The Transformation Challenge of IT Education and Training in
Higher Education and Industry
Anne-Maarit Majanoja, Ville Taajamaa, Ville Leppänen and Erkki Sutinen
Department of Information Technology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
Keywords: Learning, Expectations, Transformation, Teaching Methods, Communication and Interaction, Skills and
Capabilities.
Abstract: Globally, several self-organized training arrangements are implemented in industry with varying outcomes.
The target of these training initiatives is to achieve transformation. The practices and teaching methods during
higher or academic education (HE) can impact on the industry training situations. However, few studies have
dealt with the possible impact of academic technical and IT education and training practices on industry based
training arrangements. We analysed two independent sets of interviews, one on industry-based global
selective outsourcing environment (GSOE) training arrangements and another on IT education at a Finnish
university. We found that the GSOE training arrangements heavily relied on the lecturing-based methods
instead of hands-on practicing. Similarly, the IT education at the university also relied on theory-based
lecturing. There is also a need to transform passive interaction to active where students and actors are
responsible for their own learning and building their own skills and capabilities to succeed in working life.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nowadays it is difficult to ignore the impact of
Information Technology (IT) on our daily life. We
have entered the era of digitalization where industry
is increasingly information-intensive. The rapid
development of new technologies and the online
world change the way we work and also where we
work from. Yet, IT system and information-centric
operations can cause risk situations, such as
jeopardized patient safety in hospitals. The new
information-sensitive world sets new demands to
individuals, organizations, and societies. Therefore,
IT education and training have to develop and meet
the needs of the society.
Transformation means changing (something)
completely and usually in a good way (Merriam-
Webster dictionary, 2016). Change and education
have been widely studied by several researchers (e.g.,
Graham 2012, Crawley et al., 2014, and Englund et
al. 2016). The topics include practical
implementation elements, and therefore, a bottomless
pit to several consultancy-books and enterprises.
Now, education is becoming a global service
(Pucciarelli and Kaplan, 2016).
Education (i.e. aims to a certain degree) and other
types of training situations (e.g., short courses and
personnel development activities without degree
targets) need to incorporate the expected changes into
the schemes of thinking and acting. The challenge is
that typically we build our transformation based on
specifications describing existing systems or way-of-
working approaches, thus the old approaches are
implemented into new IT solutions. Therefore,
nothing truly changes and the expected
transformation and holistic understanding are not
achieved.
Despite of the extensive knowledge of change and
education (e.g., Froyd, 2012), IT education still
includes traditional post-positivistic natural science
based approaches that do not always promote the true
level of on-going transformation in society and
working environments. IT operations and education
include also human-centered elements. It already has
been found that, for example, organizational learning
can be enhanced by systems thinking (e.g., Senge,
1996). Still, emotional motivation is needed to ensure
successful and sustainable transformation.
Despite of the new activating teaching methods,
previous studies have found that lecturing is still one
of the primary teaching methods for example in
universities (Petrović and Pale, 2015). It is notable
240
Majanoja, A-M., Taajamaa, V., Leppänen, V. and Sutinen, E.
The Transformation Challenge of IT Education and Training in Higher Education and Industry.
DOI: 10.5220/0006257302400247
In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2017) - Volume 2, pages 240-247
ISBN: 978-989-758-240-0
Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reser ved
that lecturing includes also positive aspects that
increase social and formal learning settings. Also,
various activating and phenomenon-based teaching
approaches are used in Finnish primary and
secondary schools. However, current working
population has not yet been fully familiarized to apply
these new activating approaches in industry.
Unlike the mainstream of outsourcing training
and personnel development activities (e.g., Gainey
and Klaas, 2003, Galanaki et al., 2008 and Chaudhury
and Bartlett, 2014), this paper focuses on analysing
self-organized training arrangements in a global
selective outsourcing situation. The operational level
problem studied in this paper originates from
insufficient self-organized IT service training
outcomes in industry case. The target is to analyse can
similar kind of challenges be identified already from
university studies.
In this paper, we study what kind training,
competences and skills the IT unit (one of the Nokia
Devices’ IT units) expected from its supplier in the
global selective outsourcing environment (GSOE).
We also analyse what kind of training method is
applied during the self-organized training sessions:
practical-focused or dominated by lecturing types of
methods. We identify potential similarities in
challenges and teaching methods used in IT and
engineering education in university studies (e.g.,
computer science and software engineering). This is
examined by analysing two sets of independent
theme-based interviews from the service purchasing
company and a Finnish university.
The rest of the paper has been divided into four
parts. Section 2 deals with existing research and the
theoretical dimensions of systems thinking and
education. Section 3 describes the research design.
