Practice makes perfect

03. July 2019

As practice makes perfect, students on the "Applied Knowledge Management" Master's programme are given the opportunity to put the tools they have learned into practice.

At the beginning of the second semester, the students on the Applied Knowledge Management master's programme were given the task of designing their own workshops together in groups. As a variety of different knowledge management methods are used in workshops, the workshop should also revolve around a knowledge management method that is introduced to the colleagues in the course of the workshop.

In order to really impart knowledge in a workshop, it should be well thought out. Therefore, the first part of the task was to develop a suitable and, above all, appealing workshop description. In a further unit of the course, the title, objectives, content and methods of the workshop were discussed in more detail in the plenary session and feedback was provided using the 6 hats method .

In the next step, the groups worked on the detailed descriptions, in which they had to describe the workshop procedure down to the smallest detail. This made it possible to draw attention to required materials in advance or to point out too much content.

The day of the presentations was organised under the motto: "try. fail. learn. repeat." After all, the aim of the course was to put into practice what the students had learnt so far. The individual groups presented their topics very clearly, individually and in a friendly manner. The audience was invited to actively participate and solve tasks. A pinch of entertainment also ensured a good mood.

Self-reflection as the be-all and end-all

At the end of the course, the "lessons learned" from the conception and realisation of the workshop had to be written down. The students were asked to record any problems that occurred and their effects and to round them off with recommendations and suggestions for improvement for the future. For example, the "knowledge dating" team realised that a workshop team of five people needed a better structure and that a trial run beforehand would be useful. Premises also played a major role for many workshop teams.