Matthias Mehrtes, our lecturer for the module Information Management & Digital Transformation, introduces himself in a short interview. He talks about his first course at the Hochschule Niederrhein and his expectations as well as his motivation for the MBA course. He also gives his students a valuable tip along the way.
What motivated you to teach at the Hochschule Niederrhein?
Practice is important, theory is the basis. For many years, the topic of digital transformation has driven me and I am passionate about implementing it. After more than 20 years as a CIO in practical application and more than 10 years as an honorary professor at HSNR, I would like to continue to share experiences with students with heart and soul. My motivation for teaching is the profile description in the MBA Degree programme, which reflects a high degree of congruence with my previous professional activity profile. It offers an ideal combination of teaching education and applied practice. In view of the increasing digitalization in all areas of life, the subject is becoming more and more important and thus offers students with this qualification first-class professional opportunities and very good development prospects.
How did you feel about your first courses at the Hochschule Niederrhein?
When I became a contract lecturer at the university in 2006, I had more than 250 participants in face-to-face classes in the basic studies of business informatics. In 2020 and 2021, the lectures were all digital. That's a big difference. At this point, I would like to praise the management of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics for the fact that everything worked so well in terms of the boundary conditions. In the digital semester, I used activating tools right away. For the benefit of the students, I also used the opportunity to further shape my own teaching identity. The students gave me the following feedback: "The calm and level-headed way of conveying the material gives the student the feeling of being in good hands in the module. For me personally, the deciding factor was that the university teacher / lecturer made me feel passionate about a subject area."
What do you expect from your first course in the MBA?
Digital transformation is bringing significant changes to everyday life, business and society. My expectation is active students who enjoy acquiring competencies in this topic. I think an adequate teaching education concept from the first course on is very important.
What can students expect from your lecture?
Through my many years of practical work as CIO of a global market leader, I have been able to gain a great deal of experience and practical examples of information management and digital transformation. On a career-integrated basis, I myself have also attended training courses at business schools in Lausanne, Oxford and Singapore. I bring varied media and interesting accompanying materials from science and practice into teaching education. Quick feedback and internationality are also important to me.
A lot of activity in the courses and open interaction with students characterized by respect and trust are particularly important to me. Promoting togetherness, exchanging ideas and learning from each other is important to me. Especially due to the pandemic, many teaching concepts have been digitalized. I see myself in my role as moderator, advisor, lecturer, organizer, questioner and I am always available for questions during and after the event. I find the didactic concept of Constructive Alignment as a result-oriented teaching design very good. The core content here is the alignment of the planning dimensions of teaching, learning and examiner.
What advice would you give to first-year students of a career-integrated MBA?
My tip: Be open, show commitment, be prepared to work in an agile way and have the courage to be creative and think freely.
