Business simulations for online vocational internships at a technical school in Suwałki

Turning online internships into practical business experience

Country

Poland

Organization

The Complex of Schools No. 6 named after Karol Brzostowski in Suwałki

Programme / Course

Internship

Simulation

IT services

Client

The Complex of Schools No. 6 named after Karol Brzostowski in Suwałki is a secondary school with a technical profile, educating students in professions such as IT technician, logistics technician, advertising technician, and automotive technician. The institution focuses on practical preparation for the profession and aligning students’ competencies with the needs of the local labor market, also through extracurricular clubs, courses, and additional training. The school is open to modern teaching methods and actively seeks solutions that allow it to achieve curriculum goals even in challenging organizational conditions.

Challenge

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school faced the challenge of conducting vocational internships in an online format. By definition, internships are “practical” in nature, and moving them to a remote mode raises several questions: how to assess students’ skills, how to provide them with real professional tasks, and how to formally complete the internship in accordance with regulations without the involvement of an employer. Additionally, the school needed to find a solution that would allow IT students to work in teams, make decisions, and analyze their outcomes – all within a safe, remote environment, without the risk of real losses.

Solution

The Complex of Schools No. 6 in Suwałki decided to conduct online vocational internships using REVAS Industry Business Simulations, in line with the Ministry of Education’s recommendations regarding the virtual enterprise model.

The simulations were used during remote internships for two classes of IT technician students. The students worked in groups, completing a total of 26 hours of internships according to a previously prepared schedule. Classes took place after school hours on the MS Teams platform, in sessions held every two days. This model gave students time for analysis, consultation, and well-thought-out business decisions.

Thanks to the simulations, students were able to:

make decisions typical for an IT company,
observe financial results and resource utilization,
test risky scenarios that would be impossible to verify in real conditions,
learn responsibility without consequences on a “live organization.”

Results

Remote internships using simulations delivered the expected results. Students were genuinely engaged, followed the outcomes of their decisions with interest, and actively analyzed financial results. The internships were not limited to simply “ticking off hours” – they became a fully valuable educational experience.

Teachers observed a clear increase in economic knowledge, planning skills, and analytical thinking. Students competed with each other and between class groups, developed strategies, responded to challenges, and aimed to improve their results in subsequent rounds. A particular surprise was the independence of the teams—students created their own spreadsheets and programs to calculate profits and losses.

The case of the Complex of Schools No. 6 in Suwałki shows that online vocational internships can be carried out in a valuable, engaging, and regulation-compliant way. The virtual enterprise proved effective not only during the pandemic, but also as a solution for extracurricular classes in entrepreneurship and professional skills.