Mastering Digital Business Models

The class teaches Master’s level students a theory- and practice-based understanding of how today's information technologies enable new digital business models and transform existing ones. The course contains elements of a flipped classroom approach and a novel examination mode, introducing a video group project as a core element contributing to the overall course grade. In addition, students are asked to participate in a peer-to-peer review of the videos produced by other student groups, the best of which are then shared with the entire class in the end of the semester.

Enlarged view: ETH Innoview Archive — ETH Innoview Archive

Keywords

interactive learning student-centered teaching

Course description

Project description

The class teaches Master’s level students a theory- and practice-based understanding of how today's information technologies enable new digital business models and transform existing ones. In addition to input lectures, the class uses elements of a flipped classroom approach, i.e. we use a learning management system to provide relevant academic work and further information such as videos explaining the lecture contents deeper, and try to regularly engage the entire class in active discussions regarding the various topics in the curriculum. The course furthermore contains a novel examination mode, introducing a video group project as a core element contributing to the overall course grade, which the students have to produce over the course of the semester. In addition, students are asked to participate in a peer-to-peer review of the videos produced by other student groups, which is independent of the grading and is geared towards giving students insights in how other groups solved the challenge. The best-rated videos are then shared with the entire class in the end of the semester.

As part of this newly created examination element, course participants (in teams of two to three students) first need to explain one of the major lecture topics (theoretical lenses) in the first half of their video, and then apply the same lens to a real-world case company with the goal of understanding the underlying business model with regards of the chosen theoretical lens in depth. Companies are pre-selected and allocated to students for fairness reasons, but the teams can choose the theoretical topic from a list.

Every year, we choose a pool of interesting companies in the context of digital transformation, the Internet of Things, Blockchain, e-health, etc.

The core idea behind the video format was to improve students’ learning success by using an examination mode that not only required learners to reiterate theoretical contents, but also apply the theory in a practical context. The students have a wide variety of educational backgrounds, and do not necessarily have a strong business focus, which means that many of the concepts taught in class may be rather abstract. We used the video format and specific companies as use cases, because we think this is a good way to trigger curiosity, show concrete examples of modern companies in a compact form, and force students to reflect deeply upon theoretical frameworks compared to other examination formats.

Students also had to review the video projects of five other groups. They had to clearly describe whether and how their peers applied the provided theoretical lenses. In this way they analyzed once more how the newly learned concepts were visible in other companies – a positive side effect being that they also honed their reflection and feedback skills.