On Monday September 14th, 700 first year students of the Masters in Management (Grande Ecole Program) at Grenoble Ecole de Management came together, in the main auditorium of its new digital Virbela campus created by Laval Virtual. No masks, no gel, and a customized avatar to represent themselves. On the agenda: meetings with Program Directors and Department members, getting to know their classmates and taking part in the 2020 back-to-school challenge. Among our new student’s mains concerns is: “what image will my avatar portray of me ?”
A virtual escape game to start the challenge
Two years ago we sent our first year Masters in Management (Grande Ecole Program) students into the city to test their ideas for innovation directly on people. Last year we tricked them into realizing the extent of abuse with personal data there is.
This year, the new Masters in Management students are invited to take part in a challenge on our virtual campus. They have to complete an escape game to find out the theme of the challenge: "New Deals to think and impact the world."
They then have 9 days of lessons and virtual workshops on the use of controversy in negotiations to propose a "new deal" project easy to implement in the Grenoble ecosystem. This "new deal" must contribute to one of the six societal and environmental challenges identified by GEM during the health crisis as priorities: health, work, energy, food, education and the city. The results will be announced in an exhibition on September 24th with 144 virtual stands in which the students will pitch their "new deal" projects in front of a panel of professionals, visitors and six major corporate partners.
The avatar as an alter ego or a superhero?
At any time on this campus, students and GEM teams involved in the back-to-school challenge will be able to interact with each other, meet and talk to each other in person through their custom avatars.
So what will their avatars look like? How will they be perceived through their avatars? Will they reflect each person's personality, an improved version or a character they would like to be? These are all questions that the students will have to find answers to during the challenge. This initiative is managed in collaboration with the 'Fabrique de l'Inestimable' an organization that works to leverage artistic experiences to enhance the learning experience for students. This initiative aims to help students to manage their self-image, perception, authenticity and coherence in the digital world.
The 5 highlights of the GEM 2020 New School Year
