Abstract:

The planned contribution describes an experiment within the teaching of self-management in a typical introductory class to many STEM and non-STEM curricula at the University of Applied Sciences Hamm-Lippstadt, Germany. The study took place within an overarching attempt to digitally support and/or enrich students’ learning experience. During and after the pandemic many formats of digitally supported learning have been tried and optimized and we find students to embrace the new possibilities and enjoy interacting with technology.

In the class motivation and goal setting (e.g. Locke & Latham, 1990) is one of the key subjects. After reflection of the benefits and limits of this approach and its application to business contexts (management by objectives) (see also Lunenberg, 2011) students were introduced to the Balanced Scorecard (Norton & Kaplan, 1996) and its application to self-optimisation tasks and challenges (see e.g. Rampersad, 2006). The task was for every student to think about their own long-term goals in life and set short-term and mid-term objectives with respective Key Performance Indicators and measures for all 4 quadrants of the Personal Balanced Scorecard. Additionally students were asked to use generative AI with at least 3 prompts to gain additional ideas and reflect on their own draft and finalise it. The prompts as well as the results of the prompts were to be documented in the appendix of each person’s Balanced Scorecard.

The results give insight into the possibilities of digitally supported self-reflection and allow to review the first steps of using generative AI in coaching and individual development contexts. Applications go far beyond the university context to the use within the course of Leadership and staff development in organizations prior and as a preparation to coaching or as a replacement of physical interaction e.g. by coaches or mentors.

Keywords:

Key Performance Indicators, generative AI, self-management.