SIMULATION PEDAGOGY AS A TOOL TO ENHANCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT MODELS OF ENTERPRISES AND WORK ORGANIZATIONS - COLLABORATION OF WORKING LIFE AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Simulation pedagogy in higher education:
Simulation is a technique to replace real experiences with guided experiences [1] in safe learning environment for learning. Research has shown that in health care field simulation-based education is effective in various learning domains. The use of simulation is increasing, however is not utilized in business education developing the competence of individuals working in enterprises, let alone entire working communities.

The changing work and uncertainty in workplaces has an influence on well-being of employees. In Europe, one of the major risk for occupational health and safety are psychosocial risks. Promotion of personal resilience is a way to strengthen employees' ability to work in constant change. Furthermore, co-creation and participation should be increased. Resilience training in workplace can improve personal resilience and well-being. Wider benefits including enhanced psychosocial functioning and improved performance are possible and can benefit the organisation. Simulation can be used to develop resilience in work communities. Teams are able to participate simultaneously and simulation can be perceived as co-creation method.

Lahti University of Applied Sciences Simulation Center is a learning environment that enhances multiprofessional learning experiences for learners and aims to offer authentic, high quality, learner-centered learning experiences. Educators are designing authentic simulation learning scenarios and learners are encouraged to practice, reflect and give feedback to each other. Pedagogy is constantly being developed.

One significant ongoing development project is Simulation as a tool to develop work communities (2017-2019), funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The project explores how the simulation can be used for experimental development of small and medium-size enterprises.

Methodology:
The aim of the project is to develop a simulation-based pilot environment for enterprises and work organizations. During the project, research and development models of enterprises are reinforced to match with high-speed, complex and digital business environment. Simulation is seen as a tool to train challenging work situations, to develop resilience and to practice various competencies. The possibilities to use simulation to simplify complex working life processes is also studied. The project has four different simulation pilot areas; working life simulation, management simulation, project and process simulation and service simulation.

Results and conclusions:
Co-operation has been done with several companies from different fields during the projects. The experiences of the developing working life and work communities applying simulation education are convincing. In this presentation, the experiences of the developers will be presented and the preliminary results of the project will be discussed.