The Future of Education

Twenty-first-century educators typically strive to equip their students with relevant skills and competencies beyond the confines of their disciplines, so that their graduates feel confident to tackle the multitudinous challenges in an increasingly complex digital society. Since digital technologies have revolutionised the ways Europeans communicate, learn, work, and participate in society, it has become crucial that educational approaches respond to these changes and prepare students to be digitally competent. To integrate such pertinent approaches within study programmes, the Department of Business & Management at MCI Management Center Innsbruck has launched an innovative tool for its full-time master’s students of International Business & Management, called “Career Portfolio.” It is an online portfolio that spans the entire duration of the degree programme and allows students to document their individual achievements during their academic career at MCI. Beyond that, it can function as a digital business card for the students’ future professional career. The Career Portfolio offers an attractive platform to showcase students’ work and visualise their learning experience in a creative way. At the same time, it gives students the opportunity for self-directed learning, while enhancing their digital literacy. Students effectively hone their skills in all the five key areas as identified in the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety, and problem solving. Regular online feedback checkpoints help and guide students to increase their learning, for example with regard to protecting their personal data and privacy in digital environments. As these checkpoints also require peer feedback, students actively use digital technologies to collaborate and constructively criticise each other’s content creation and design online. In addition to the benefits for students, this paper will also address the added value of the Career Portfolio from an institutional perspective.

Keywords: Higher education; digital literacy; self-directed learning; competence development.