Developing a social capital metric for use in an educational computer game

To address the educational challenges of Millennial Generation students, there has been an increased willingness at many universities to experiment with pedagogical strategies that depart from a traditional “learning by listening” model, to more innovative methods involving active learning through computer games. We hypothesize that to acquire the skills necessary to manage social sustainability, students must be engaged in active learning exercises that foster a high level of social interaction. This has led to the development of an educational computer game, entitled Shortfall, which simulates a business milieu for testing alternative paths regarding the principles of sustainability. This paper examines social sustainability in the context of industry and through the lens of a capital-based theory of sustainability. Using a capital-based theory, the analysis of social sustainability is narrowed to the concept of social capital. The current methodologies used for measuring social capital are reviewed, and a prospective metric using a peer evaluation survey, unique to Shortfall, is developed.