Teaching Innovation Award for virtual disaster simulation
Maria Besiou, Professor of Humanitarian Logistics and Academic Director of the Center for Humanitarian Logistics and Regional Development (CHORD), was honored with KLU’s first Teaching Innovation Award. Her immersive teaching concept, which uses a virtual humanitarian disaster simulation to place students in complex decision-making situations, impressed the jury.
“I am very happy to receive this award”, Professor Besiou says. She adds: “It encourages me to keep experimenting with teaching formats that make learning more realistic, more reflective, and more connected to practice. It recognizes not only the use of a new technology, but also the idea behind it: students learn differently when they do not only hear about complexity but actually experience it.”
The humanitarian logistics simulation has developed over many years, yet the question for her has always been: “Can we bring students a little closer to what decision-making really feels like when information is incomplete, time is limited, multiple stakeholders have different needs, and decisions have consequences?”
In the VR-enhanced humanitarian logistics simulation, students experience fragmented information, competing priorities, resource scarcity, and time pressure in a safe environment. Afterwards, they step back and reflect on what happened and why.
This reflection process is crucial for Besiou: “I want students to ask not only, ‘Did we make the right decision?’ but also, ‘How did I behave under pressure? Did I listen to others? What did I miss? Why did I react the way I did?’ If students leave a class and also know a little more about themselves, that is when teaching becomes powerful”, she points out.
One of the moments that stayed with her most came from an MBA participant who realized during the simulation how reactive he became when he was under pressure and trying to make everything perfect.
Consequently, he took action on the lessons learned: “He was able to transfer this insight directly to his own work and leadership and to the importance of staying calm before reacting”, Besiou reports. She takes these kinds of shifts as her best reward: “This is exactly what I hope teaching can achieve: I want students to carry something with them that changes how they think, make decisions, collaborate, or lead when they are back in the real world.”
Photo credit: KLU/Christin Schwarzer
