ESCP Case

Digital Skills

Authoring institution: ESCP Europe Business School Berlin

The impact of digital technologies on every individual in almost every context (work, learning, private, …) leads to new required skills for coping with these developments. In this course we introduce the concept of digital skills, which comprises aspects such as information, social media, and creative skills in an increasingly digitized world. We aim at making students familiar with the topic of digital skills, including the important pillars relevance, assessment, and improvement options.

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Kind of recognition:

Formal educational system. Skills development in general is essential for everybody. In today’s increasingly digital world, developing digital skills is one of the most important aspects every individual, be it a student or a worker, should focus on.

 

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Credentialization

For this CPD course, 1 ECTS is issued. This reflects the learning hours of the course (25 learning hours). Credit (ECTS) was issued based on: how was focus on the digital competence area; identify a specific digital skill; search for further information on specific topic, develop a scheme to measure digital skills category, prepare a presentation.

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Learning outcomes

  • Define digital competences and digital skills
  • Explain the difference between the concepts of competences, skills, and related constructs
  • Apply general skill measurement approaches to specific skill areas
  • Create an own measurement approach for a specific skill area

Badge description

“Expert Digital Skills” badge is developed for those learners who successfully passed the course. The digital badge is directly related to the learning outcomes of the course.

The digital badge was issued to 38 learners in the first piloting round.

Challenges addressed:

The first piloting of the course resulted in 40 enrolled learners of which 38 successfully completed the course. Furthermore the feedback from the learners was gathered. 23 learners participated in a feedback survey which allowed to draw important conclusions for future applications of this course. Amongst others, it was asked how to improve the course. Answers and recommendations cover the following topics:

  • Preparation / technical aspects
  • Preparation / task-related aspects
  • Presentation / moderation

These topics will be taken as the basis to revise the initial course. A more general challenge was to keep the formal requirements a business school has to fulfill. Besides internal regulations, another very important aspect was considering external requirements on course design, e.g. stated by accreditation agencies.

Added value for the course author institution:

In this context, ESCP Europe represents both roles: author institution and formal education provider. The CPD course can be integrated in different courses (e.g., Bachelor, Master) dealing with skills development, and is therefore scalable without much effort. Considering the piloting, ESCP Europe gained rich insights regarding the needs and desires of the students in the context of innovative learning approaches such as open online learning.

Teacher

Claas Wenzlik

Claas Wenzlik

Regular project manager at ESCP Europe and an affiliate lecturer in the Master and Bachelor programmes at the Berlin campus.

Teacher

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Matthias Murawski

Research Assistant and Doctoral Student in the Department of Business Information Systems at the ESCP Europe Business School Berlin.

Plans for the future:

Aside from the learnings and improvement actions derived from the piloting, there are two main topics for ensuring sustainability of this course. First, the content needs to be updated according to the fast-changing digital environment. Tools we teach today might not be relevant anymore next year. Second, as the CPD course is created in the Learning Management Systems Moodle, there is a need to ensure transferability to other Learning Management Systems.

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About institution:

Established in 1819, ESCP Europe is the oldest business school in the world. Its mission is to develop the next generation of transnational business leaders, preparing them to embrace the opportunities offered by cultural diversity.

More details: http://www.escpeurope.eu/escp-europe/welcome/

Kind of recognition:

Formal educational system.

There are soft skills courses which are mandatory for most of the Bachelor and Master students at ESCP Europe and which can be connected to this CPD course.

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Added value for the institution recognizing the course:

The CPD course can be integrated and will in different courses (e.g., Bachelor, Master) dealing with skills development, and is therefore scalable without much effort.

Description of the process:

The CPD course development was always aligned to the formal requirements. However, the academic heads at ESCP Europe, who are responsible for course design, were open for non-traditional approaches such as pure online lectures combined with self-learning by the students. For ensuring fit with formal curriculum, we decided to embed the CPD course into a formal course.

Once the course description was finalized, the responsible academic head reviewed the document and formulated change requirements. These requirements were discussed and implemented while considering both formal curriculum fit as well as ReOPEN project requirements.

It must be noted that in our case, course author and formal education provider are the same institution which allowed close collaboration and communication.

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Institution recognizing the course:

In this context, ESCP Europe represents both roles: author institution and formal education provider. In this context, ESCP Europe represents both roles: author institution and formal education provider. Info on ESCP Europe: Established in 1819, ESCP Europe is the oldest business school in the world. Its mission is to develop the next generation of transnational business leaders, preparing them to embrace the opportunities offered by cultural diversity. With its six urban campuses in Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Turin and Warsaw, ESCP Europe’s true European Identity enables the provision of a unique style of cross-cultural business education and a Global Perspective on international management issues.

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Description of the process:

The academic heads at ESCP Europe, were open for non-traditional approaches such as pure online lectures combined with self-learning by the students. For ensuring fit with formal curriculum, we decided to embed the CPD course into a formal course. These requirements were discussed and implemented while considering formal curriculum requirements. It must be noted that in our case, course author and formal education provider are the same institution which allowed close collaboration and communication.

Added value for the institution recognizing the course:

Learners who have gained digital skills in this CPD course, is recognizing in different courses (e.g., Bachelor, Master).

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