Risk money – riskiraha, there’s a word that doesn’t come up often in a university context!

But yet here we are, all of us leading Digiloikka-projects with a blessing that we are allowed to try, take risks and perhaps in the midst of everything, realize that a particular maneuver was a great trial but was followed by an error.

I am happy to say that in our Digiloikka, the ROUTE-project, major setbacks have not occurred, albeit there is always something to learn from your actions. I am more than excited to report that staff and students of ECGS have been eager to seize the opportunities provided by the Digiloikka funding. In the past months we have seen our students emerge themselves into twitter training, organize a streamed and recorded event, the ECGSustainability NOW,  and take their first steps in clarifying their aims and skills through portfoliowork. Our staff and students have also eagerly taken into use the new study planning tool SISU and attended multiple live-streamed sessions both as a part of courses and new Personal Study Planning activities. Currently we have recruited two student teams, one working on establishing a Sustainability Science blog together with HELSUS and the student network Resilience, and the other planning and executing videos of our Master’s programme.

The level of enthusiasm and involvement has been heartwarming and inspiring. And I dare say one of the main things behind these successes has been the knowledge that we are allowed to try, as individuals and as a community. We do not have to master everything at once and the first version can be a mere idea of something. The first time we do a portfolio we are still trying to grasp the idea and figure out the best ways of doing it all. When we stream a lecture for the first time, it might mean that the sound ends up being slightly off or we do not always remember where the camera is.

Or we might nail it on the first go.

Allowing oneself to try and risking that it will not be perfect from the get-go, does not that we program ourselves for failure, but rather that we acknowledge that there is a first time for everything. And that, indeed, it is better to try and have a mediocre or even poor first result than to never step out of your comfort zone.

With this being said, I hope that we all dare to make the most of this unique possibility. And if you ever wish to share what you are doing or get a glimpse on what has been going on in our project, don’t hesitate to be in touch! I’d be more than happy to share, what I consider, our success points, as well as things that have not gone according to plan A (or even B).