Section 4 presents the findings. Section 5 includes the
conclusions and introduces a few tasks for further
research.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
In the IT field we are used to the idea of continuous
improvements and providing new solutions and
services to users and business representatives.
Reacting to various changes is considered to be part
of IT development and service activities. As a
consequence, it seems like there are no sustainability
in the middle of endless changes or time to evaluate
whether the implemented changes truly have the
expected effects. Based on Boron et al., (2016) and
Graham (2012), this situation applies to education as
well. Senge (1996) wrote that most people have
grown up in an authoritarian environment, and they
expect that people above them give answers, know
what is going on, and what is expected in the future.
However, when systems and challenges became
increasingly complex and wicked, no-one has the
correct answers and uncertainty is part of life (Senge,
1996, Weber and Khademian, 2008). Instead of
paralyzing, it should lead to enthusiasm to experiment
(Emerson and English, 2016). Senge (1996) wrote
that the current mind-set needs to be changed. Making
failures should not be scary, because mistakes are part
of experimental life. People need to be active,
experimental and be responsible for their own
activities.
Earlier studies found that a majority of the change
projects fail (e.g., Beer et al., 1990, Kotter, 1995,
Kotter, 2008, Senturia et al., 2008, Keller and Aiken,
2009). Based on Graham (2012) there is a proven
tendency of returning to the way things were before.
Smith (2002) reported that only 33% of major
organizational change activities succeed. However,
cultural change (19%) was more challenging than a
strategy deployment (58%) (Smith, 2002). Both in-
house and external training activities are needed in
successful change implementation and
transformation. Chen and Huang (2009) and Shipton
et al., (2005) wrote that participating in training and
education programs stimulates employees to become
learning oriented, and the employees produce greater
innovative outcomes (Birdi et al., 2007).
Systems thinking is a method to define problems,
raise questions, and make proficient decisions
(Arnold and Wade, 2015). Systems thinking is the
approach to understand how different things
influence on one another within a complete entity or
ecosystem. Systems thinking has also been applied in
education during the past decade. Based on five
studies of Ayers (2002), Córdoba and Midgley
(2006), Houston et al., (2008), Samanakoopt et al.,
(2015), and Rakbamrung et al., (2015), the five main
findings were: 1) The desired outcome needs to be
inclusive, promote participatory and reach consensus
among the members. 2) The boundaries need to be
expanded to include a wider range of knowledge and
take stakeholders’ needs into account. 3) Success
requires inter-disciplinary skills and competences. 4)
Various interdependencies, impact factors,
distinctions, boundaries, and concerns need to be
identified and acknowledged. 5) Efficient feedback
loops are needed to systematically solve and prevent
problems by identifying the root-cause elements. As
an outcome, these elements should also be part of
education and training targets.
The Transformation Challenge of IT Education and Training in Higher Education and Industry
241
3 RESEARCH DESIGN
The target of this case study is to get insights into the
training structures, practices, and non-conformances
in the GSOE based self-organized training situation.
The phenomenon is studied by analysing and
comparing the findings with the teachers’ perception
of technical fields’ training in a Finnish university at
the department of Information Technology. This
research is based on two sets of interviews done
independently in 2012.
From the university’s side, six audio recorded and
transcribed semi-structured interviews were selected
for closer analysis. These six teachers were selected
as they taught Master of Science Engineering (M.Sc.
Eng.) students, and therefore, they were able to
analyse the curricula and courses. The interview
transcriptions were coded based on the following
themes: 1) IT/engineering education demands,
characters, and skills, 2) teaching methods, courses
and capabilities, and 3) potentials and challenges.
At Nokia Devices, the internal IT unit and the
supplier jointly operated in the GSOE based on
jointly designed 30 ITIL (Information Technology
Infrastructure Library) processes and way-of-
working practices to ensure successful cooperation
and service deliveries. The IT unit’s roles included,
e.g., team leaders, contract managers, product and
service managers, and other internal IT specialists
responsible for databases, networks, solutions, etc.
The IT supplier’s onsite and offshore specialists were
responsible for service development and maintenance
activities, such as, project management, coding,
testing, documenting, end-user support, etc. The
supplier was also responsible for operational level
training activities.
The industry case included interviews and several
discussions with the service purchasing company’s
and the supplier’s representatives. At Nokia Devices,
some interviewees did not want their interviews
recorded (especially the representatives in Asia), and
it was decided together with the IT unit’s leaders that
the interviews would not be recorded. After this
decision, all IT unit members globally agreed to
participate in the interviews, and they freely shared
their perceptions. The interview notes were written
down by the interviewer (one of the authors of this
paper) during the interviews by capturing the main
message and idea. The interviews in Europe were
conducted face-to-face, and phone interviews were
used with the representatives working in Asia and
Americas. It is notable that Nokia Devices (later
acquired by Microsoft) and the IT supplier restrictive
in making public their successes and failures. For
confidentiality reasons, it is not possible to present all
results in full detail.
