Finance Lab Pro is being used for an Online International Learning project between Saxion and Coventry Universities.
The initiative brings students together to enhance intercultural learning and engagement and demonstrate the skills necessary for engaging in trading and investment decisions within globally-dispersed cross-cultural teams.
Students were asked to show awareness and understanding of their own position and perspective on risk-taking and attitudes toward risk following cross-border interactions. This included being able to recognise new perspectives about their own investment rules and biases that ultimately inform and impact their decision-making/strategies.
Particular attention was paid to students’ understanding of underlying factors that inform investment decisions when people come together from different backgrounds and countries, with different communication styles, beliefs, history, values and practices, and how these motivations manifest in decision-making behaviour, negotiation and decisions.
At the end of the session students were asked to write a reflective piece on their intercultural experience working synchronously with international peers under timed trading conditions to achieve optimal financial returns. This included their perspectives on the intellectual and emotional dimensions of the process, awareness of verbal and non-verbal communication, and speed of decision-making.
So successful has the project been that Saxion University now hosts its own inter-university Finance Lab Pro events. Their students compete in cross-campus pairs with students from Humber College in Canada and with several universities in Europe, namely: Fulda UAS, UAS Steyr, Bern UAS and King Juan Carlos.
Matthias Kretschmar, Lecturer in Finance at Fulda University, said:
“It was an outstanding experience for my students to play Finance Lab Pro and extremely helpful to get a better understanding how portfolios are managed. The special feature of the simulation is the collaboration of an analyst and a dealer in virtual teams of students from different countries.
“Not only teamwork in portfolio management can be experienced first-hand, but also cooperation in virtual international teams can be practiced. This is not only important in the current coronavirus restrictions, but also gives a valuable insight for my students into working in increasingly virtual business environments."
Dr Uchenna Tony-Okeke, Associate Head of School for Global Engagement at Coventry Business School, said:
''Finance Lab has been pivotal in allowing us provide curriculum internationalisation opportunities to students. The user-friendly interface allows students to work collaboratively with students from partner institutions, in putting the theories from their learning into practice, through a Collaborative Online International Learning Project.
"The outcome is the significant improvement of students' trading skills, as well as the development of intercultural, interpersonal and communication skills.''
Further information about the Coventry-Saxion COIL partnership can be found here