EcoHotel - a decision game for students

Project facts

Project promoter:
University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow
Project Number:
PL10-0083
Target groups
Students,
Students and trainees in all forms of higher education level education and training
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€180,665
Final project cost:
€146,498
From Norway Grants:
€ 118,663
The project is carried out in:
Rzeszowski

Description

This project seeks to implement a web-based business simulation game (the key output of the project) into the study curriculum of the Tourism and Leisure Faculty. The game's principles will be to manage a hotel or a similar tourist object with respect to the regional policy and sustainable development strategies. The basic need for such a project comes from the University's ongoing strategy to develop and use modern teaching methods and to improve students' awareness of the local environment, ecological challenges and the need to respect these perspectives in business operations. The game will be tested by 50 students of the 1st -cycle studies of Tourism and Leisure (during the class "Decision Games"). Expected outcomes (benefits): a web-based business simulation game, more attractive teaching process, improved graduate profiles for Tourism and Leisure Faculty students, enhanced practical aspects in the teaching process. All project tasks will be performed by UITM.

Summary of project results

The project “EcoHotel – A Decision Game For Students” was a response to a number of needs identified at different levels:1) at University level - the need to develop and implement a modern teaching tool for the students of Tourism & Leisure (with an option to use it also for students of other faculties) that would merge economic, social and environmental perspective in hotel management; - long-term: employers in tourism industry - to benefit from better preparation of the faculty graduates to work in the industry thanks to their more practical and environment-friendly approach to management; 2) at community level – increased awareness of local environment and ecological challenges and of the need to respect these perspectives in business operations. The main output of the project is the online decision game ECOHOTEL that simulates the hotel management process. The game guides students through key aspects of hotel management: investment, procurement and maintenance of equipment, personnel management, pricing and finances. Additionally, the players have to face ecological and social responsibility challenges by investing into environmentally friendly technologies and solutions, applying for eco-certification and involvement into activities for the benefit of local communities. The game is designed to suit the didactic process: the game play is divided into rounds that can be grouped into separate sessions scheduled throughout the academic year. The game promotes teamwork as students may play in teams that compete with one another. The administration panel allows the teachers / trainers to adapt certain parameters of the game to the specific needs of the curriculum. The project outputs were delivered according to the baseline plan although more intense work than planned was necessary for testing the game. This was mostly due to the complexity of the algorithms used for the simulation and the size of game universe (which includes over 250 possible destinations whose attractiveness can be evaluated by a set of over 20 criteria). As planned the game has been incorporated into the curriculum of the Tourism and Industry Faculty (main beneficiaries), with possibility to become a part of other study programmes (e.g. Economics, Management, Hospitality Management). The final conference, summarizing the project and presenting other opportunities for the use of games in teaching, took place on 24.05.2016 in Rzeszow.

Summary of bilateral results