In this paper, we used existing interview
materials. First, we analysed and theme-based coded
GSOE interview notes (competence development,
level of competences, and expectations). Second, the
six teachers’ interviews were analysed and coded.
Third, the findings were analysed and compared. In
Section 4, Tables 1-4 have the following structure:
first field provides the category Id, category name,
and identified terms. The examples field provides
citations.
It is notable that both interviews targeted at
identifying improvements and development focus
areas. Therefore, the interviewees focused on
highlighting challenges instead of success, which can
reflect to the findings of this study.
4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 The GSOE Training Outcomes
The supplier was responsible for the operational level
GSOE training activities, which were held at the
supplier’s premises. Based on the observations and
discussions with the IT unit’s and the supplier’s
representatives, the in-house based self-organized
training followed the trainer-centered teaching
approach in a meeting-room type of premises.
The trainers introduced the jointly defined GSOE
mode-of-operation practices, provided a quick
introduction to the business environment, and trained
the common ITIL processes and tooling. The
approach was theory-orientated by sharing ‘what’ and
‘how’ elements (e.g., daily activities, tooling, and
ITIL process). Less focus was given on practical
adaptation, activating people, sharing operational
level knowledge and experiences, and how to interact
with customers and stakeholders.
The IT specialists joined the IT services after the
training session. It was found that the IT specialists
did not have the needed practical knowledge to
operate based on the GSOE practices or solve various
non-conformance situations. Instead, the supplier
expected the IT unit to provide detailed lists of tasks,
activities, and instructions how to solve the cases, and
then the IT specialists in offshore centers would
follow the lists step-by-step. Providing these kinds of
lists was not possible. The basic idea of the global IT
services was to continuously improve the operation
and to react various, unforeseeable change needs and
non-conformances coming from customers and other
stakeholders. Following pre-defined lists would
not be sufficient. Instead, success would require
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proactive approach and taking responsibility.
The IT unit’s representatives were dissatisfied
with the training outcomes. Eventually, the IT unit’s
representatives had to re-train the new IT specialists
one-by-one. This time, the training was practical
hands-on training and the IT unit’s representatives
explained the ‘why’ elements of the operation,
process, customer interaction, and business
environment.
Analysis of the GSOE Training Outcomes. Based
on the interviews, the IT unit’s members highlighted
the insufficient level of the supplier’s training and
knowledge transfer activities (Table 1). The
transition time is not long enough and They are
trained, but still lacking of knowledge.” It was found
that training did not provide the needed operational
level knowledge and skills to succeed in
implementing the IT services’ activities.
The IT unit’s members were interested in
knowing how the supplier developed their IT
specialists’ competences. We don’t know how
suppliers develop their competencies and we would
like to know how we could support them. The IT unit
wanted to support and increase motivation, because it
would improve service outcomes.
The supplier’s IT specialists worked hard and
possessed good technical competences: Very
technical people, working very hard when we tell
exactly what to do“; Still, the level of practical
competences depended heavily on the specialists’
prior working life experience. The specialists who
came directly from schools (such as, universities) had
gaps in their technical skills and practical know-how.
The IT specialists also needed a lot of guidance and
direct instructions from the IT unit’s members to
succeed in operational level activities.
There were challenges in communication and
interaction (Table 1). Typically, there were
communication gaps between the onsite and offshore
teams, and the IT specialists used too technical terms
and language with non-technical end-users and
stakeholders. It seemed that the IT unit’s members
maintained the IT services’ communication and
interaction, not the supplier.
The IT unit’s members expected proactive and
interactive approach from the supplier to provide
added value by sharing ideas, improvement
proposals, feedback, and innovation (Table 1). The
supplier was expected to focus more on outcome and
ensuring requirements deliveries. The supplier’s
specialists were expected to be more open-minded
and thinking out-of-the-box instead of waiting for the
IT unit to tell them what needs to be done. The
supplier should also take the ownership of their
activities and provide consultancy services, and share
ideas how to develop the IT services further.
Table 1: The IT unit’s expectations of the non-technical
competences after the supplier’s training.
