Practical example on how to plan and develop a participatory group dynamic through an online platform, in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal number 4 "Quality Education”

Abstract

[EN] In the current conditions of university teaching, derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, where the need for social distancing has led to the move to online sessions through various technological platforms, one of the most complicated activities to develop are group dynamics. Taking advantage of the teaching content of the university subject "Organizational Behavior and Change Management", a plan has been designed and executed to ensure that, remotely and without face-to-face interaction, students are actively involved and participate in a practical session set out precisely as group dynamic. It is specifically the game of the atomic bunker. The objective is to detect the difficulties that the online environment puts in the way of active and participatory development of the session, and to define a priori the necessary prior actions to overcome these difficulties and achieve the same intended objectives in the case of a face-to-face session. This activity is linked to the implementation of initiatives aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 4, defined as "Quality Education", which is based on the firm conviction that education is one of the engines more powerful and proven to ensure sustainable development. The conclusions show that, despite the fact that the a priori difficulties were great, with a prior planning of communicative actions (sharing information about the principles and objectives of the session) towards the students, asking the students themselves for advice on possible energizing actions of the session, and with sufficient motivation (based on the self-conviction of the students that they themselves have participated in the design of the activity), the activity has been developed successfully and achieving results comparable to those of other courses in which it had been developed in a face-to-face format.