virtual mobility lab pratice knote
TRANSCRIPT
Virtual Mobility throughInnovation Labs
Hilde EversLieve MulierRobrecht Van Goolen
Leuven University CollegeVISIR, 25-26 March 2014
EU-VIP
Enterprise-University Virtual Placements
• Project financed as a LLP project
• Time frame: 01 October 2009 – 30 September 2011
• Partnerships between 16 organizations from 8 countries
Objectives EU-VIP
• Investigate and test innovative ways to organize work placements, providing students and companies more opportunities to work together;
• Familiarize employers, teachers and students with the use of virtual technologies;
• Focus on international, European cross-border work placements instead of local or national placements;
• Boost innovation through the implementation of ICT into high quality work placements in companies.
Steps in EU-VIP
Before
Steps in EU-VIP
During
Steps in EU-VIP
After
Limited student mobility for internships and no support policy
SMEs are important players in today’s economy but underused in internships
But actual situation:• EU lags behind compared to other major world economies;• Research and policy agendas are centered on technological innovation
and focused on large companies;• SMEs are lacking capacity to innovate;• Non-technological innovations are highly relevant for SMEs;• Mobility for students is mainly through physical exchange, but internet
opens a wide spectrum of virtual possibilities.
Background motivation
Method
Innovation Labs:
“Collaborative platform between HEIs and SMEs with a case-based approach as an alternative for an international internship”
Approach:
Teams with business students tackled several innovation problems of SMEs: B2B & B2C markets in various industries by virtual means.
Three objectives:
1.Collaborate between HEIs and SMEs in a virtual way;
2.Offer students a real-life international work situation in a virtual context;
3.Stimulate business model innovation in SMEs.
Participants from Leuven University College & Laurea University of Applied Sciences:• Students: 4 Belgian + 7 Finnish• Lecturers: 2 Belgian + 1 Finnish
Cases: • De Standaard (Belgian newspaper): market research on youth market
segment• Rips (Finnish food exporter): Belgian market analysis to export a Finnish
food product to Belgium
Method
Different stages of the virtual project
Introductory stage• Finalizing topic, contents and use of ICT platform • Each student group had 2 virtual meetings to meet and be introduced to
the cases
Middle stage• Organizing brainstorm sessions, executing market research, developing
business plans
End stage• Presentation of business plan to companies
All stakeholders were surveyed in every stage
Method
Innovative methodology for all stakeholders by using virtual communication via video conferencing, Sharepoint, e-mail, Skype and HEIs internal internship follow-up tool
Students • Develop innovative business plan for foreign employer• Develop intercultural skills• Work with virtual learning tools
Companies • Discover business opportunities in other countries
HEIs • Work with virtual learning tools• Have contact with foreign lecturers • Learn about other didactic approaches
Benefits for stakeholders
Findings
Findings on communication:
Added value: • Communication with foreign partner without travelling• Communication is more personal than e-mail• Good practice for foreign language learning
Pitfalls: • Technical failures• Limited knowledge of software• Misunderstandings because of use of non-native language• Time difference
Recommendation:• Need for clear guidelines
Findings
Findings on learning outcomes:
Added value: • Getting experience in long distance working and ICT skills• Experience of working in foreign company culture• Entrepreneurial and innovation skills• Plus on CV
Pitfalls: • Finding the most suitable students for the project• Big difference in culture and doing business
Recommendation:• Innovative ICT tools, international internships and real-life business cases
should be more present in business studies
Conclusion
Interesting collaboration between HEIs and SMEs:• HEIs offer genuine business problems to their students:
learning by working on authentic cases and improving ICT-knowledge, entrepreneurial and cross-cultural communication skills;
• SMEs receive innovative solutions to improve business performance;• Embedded in the curriculum of the business university colleges;• Transferrable methodology to other HEIs.
Further developments:• Standardization of the communication through an online platform
Pathway covered by the European LLP project PROVIP• Expanding the international dimension in Erasmus+
Strategic Partnerships (submission April 2014)
