Teaching

Digital transformation is addressed at Leuphana University of Lüneburg in various courses of study in the Faculty of Management and Technology.

In the Bachelor's program in business information systems and the Master's program management & data science, the focus is primarily on the technical and methodological aspects. In the Bachelor's and Master's degree programs in business administration, the digital transformation of companies is taken up as a cross-cutting topic in various modules. In the engineering degree programs, the focus lies on the design-oriented technical dimension. Bridges to business administration and computer science are also built in these degree programs with offerings on the topic of Industry 4.0. With the minor in Digital Business, core topics of digital transformation are also made accessible to students of other fields of study. Leuphana's innovative study model also enables interdisciplinary courses for students of different subjects, especially in the complementary studies. In this way, the need for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaboration in dealing with complex challenges facing society is made tangible through the topic of digital transformation.

The members of the Digital Transformation Research Center are committed to developing new teaching formats and content.

New findings from research are directly integrated into teaching and are taken into account. In new teaching-learning formats, students come into direct contact with new technologies and have the opportunity to put them to the test. In the courses, this experience is linked to theoretical and methodological foundations. Students are encouraged to reflect on the economic and social implications of the digital transformation. 

The following three examples illustrate how the topic of digital transformation is addressed in teaching.

Leuphana Learning Factory - Experience. Optimise. Implement.

The Leuphana Learning Factory offers students the opportunity to experience factories in a new way, to optimize them and to implement innovative approaches. Participants gain an understanding of modern production and logistics systems. Starting with inefficient and ineffective processes, participants develop approaches to optimization based on lean production methods in the areas of manufacturing, assembly and logistics. The learning factory also makes it possible to test Industry 4.0 concepts and evaluate their benefits. New technologies such as contactless product identification based on RFID technology, smart labels and real-time evaluations are integrated into the solutions. Furthermore, the application potential of augmented reality, 3D printing and self-learning quality control will be demonstrated.

Contact: Dr. Ing. Carsten Wagner, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Heger

Digital Innovation Lab - Exploring Transdisciplinary Design

Digital transformation affects our daily lives, businesses and society. Taking into account the rapidly evolving potentials of information technology (IT), new artifacts, services and products are being developed. In this course, students come into contact with theories and methods of design-oriented research and from transdisciplinary design. The methods are applied, combined and questioned to address real-world challenges. To address these challenges, ideas and prototypes are developed along the way to new approaches. Students will be able to try out and experience innovative IT artifacts (virtual reality, RFID, Microsoft Surface Hub, voice interfaces, sensors) for themselves in the course in order to incorporate them as a source of inspiration in the problem-solving process. In addition, creativity methods (such as Lego Play Serious). The event will involve working in cross-disciplinary groups. The course is offered in English in complementary studies for students of different disciplines.

Contact person: Prof. Dr. Paul Drews

Crowd-based platforms: Inquiring into mobilizing and organizing processes

Crowd-based forms of organization are becoming increasingly important in the digital economy. The mobilization of a large number of distributed actors and the coordination of collaboration are organized via the Internet. The actors structure their actions with regard to a common goal. Platform-based crowds can now be found in various industries. Well-known examples can be found in the area of transportation services (Uber, Lyft) and the accommodation industry (Airbnb, HomeAway), among others. In the business-to-business sector, there are also well-known examples of crowd-based platforms in the areas of graphic design (99designs, DesignCrowd) and stock photos (iStock, Shutterstock). The crowd contributes capital and labor to these platforms. So far, little research has been done on these platforms. Thus, there are hardly any comparative studies on the platforms and findings on their operation. The goal of this research seminar is for students to address this research gap in a collaborative research project. For this collaborative research project, students will first familiarize themselves with the relevant theoretical and methodological literature. The students then select a platform to study it and its ecosystem in depth.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Thomas Gegenhuber