Conclusions From Social Dynamics for Sustainable Educational Development

Abstract

The social and didactic dynamics produced by the negotiation-oriented and partly web-based game “Surfing Global Change” (SGC) were analyzed by independent experts after their observations in advanced interdisciplinary university courses. It could be empirically demonstrated that the intended didactics of SGC were successful, namely that they were grounded on “active, self-organized learning,” training of “competence to act,” and on responsibility for both practicable and sustainable solutions for the society of the future. The design of SGC succeeds in equilibrating competition vs. consensus, self-study vs. team work, sharpening the self-interest vs. readiness to compromise, reductionism vs. holism, and hence, mirrors professional realities. The conclusion is made that the game's rules act as a boundary condition for expected processes of social self-organization. The independent expert's opinions express the importance of self-responsibility. Hence, self-organization in SGC allows for self-responsibility.