Review by: Hasanbegovic, Jasmina (2004-07-22)

According to current problems in higher education like non-applicable knowledge, the presented paper describes a new educational concept which introduces the idea of a Virtual Company as a networked learning environment. The Virtual Company claims to be part of the reality, in which it openly interacts with society whereas students address real problems, develop real products and services on behalf of real customers.

This paper describes the concept of the Virtual Company as a distance-education environment trying to integrate learning and working by a competence-based learning approach. Students are stimulated to rely on themselves, to act autonomously and responsibly in their confrontation with the complexities of the real world.

As the processes of working, learning and teaching have different goals, the authors deliver an input- output-model representing the interfaces of the combined processes and describe also the core constituents of the Virtual Company. Putting together a domain-specific and hence company- specific competence map through a exhaustive inventory of the existing competencies, a frame of reference for all processes involved is established, Thus, a limitation of the range of products and services and a definition of the final attainment levels of the educational system is given. To be prepared for their business tasks, students get substantial support and guidance structure. Despite the integration of the processes, the layout of the business processes will be quite different from the arrangement of the educational process, and therefore the authors distinguish the quality assessment of both, business and educational processes. In a next step, they describe the different peoples’ functional roles within the Virtual Company from a team perspective. Moreover, they explain the diverse functions of the educational institution concerning competence counselling, student achievement and management of the environment. In this regard, they stress the role of the general manager who is responsible for the management of the business and the role of the simulation manager who should intervene in case of any malfunctioning of the Virtual Company.

Finally the authors summarize first results of a pilot study carried out to test the validity and feasibility of the Virtual Company. The authors significantly observed a high degree of students’ motivation and commitment even if the students are overwhelmed by the amount of information. Not used to inter-team communication, students felt isolated within their projects and had problems concerning overload. The authors conclude that these issues had to be considered for the next experiments in improving the corporate identity as well as the internal communication structure.

This article shows a really innovative learning and teaching environment based on competence development and adaptable for any educational context. The mentioned partnerships with real companies will ameliorate the transfer of theory and practice by improving the validity and applicability of the Virtual Company in different contexts and broaden its use for corporate training.