How can school pupils who are considering a degree programme get an authentic impression of the university before their first visit? In the interdisciplinary module ‘E-Guide for TH Wildau’, students have now developed a digital smartphone tour that does just that – while learning practical agile and classic project management skills.

For one semester, twelve students from the Bachelor's programmes in Business Administration and European Business Management had a clear mission: to develop a digital tour that would allow school pupils to discover our university and our beautiful campus on their own. The English-language module was led by Prof. Susanne Marx, who focused on hybrid project management.

Practical experience in project management: agile and plan-based approach to achieving goals

The students worked in two groups and used the project management software ‘Meistertask’ to organise and implement their ideas. In the process, they learned about and applied various methods intensively. ‘The students worked according to the waterfall model and were thus able to experience and compare plan-based and agile project management methods in the different phases,’ explains Susanne Marx.

This hybrid approach enabled the teams to plan in a structured manner while also responding flexibly to new requirements. The learning process and continuous reflection were central to this, as Susanne Marx emphasises: ‘We reflected together on a very regular basis on the methods used and their influence on teamwork in the project. The different roles in the project phases in particular provided great food for discussion.’

Prof. Susanne Marx (right) together with students in the Opp:Lab at TH Wildau.© Prof. Susanne Marx (right) together with students in the Opp:Lab at TH Wildau. (Image: Mareike Rammelt, TH Wildau)

Feedback directly from the target group

To ensure that the digital tour meets the interests of future students, an eleventh grade class from the Pankow Vocational School for Social Services was involved in the project as an external feedback provider. Under the guidance of their teacher Antje Leitert, the students first answered a questionnaire created by the students about their wishes and technical equipment. In a subsequent online session, they provided direct feedback on concept drafts, text samples and even voice samples for the audio elements of the e-guide.

The highlight of the cooperation was the school class's visit to the campus on 26 May. Together with the students, they tested the developed prototypes on site. Afterwards, the university students reported on their experiences in project management and gave insights into their everyday student life.

A look into the future

The project ended with a final reflection in the Opp:Lab at TH Wildau, where the students also recorded their experiences – after using digital tools such as Mural and Moodle – in a tangible form. However, the resulting e-guides are more than just a study result. The university plans to integrate the tours into the interactive 360-degree campus map and is looking into possible further developments.

The innovative teaching concept itself is also being passed on: Susanne Marx and teacher Antje Leitert presented the approach to an audience of experts from Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the DACH Project Management Campus in Vienna in July.

‘Special thanks go to the Pankow Vocational School for Social Services for their excellent cooperation and to Guidemate GmbH for allowing the students to use their software free of charge to create the prototypes,’ concludes Susanne Marx.