Lectures, independent study, practicals, tutorials – these are the study methods we are most familiar with. But last week, as part of the curriculum, around 80 Master’s students were actually playing games. Not simple shoot 'em ups or adventure games, but a serious game involving groups of students working on asset management.
In a series of rounds, the students had to make all kinds of well-founded maintenance decisions for a fictional pharmaceutical company: striking a delicate balance between the optimum use of assets, availability, costs and safety. The team with the most valuable company at the end of the day was the winner.
This serious game was the final part of a course in asset management for students on the Master’s programmes in Industrial Design Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Business Information Technology. Course coordinator Jan Braaksma sees the game as an excellent addition to the theory taught earlier in the course: “The students are now setting to work on the subject in practice. They are learning to look at an organization from an asset management perspective and can immediately see the effects of the decisions they make. There is the added bonus that students enjoy doing it and clearly learn something from it.”
The game was facilitated by Mainnovation, an important market player in asset management.
