Looking back at Future of Education 2015 – Students present remarkable solutions for the education of tomorrow

On June 20th, 2015, six teams presented in the Villa Siemens in Berlin the results of a month-long working phase on the Future of Education 2015. Future of Education is a competitive project of the BSP Business School Berlin, the MSH Medical School Hamburg and the MSB Medical School Berlin and other Universities. The aim is to elaborate on creative solutions and research ideas for the teaching and learning in the digital world of tomorrow. Fifty motivated and committed students from different degrees took part in this competition – we even had a group from the New School Amsterdam.

The project started with a full-day workshop on April 20^th, 2015 at MSH Medical School Hamburg. The director of MSH, MSB and BSP, Ilona Renken-Olthoff, welcomed the participants in the MSH University. Under the guidance of Professor Dr Thiessen, all participants were then asked to introduce themselves and to say a few words on their motivation and why they wish to participate in the project. It was a full-day event. A two-month development phase followed in mixed teams under the guidance of qualified mentors.

The keywords digitalization and globalization suggest in-depth change processes that may directly impact our education systems. This year, students collaborated transdisciplinary and critically on the theme »Know-how! How to teach and learn the right stuff«. There were no limits for creativity. There were no structural guidelines to adhere to. What counts was purely the outcome. Participants arranged themselves into teams fully independently.

As early as during the kick-off event on April 20th, in the Hamburg HafenCity district, it became clear that there was a huge variety of approaches. Within minutes, six separate teams formed, each of them having a unique approach on how to approach the topic. The inspiring environment certainly affected the team’s outstanding progress on the first day.

Final public presentations were held on June 20^th in the Villa Siemens in Berlin. Each group were given 15 minutes to present their results. All presentations delivered high-quality solutions and were very different in their own character. Following the presentations, the jury met to award the best presentations. It was incredibly difficult to choose from many outstanding solutions, as all presentations were of high-quality, very creative and thought provoking. After intense discussion, the jury made its call. Awardees were announced.

The other groups also presented high-level, creative and well-elaborated ideas. One group for example, developed a toolbox for the development of leadership skills, as supplementary to the study curriculum. This toolbox encompasses the quality of a complete module on the topic of leadership skills. Another group presented opportunities to relate and combine theoretic models and practical challenges from the field of economics. The group “Simulation for you” presented an approach on how students can best be gradually prepared in an integrated blended coaching model for concrete and realistic job application- and assessments situations.

We thank all the participants for their high-quality contributions, we thank the mentors and all others involved for their time and valued guidance. At this point, we would also like to express our gratitude to Mrs. Renken-Olthoff for the support of this project and for the fantastic prices that were awarded to the winners. Future of Education 2016 is already in the making. The prospective theme will be announced on the BSP, MSH and MSB websites in December 2015. As soon as the theme is announced, registration is possible.