our project to the various visitors with a particular focus on the purpose of the SOS IB digital platform for simulations and international networking of higher education lecturers and the nine simulated learning contents ready to be used in the digital platform.
The presentation was followed by a relaxed discussion with the two VŠR lecturers, who were very much involved in the development of the results, and the student who participated in the classroom testing of both results. Darinka Kamenšek, M.Sc., Nataša Pustotnik, M.Sc., and Tjaša Vratanar shared their experiences and insights into the use of both results in learning processes. In particular, they highlighted the international experience of the lecturers in the preparation of the simulated cases and the international cooperation of the students in jointly solving the tasks. In addition to the international cooperation through the SOS IB platform, which was very welcome for all participants, who otherwise find it difficult to afford international mobility due to lack of time and work commitments, they also highlighted the interdisciplinary cooperation. Especially for the students, the later was very valuable, as they also learned how to communicate with different (future) experts. The concept of e-learning, which promotes student-centred approaches and activities in teaching, Was also presented and pointed out as very important. They also discussed the importance of sustainability for accountants, financiers, auditors and others, which is currently a challenge in practice, even for long-standing professionals, when they try to implement the sustainability in their companies’ operations.
In the subsequent training session, led by the two lecturers, participants learned about the details of innovative pedagogy and how to integrate it into SOS IB simulated cases, the detailed steps of preparing learning content for the simulations, and all the functionalities of the SOS IB digital platform.
The discussion with some members of the audience developed very nicely already during the first discussion, and during the training the expressed interest to participate and test both results crystallised even more. In the coming weeks, all interested parties will be able to start testing the SOS IB platform, to connect with other university lecturers and lecturers through the platform and, last but not least, to review the published simulated cases and to design the content of new simulations.
If you are interested in using the SOS IB digital platform and digital learning simulations in your learning processes, please contact us at: international@vr.si. Depending on the interest, we will also organise new trainings on the use of both outputs.
We also invite companies who would like to share their business challenges with us to contact us at the email address provided. Based on these, the VŠR lecturers will prepare new learning simulations and you will receive several possible solutions to your challenge, solved by VŠR students.
We look forward to our future cooperation and wish all our colleagues a successful start to the new academic year!
The project S.O.S. International Business is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme, Key Action 2: Cooperation Partnerships. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
