Students at Karlstad Business School are contributing to digital innovations

In the course Business Development from a Process and Partnership Perspective, students at Karlstad Business School have been given the opportunity to collaborate with several organisations. Students have been helping to map out business processes and develop improved work procedures using digitalisation.

The assignment to cooperate with Karlstad’s school administration was perfect for the students at Karlstad Business School. Anders Lenz, IT strategist at Karlstad municipality, is happy with the result.

– Karlstad is very interested in working in this manner. It is also a very good fit for the mission statements our director of education has expressed. Developing our organisation and our processes using service design are clear objectives for Karlstad municipality.

Risks and patience

– The safest way for innovations to fail, is to keep doing what we have always done, says Emil Joelsson, strategist at the department for digital development and innovation.

Innovation comes with risks, and it takes courage to deviate from established processes and solutions. Hence, it was particularly encouraging that the education administration had the courage to allocate time and resources to creating the conditions needed for new insights.

A live case study

The collaboration project My School Day focuses on the pupils’ everyday lives, but it also concerns administrative aspects as well as the needs of teachers and principals.

– Our starting point is the process orientation in the course, says Marie-Therese Christiansson, associate professor in Information Systems at Karlstad Business School. It’s a holistic approach where the students can demonstrate where “friction” occurs and how this can be avoided through digital solutions. Plus new possibilities and the effects of a smarter work process. Process orientation aims to ensure substantial worth, with IT as the means for the users of the services.

Prestudy and meeting the students

The materials provided by the municipality were a short mission statement and results from prestudies, as well as an online presentation with the students, where they also had the opportunity to ask questions. The students did not have access to neither representatives from Karlstad municipality, nor any pupils or their guardians. Instead a reconstruction was made, of the students’ interpretation of the business process where the “friction” occurs, as well as the consequences this has for pupils and their guardians, for example.

– Research shows that a key skill when facing the challenges of the future, is the ability to act independently when problems arise, says Marie-Therese Christiansson. And this is what the students have been doing. In general, the students have worked freely, based on their own experiences and benchmarking, with coaching and supervision for support.

Jessica Österberg, student at the IT, Project Management and ERP Systems programme, says that it is a privilege to have the opportunity to work on a live case study.

– It is a challenge to work strictly digitally, since this is a distance course. At the same time, the collaboration with Karlstad municipality has contributed to giving the course a basis in reality. It has been a fun and rewarding challenge to use process orientation and guiding methods, but also to take advantage of our own understanding of the problems, or the “friction”, as well as the underlying needs. I appreciate the freedom we have had in the course, which has contributed to us thinking outside the box to find solutions. It has also provided an in-depth understanding of how process orientation can be applied to business development in our future careers.

– It has been a positive experience for us in the profession to learn together with the students, says Anders Lenz. The student suggestions has been forwarded to the strategy team and the director of education. Some of the suggestions have already been implemented, or are in the process of being implemented. A few of the implemented suggestions are digital applications for leave of absence, an app for parents and guardians and an improved forum to provide digital tips to teacher. Other suggestions, such as an examination calendar visible to everyone that is always updated and synced for all users, are more challenging.

Satisfied with the course

– The course examination was about demonstrating the ability to implement business-oriented digitalisation by applying process-oriented principles, says Marie-Therese Christiansson. It is fundamental to do find the right processes for the people affected, while at the same time employing a sustainable development perspective as the basis for analysis of control, work processes and digital opportunities.

– The approach of the course was well-considered, with a good balance between theory and practice. I especially appreciated the sustainability perspective on digitalisation and business development. It was extremely rewarding. Above all, it is an important perspective to be experienced with. This is something I will learn from and use in the future, says Jessica Österberg.

Nomination

The project My School Day is nominated for the Digital Well Award, due to the students’ suggestions on how to improve the school days for upper-secondary pupils in Karlstad.

A workshop has been held with SFI students in adult education, to identify the challenges they face.

– We will probably see other problems there, with language and culture barriers, says Anders Lenz. It will be interesting to see if it is possible to improve their school days as well, using digital solutions. We would love to cooperate with students at Karlstad Business School when the next course instance, in the spring of 2023.