Back

Believing that games can be powerful tools for driving social change, IÉSEG alumna Alexandra OLIVETTI (Class of 2001) founded By Mon Imaginarium, an organization that offers a creative space where individuals can explore their potential through self-expression and self-discovery. She also leads the creativity training courses offered to all Bachelor-level students in IÉSEG’s Grande École Program.

Structured into six modules, these courses aim to develop students’ creativity, introduce them to collaborative methods—especially through collective intelligence—and teach them to think differently, act differently, and shift their perspective to better tackle the challenges they’ll face throughout their academic and professional lives. These soft skills and attitudes are highly sought after in the job market.

This year, Alexandra OLIVETTI designed the six modules around a central project titled “A Game for a Social Cause.” Over six sessions, students are tasked with imagining, designing, prototyping, testing, and refining a serious game—a game with an educational or social purpose—aligned with one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As they progress through the modules, students not only build their serious games step by step, but also explore different roles within group work (such as receiver, designer, tester, facilitator, and coach). These roles help them develop new skills and discover more effective ways of collaborating. Alexandra OLIVETTI worked closely with the CETI (IÉSEG’s Center for Educational and Technological Innovation), which helped design the course sessions and create a deck of cards used by students to bring their ideas to life and create prototypes.

“I broke down the creative process into clear stages for each session,” she explains. “In the first module, students select the SDG they want to focus on and start brainstorming ideas for their game. In the next session, they develop the game concept through a gamification workshop—and they must pitch it to an expert in the field to secure them as a mentor. This helps them deeply understand the real-world issues their game will address. Then, they build a paper prototype to validate the concept and test what works and what needs improvement. The fourth session is focused on testing the gameplay. In the fifth module, students take turns as coach-facilitators to help other teams overcome challenges: How do you deal with a free-rider in the group? What if you’re out of ideas? What if your game isn’t innovative? Or if it lacks meaning? This gives them hands-on experience with coaching and facilitation—skills that are useful not just at school but also in the workplace. Finally, they present their game in action and share its outcomes in a 10-minute creative storyboard during the final session.”

More than 1,200 students participated in this serious game creation challenge. But the goal wasn’t just to raise awareness or share facts about their chosen SDG. Their games needed to change players’ behavior, encouraging real-world action and social impact—hence the course title, “A Game for a Social Cause.”

“I’m really proud of my students,” Alexandra says. “With support from 25 creativity instructors, they fully embraced the project and followed through from start to finish. Creating a serious game from scratch—from idea to concept to real-world implementation—is no small feat. Some of the games are truly innovative, and I’d love to develop a few into open-source tools for NGOs, schools, and youth centers—as vehicles for real societal change.”