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Entrance to the University of Liechtenstein, hosting the eventThe building of the University of LiechtensteinView from the University of Liechtenstein to the NorthRajesh and Dominic presenting "How can population growth and resources be brought into balance?"Marina and Asin presenting "How can the capacity to decide be improved as the nature of work and institutions change?"Nesh and Krzysztof presenting their Paper on "How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions?"One of the Topics: How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions?

In October 2011, the first joint ERCIS student seminar was launched, with the topic "Global Challenges and how IS can contribute". Thirty-one students from 7 countries participated in this seminar and collaborated in international teams on the treatment of specific topics. Participating ERCIS members come from Liechtenstein, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Germany.

Seminar Organization

Each group of students was provided with one global challenge (e.g., energy, global warming, or peace. See http://www.millennium-project.org/ for further information on this) and had to write a research paper essentially on how IS can contribute to overcoming this challenge. Each group consisted of students from at least two different countries. The seminar was accompanied by at least one supervisor per institution, responsible for that institution’s students. Furthermore, the supervisors were responsible for one or more challenges, serving as contact partner for the respective group. Benefits for students. The students learned how to organize and collaborate in virtual and international teams. They gained experience on how to write a scientific paper and how to publish and present the findings. They had to reflect on themselves, their group and their work in the process.

Details

At the virtual kick-off, each group was asked to briefly present their idea up to this point (5 Minutes). The online meetings are held via Adobe Connect, provided by the University of Münster. Besides writing the paper, as a didactic component, the students were asked to write a weekly blog on their collaborative experience. The blog may contain, e.g., expectations prior to virtual meetings as well as experiences after such meetings. The blog served as a basis for individual lessons learned by the students. The students then presented their paper on their respective global challenges to all stakeholders both physically in Liechtenstein and in a virtual conference.

Final Presentation

The final presentation took place at the University of Liechtenstein on January 27th. Together with three supervisors, five students from Münster joined the meeting in Vaduz, all the others were connected through a video conference. Each group had between 12–15 minutes for presentation and 5–10 minutes of discussion. At the end, each group will get detailed feedback on their paper and can discuss their communication experiences with the supervisors. The session was closed with a barbecue, organized by Jan and his team.

Future Plans

The seminar is planned to be repeated with a different topic next year. ERCIS members who are interested in joining such an international adventure are invited to contact the ERCIS Team at team@ercis.org.

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