This July, Green Steps launched a new cooperation with the Creative Computing bachelor’s programme at the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten (USTP), welcoming a group of talented students who will complete their internships with Green Steps between July 2026 and January 2027. Over the next six months, the interns will contribute to the continued development of the Green Steps ARK while gaining valuable experience in an international, mission-driven open-source project.
The Creative Computing programme combines software engineering with interaction design, game development, digital storytelling, user experience, mobile applications, extended reality and applied AI. Throughout their studies, students work in interdisciplinary project teams, developing digital solutions that place creativity and human experience at the centre of technology. Project-based learning is a defining characteristic of the curriculum, culminating in a compulsory professional internship during the sixth semester that allows students to apply their knowledge in a real-world setting.
This educational philosophy closely matches Green Steps’ own approach. The Green Steps ARK is built around gamified, place-based learning, encouraging people to explore their local environment through quests, collaborative challenges and ecological storytelling. Rather than developing technology for its own sake, the ARK uses digital tools to strengthen people’s relationship with the places they live, fostering ecological literacy, community engagement and stewardship. The Creative Computing students therefore join a project where programming, design, education and environmental action come together in a single ecosystem
During their internships, the students have each selected a project that contributes to the next generation of the Green Steps ARK. Their work spans the full spectrum of the platform—from improving user experience and interface design, to expanding gamification features, strengthening educational content, developing community tools, exploring AI-assisted learning, and implementing new technical components for the open-source platform. By choosing projects that align with their own interests and strengths, the interns are not only deepening their professional skills but also helping shape a learning platform designed to inspire ecological action around the world.
Unlike many traditional internships, Green Steps offers students the opportunity to contribute to a growing international open-source initiative with tangible social and environmental impact. Working alongside mentors, educators and volunteers from different countries, the interns experience how creative technology can support community building and regenerative education. At the same time, every feature they develop becomes part of a freely accessible platform that schools, municipalities and communities can use to strengthen place-based learning.
We are delighted to welcome our first cohort of Creative Computing interns and look forward to seeing their ideas take shape over the coming months. This new partnership with USTP represents another important step in building the Green Steps ARK as a collaborative learning ecosystem—one where students, educators and communities co-create digital tools that reconnect people with nature and with each other.
