Dr Lindsay Ryan reports from Australia

The UK pilot version of Business on the Move was introduced and played as part of the morning session of the South Australian Economic Teachers’ Society conference in Adelaide on Friday 22 November. Feedback from the teachers has been extremely positive with all the feedback forms unanimously indicating Business on the Move would be a helpful resource for students to learn about business and that it is a fun and practical way to learn about business.

Some of the comments on what the economics teachers like about the game include:

• interaction and link to real world,
• it introduces some complex topics,
• it was interactive, engaging and got discussion going,
• practical and easy to play once you understand the rules,
• dynamic and strategic student/player involvement,
• real world and realistic; lots of decisions and complexity,
• a great insight into how logistics works and also the balance sheet,
• good cross-over with economics, business, maths and literacy. A couple of teachers indicated it would also be a good resource for teaching accounting.

For an Australian version of Business on the Move the teachers would like to see the currency change to Australian Dollars and to have Australian businesses support the adaptation of the game so they can be represented as customers and logistics/transport firms on the game board. This would increase the real world value of the game for Australian students. As exports are a significant part of the Australian economy, some teachers suggested having exporting as well as importing as part of the game.

A number of major Australian organisations have expressed interest in being involved with an Australian version of Business on the Move and discussions are progressing with a potential champion to assist with adapting the game to the Australian environment and then launching it in Australia.