At the heart of the summer school is each participant’s individual project idea. With its focus on innovation management and entrepreneurship promotion, course content always reflects on and relates to these projects. Several participants wrote how much they appreciated our combined use of various digital tools and platforms such as Zoom and Mural in our teaching. The aim is to allow for an interactive and diversified learning experience under pandemic conditions.
In addition, we also received special praise for the design of numerous social activities. Whether online city tours, joint cooking via Zoom, virtual escape rooms, gaming sessions or a joint “visit” to improv theatre: despite the digital format, which was due to the pandemic, they made it possible to “still experience Germany virtually,” as one of the participants wrote.
All of this can certainly not replace a real stay in Germany and personal encounters with each other. That is why it was also a matter of seeing the specific advantages of the digital format and making the most of it. For example, without having to travel physically, it was possible to stretch the summer school (with a division) into two phases, the first of which has now come to an end.
A significant plus is the intervening coaching phase, which is currently beginning. During this phase, participants will have plenty of time to further develop their own projects – with individual support from our coaches. They will then be able to build on this in the second intensive phase in October. Given the commitment they have shown so far, we are already looking forward to seeing the results!
