Abstract:

One of the big challenges today are innovative teaching concepts for business students in the area of digitalization. At the beginning of their study, students mostly know only basics of IT and not real business scenarios such as business process management or workflow management.

At a university in Switzerland a module for undergraduate business students that aims at business process and project management was developed based on the criteria of evidence-based good university teaching. A team of up to 12 lecturers teaches the module in a way, so that business process and project management can be taught within one scenario in the same way by all lecturers. The university is distributed between three different locations in Switzerland. The 8 classes in autumn semester 2024 were taught (German 6, English 2) with the same (translated) case study and exercise and the same exam at Bloom’s Taxonomy level “Evaluate” at the end.

The methodology of the new module is based on the one hand on case study teaching and on the other hand on the concept of a flipped classroom. For that a case study was developed in which a start-up company is described, that wants to develop a new crowdsourcing process within a project. The case study was developed out of concrete experiences of a start-up company.

For 12 weeks, the students had to familiarize with the theory on the topics business process management and project management. Within the class the students had to exercise in groups based on the preparation tasks and exercises that were developed by business process and project management professionals. The lecturers coached the different groups during the exercise.

During the semester the students were able to work on two different assignments (complex group works). These assignments related to the development of a process based on BMPN 2.0 (Business Process Model and Notation, an internationally used modelling language for business process modelling) and an implementation of parts of their process within a workflow engine. Creating workflows is a big challenge, because it is the first time for the students that they had to digitize something themselves. The assignments count 30% of the final grade.

In previous iterations of the course, students were presented with a selection of eight topics for creating business processes, distributed among six groups. Due to the limited number of options, not all groups were able to choose the topic that appealed to them the most. Our past studies have shown that the topic selection plays a significant role in the decision-making process of students, as it directly influences their engagement and motivation. To address this, we have now expanded the number of available project topics to 23, providing students with a much broader selection.

Our hypothesis is twofold:
(1) students are more likely to receive their first or second choice of topic, and
(2) they will perceive the expanded selection as a valuable improvement.

This increased choice fosters a sense of autonomy and personal relevance, which are key drivers of intrinsic motivation. When students work on a topic that aligns closely with their interests, they are more likely to invest effort, engage deeply with the material, and derive satisfaction from the learning process. Additionally, the broader range of topics ensures that the content resonates with a wider variety of preferences and professional aspirations, further enhancing the learning experience.

Keywords:

Innovative teaching concepts, Business process management, Workflow management, Flipped classroom, Case study teaching, Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN 2.0), Student engagement, Topic selection, Intrinsic motivation.