Digitalisation continues to influence our professional world. Companies must adapt and train their staff accordingly. To meet this demand, the Campus for Professional Development at THWS offered the so-called “Changemaker Journey”, a continuous extra-occupational training free of charge.
Published on 3 April 2024
Everyone is talking about digitalisation. This development is challenging for companies of all sizes: Companies must adapt their processes and train their staff accordingly. With its “Changemaker Journey”, the Campus for Professional Development at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) has developed a programme aimed at small and medium-sized Bavarian companies in particular. “Smaller companies often lack the resources to drive digital transformation the same way as larger companies, which dedicate entire departments to this,” explained Dr. Sandra Achten, member of the project team at the Campus for Professional Development. The programme could be offered free of charge due to funding by the European Social Fund (ESF).
The difference is in variety
The project “Changemaker Journey“ started in early 2022 and ended in late 2023. A total of 29 companies successfully participated in the advanced training. Among them Wölfle GmbH, FLYERALARM Digital, and numerous other IT companies, and freelancers from the Würzburg area. The three-month training consisted of three modules: “Customer Experience“, supervised by Professor Dr. Tobias Aubele; “Agile Project Management“, supervised by Professor Dr. Isabel John; and “Data Management“, supervised by Professor Dr. Rolf Schillinger. In these three modules, the employees of the participating companies learnt how to re-direct digital products in a human-centred, agile, and data-based way. Each module consisted of two attendance days and three online exercises. An academic education was not mandatory, which also promoted the exchange and mutual support among the participants with their diverse backgrounds.
In the beginning it was challenging to convince the participants of the interconnectedness of the modules and overcome initial insecurities. This could easily be remedied by an introductory event on the modules. “The format, of course, comes with the disadvantage that we demand too much of some and too little of others,” says Professor Dr. Schillinger, coordinator of the Data Management module. The continuous training, however, lived by participation of people with different levels of experience who supported each other, emphasised Dr. Achten of the project team. Professor Dr. Schillinger adds: “The difference is in variety. Our aim is not only the targeted transfer of knowledge in accordance with our regular teaching responsibilities, but increasingly the support of companies towards successful business development.”
Experiencing agile processes in a playful way
In the module “Agile Project Management”, the participants developed the basics of agile project management and flexible approach using the SCRUM method. This is supposed to help the project management team to act in short, intensive sprints or phases, to quickly develop and continuously improve products. Professor Dr. Isabel John puts special emphasis on practice-oriented applications like the so-called Snowflake Game or the Kanban Pizza Game, to help participants memorise agile processes. Through the Snowflake Game, the participants learn how iterative processes work by using paper and scissors to create snowflakes and selling these to a model customer. Marie-Louise Kaiser, who supervised the games together with Professor Dr. John, explained that the objective was to adapt the snowflakes each round to better meet the customer’s requirements. Finally, the snowflakes from the first and last round were compared to examine the development. “The games animate the participants to evaluate in what ways they could integrate agile techniques into their own work routines,” Dr. Achten says.
Sissi Baudach participated in the Changemaker Journey with her company Business Data Solutions GmbH & Co. KG. The module Agile Project Management in particular had had a major impact on her current work routines in her company, she said. “Using the developed tools, we are now conducting a retrospective every eight weeks, where we identify currently relevant topics, discuss their urgency, and work out concrete solutions.”
Recognising usability challenges via eye tracking
A user-centred website is a must for companies in times of digital transformation. In the module Customer Experience, participants could learn how to design a user-oriented website to consistently represent basic behavioural patterns in processes and web design. Usability tests were then conducted in the THWS Eye-Tracking Lab. These tests evaluate where users look and how long and in what order elements are looked at. “During this process, initial usability challenges can often be identified because users do not always proceed as anticipated,” Dr. Achten explains. Participant Sissi Baudach, who was redoing the company website at that time, also valued this module: “I was able to directly implement the developed skills. I just wish I would have participated in the training six months earlier. This would have spared me a lot of work.”
Refine thinking, manage data
Due to digitalisation, data is playing an increasingly central role in strategies and decision processes. That is why Professor Dr. Schillinger has focused his module Data Management on the required know how for data mining, data management, and data analysis. He particularly wanted to convey that data science was not only about artificial intelligence but about machine learning as well. He emphasised: “The module is not about claiming that you have developed a certain competence. I would rather raise awareness so that companies go out there and say: Oh, I have heard about data management before from Schillinger.“
State-of-the-art knowledge transfer close to practice
The practice-oriented and state-of-the-art knowledge transfer was positively received by participants. They especially valued the discussions on current challenges in their business environment, the immediate and useful responses to occurring problems, and the subsequent intensive exchange with the lecturers. Sissi Baudach recommends the continuous training programme for everyone looking to integrate current knowledge into their company. “I was impressed that the professors really had their finger on the pulse of the time”, Baudach emphasised. Professor Dr. Schillinger added: “We as THWS are characterised by qualified professors with industrial experience. They can apply their extensive competence to the continuous training programmes because they are familiar with the academic environment and the industrial practice.”
Campus for Professional Development and Language Proficiency
THWS does not only offer study programmes but also continuous extra-occupational training. The Campus for Professional Development at THWS has been offering continuous extra-occupational training in the Main-Franconian region for more than 15 years. The broad spectrum of educational offers is aimed at individuals, THWS employees, companies, and students from Germany, Europe, and the whole world. The offers include master’s programmes for key technical and managerial personnel, certificate courses (e.g., in Data Science or Web-Commerce), and workshops and language courses aimed at competence development and continuous academic training.
To the website of the Campus for Professional Development at THWS
