CISS at the teacher's desk

Everyday work as point of departure

"We want to set up courses and long-term coaching programmes that take their point of departure in specific problems from the companies' everyday life, rather than in some imaginary ideal examples," associate professor Arne Skou, CISS, explains.

Alongside a couple of companies and colleagues from the Department of Computer Science, AAU, he is working on developing the content of a targeted teaching programme for development of embedded software. The programme is inspired by the so-called ’workbased-learning’ model, in which the activities take their point of departure in the work going on in the company in question. The model has gained increasing footing in universitites all over the world during the lastdecade - and is often used within continuing education programmes at Aalborg University.

"We have asked ourselves why a larger number of companies do not make use of the good and well-functioning models for software development that are described in all the world's text books - not least those written by our own colleagues at Aalborg University. Therefore, we work with them on collaborations with a number of companies, in which we, among other things, monitor and guide the day-to-day work. In that way, we keep the company focused on the process, and at the same time we can find out which challenges they encounter when trying to embed the new work methods. In addition, we get important input to our research within embedded software," Arne Skou says.

One of the companies that are currently taking part in an ongoing collaboration with CISS is Siemens Mobile Phones Development.

"For a long time we have repeatedly tried to implement new work methods, but every time the day-to-day routines have caught up with us after a while. The new competences have simply disappeared because the employees have not been able to integrate their new knowledge in their day-to-day work," head of department at Siemens Svend Holme Sørensen explains.

"Now, we are working with CISS in an attempt to hold on to it and adapt it until the routines have been incorporated," Svend Holme Sørensen says.

He is in no doubt that the new work methods will benefit the company once they've been incorporated, but adapting the methods to the individual company and its specific everyday reality takes a lot of work.

"When university people write text books about these work methods, they surprisingly often use the same examples. This is fine, because then you can compare their results and discoveries, but it fits less well when the results need to be transferred to the reality out in the companies. That's the process we're in now," Svend Holme Sørensen says.

In practice, the collaboration consists of two parts: a course programme takes its point of departure in concrete projects that the employees work on on a day-to-day basis. Afterwards, this is followed up by visits from the instructors every two weeks, so that new problems can be overcome.

"At the moment, we're trying it in connection with two concrete projects, in which six employees are involved, but if it proves beneficial, I will not dismiss the possibility of us using this educational process on more projects," Svend Holme Sørensen says.

The collaboration between Siemens and CISS builds upon an old friendship.

"We have earlier, with great success, made use of both Aalborg University and CISS as collaborators in different connections, and some of the people with whom we have earlier collaborated are at CISS today. Therefore, it was a natural thing for us to try this form of collaboration, and for the time being, it seems to be very beneficial. Right now, we are in the phase in which it is important to keep going and insist on making it work, and in this connection it is a great help to have the regular exchanges of experience," Svend Holme Sørensen says.