LFU:online

At the end of the course:

- students realize different aspects of leadership and teamwork. They are able to involve others (team members, staff) in a way that makes it easier for them to contribute. They are able to build on or synthesize the contribution of others and are able to motivate, encourage and guide staff/team members. They are able to identify and acknowledge conflicts and work to resolve them (Team Management).

- students describe critical issues/problems clearly and in detail, giving all relevant information for understanding. They can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of solutions through logical thinking. Information is sufficiently evaluated and interpreted to produce a comprehensive analysis. Viewpoints are thoroughly questioned. They analyse (systematically and methodically) their own assumptions and those of others, and consider in depth the relevance of contexts when expressing a point of view, in order to challenge rash judgements and form their own opinions (Critical Thinking).

In this course students learn about and enhance two types of transferable skills (non-subject related competences). These skills are:

Critical Thinking, which is the ability to objectively analyse and evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Team Management, the ability to motivate, develop and direct people as they work, identifying the best people for the job. It implies conflict and emotional management of the group itself and orientation to global results.

The course comprises three parts:

First four obligatory course dates which can be attended online (for students of Aurora universities - Group 0) or onsite in Innsbruck (Group 1): two introduction sessions to explain the project and the BEVI survey and an interactive coaching session for each transferable skill (non subject related competence).

Second, students have to play 12 hours of specific video games for each transferable skill (total of 24 hours). The students will play the games at home, on their own computers and are completely free in scheduling the 12 hours. The commercial video games will be available for free on the Steam platform. A Windows computer is necessary to play the games. The students will register to a platform (softskills.games) which tracks and analyses their progress in the games. The created data, from the surveys and the games, will be anonymized and used for research (details will be given before the start of the course).

Third, students will answer the BEVI (https://thebevi.com/) questionnaire before and after the voluntary learning experience to measure the extent to which the course has impacted on the beliefs and attitudes of the learners. This will help in developing and improving our educational offers in the future. In addition, it also helps to understand the make-up of the group participating in this course. This information will be shared with the group. As an added value, participants will receive an individual report on their own beliefs, values and attitudes. This report is only available to the individual participants and cannot be viewed by anyone else.

Universität Innsbruck is able to offer students taking the course free access to the BEVI thanks to its partnership with the Universitat Rovira I Virgili, of Tarragona, Spain, inside the AURORA European Universities project. If you have any questions concerning the BEVI, please contact the programme administrator of Universität Innsbruck Christina Raab. You can reach Christina Raab at the following email address: Christina.Raab@uibk.ac.at

Students have to complete the three parts mentioned in the method section. As one part of this course students will take part in a BEVI survey (Beliefs, Events, and Values Invetory, https://thebevi.com). The online participation takes place at the beginning of the course (you can chose between 2 and 3 of October, see dates) and a second time after the course and requires about 2x30 min.

Students have to complete the tasks 2 and 3 (see "Anmerkungen") before the start of the course.

Students receive detailed instructions about each task after enrollment/registration. The first 35 students to complete all tasks will be accepted.

Some of the games run only on Windows. You need access to a Windows computer to play the games and complete the course.

This is a voluntary course that is not compulsory for students. If students choose this course voluntarily, participation in a (teaching and learning evaluation respectively) research project is an interactive part of the course.  Therefore students are asked to

1)    take part in a BEVI survey (Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory, https://thebevi.com). The online participation takes place at the beginning of the course (at a time to be agreed upon) and a second time after the course and requires about 2x30 min.

2)    sign informed consent form about usage of data for research

3)    Register to softskills.games Platform

Students of Aurora universities are invited to apply for participation in this course from 16 August 2023 until 10 September 2023 (or until the maximum number of participants has been reached) at the following link: https://www.uibk.ac.at/en/international/aurora/aurora-course-offerings/universitat-innsbruck/ 

The coaching sessions are interactive.
For students participating online it is essential to have a functional microphone and camera.
We highly recommend students living in Innsbruck to participate onsite.