C1.1 Communication and interaction: Consulting
services, Communication, Technical terms, End-users,
Stakeholders, Business-like, Follow-up
Examples
- They do not to provide real consulting services
- End-users are confused when communication is not
clear enough or includes too many technical terms
- Communication is business-like
- Challenges in follow-up or replying proactively
C1.2 Proactivity: Proactive, Value, Comments,
Feedback,
Examples
- They could be more proactive and provide added
value
- They are really passive
- Be proactive, and say if something could be
improved, give comments. This could be a cultural
issue
C1.3 Outcomes: Expectations, Delivery, Innovative,
Open-minded, Responsibility
Examples
- They should think what is expected from them based
on the requirements and then deliver it
- More innovativeness, open-mindedness ideas,
seeing the whole service packet, taking the
responsibility
- Seeing the big picture, bring their ideas to the
playground
4.2 The University’s Findings and
Challenges
4.2.1 Skills to be Learned During Studies
Based on the theme-based analysis of the IT
department’s teachers, three main justifications for
offering M.Sc. (Eng.) degree in Information
Technology were identified: 1) The need and demand
comes from industry. 2) It is the university’s demand
and decision. 3) The M.Sc. (Eng.) is valued as a
professional degree, and the degree provides good
working life possibilities.
The teachers perceived that IT education was
characterized by technology and natural sciences,
especially mathematics and physics. However, it
would be important to teach technical topics in a
broader scale. The teachers perceived the profession
profile and image of the M.Sc. (Eng.) degree to be
better than the M.Sc. degree, because the M.Sc.
(Eng.) was seen more professionally oriented.
The teachers highlighted the engineering-like
The Transformation Challenge of IT Education and Training in Higher Education and Industry
243
way-of-thinking and acting approaches (Table 2).
The teachers considered life-long learning,
critical thinking, and working-life readiness
capabilities (Table 2) as necessities to succeed in
working life. Especially communication and
interaction skills were considered as important, but
practicing those skills were in a minor role during the
courses. The main focus was still on technical and
theory-based aspects.
Table 2: The characteristics and working life necessities of
M.Sc. (Eng.) education.
C2.1 Professional culture: Engineering-like, Attitude,
Way-of-Thinking, Way-of-Acting
Examples
- Teaching the engineering-like thinking and attitude
- The way of thinking is different (because of
mathematical base)
- Engineering-like/technical way of thinking, being an
engineer, and being proud of it
- Engineers must understand what they are doing
- Rational-based thinking
- Engineers have a lack of understanding what other
way-of-thinking “worlds” means
- Engineers have a more systematical problem-solving
approach, which is the engineering-type of thinking
C2.2 Life-long learning: Learning, Development
Examples
- Life-long learning skills to learn new things
- Learning to learn
- Taking responsibility of one’s own learning
C2.3 Critical thinking: Responsibility, Self-guidance,
Criticality, Evaluative, Critical thinking
Examples
- Critical thinking, assessing and evaluating skills
- Students need to take responsibility of their own
thinking and evaluate information
- Ability to evaluate own actions, see development and
changes, and being self-guided
C2.4 Working-life readiness: Social skills,
Communication, Roles, Presenting skills, Interaction
Examples
- Social skills/Communication skills
- Working-life readiness skills and competencies
- Interaction skills: how people interact in different
roles, and how to present things (verbal/written)
- Ability to act together
4.2.2 Used Teaching Methods
The teachers used different kinds of teaching methods
during their courses. Quite many times the teaching
approaches were teacher-centered lecturing due to the
need to share extensive amounts of substance related
knowledge and information to the students. Lecturing
was considered as the most cost-effective approach
since the amount of students was not limited. Some
of the teachers recognized the challenge to combine
theory and practical work during their courses. Other
typical methods were group-assignments or practical
work, such as capstone projects, problem-based
learning, project-based courses, essays, course
diaries, self-study courses and guiding sessions. The
teachers wanted more contact-based (i.e. meeting the
students) teaching to support and mentor students,
which would also develop the students’
communication and interaction skills (Table 3).
The teachers identified that pedagogical skills and
capabilities would give them more tools to implement
courses (Table 3). Pedagogical skills combined with
practical knowledge and know-how would provide
better outcomes and motivated students (Table 3).
Table 3: The teachers’ perceptions of the teaching
approaches and competences.
C3.1 Teaching methods and focus: Lecturing,
Teaching method, Substance, Theories, Practice
Examples
- Mainly lecturing-based methods
- Using old-fashioned teaching methods
- Focus is on substance based knowledge
- Focus is on enduring knowledge and theories
- Topics have been narrowed during the years
- Challenge to combine both theories and practical
- Not enough focus on communication (verbal/written),
not practiced during courses
- More contact-based teaching to support and mentor
students, and to develop communication skills to avoid
tongue-tied graduates
C3.2 Pedagogical skills: Pedagogical, Competences
Examples
- Teachers’ pedagogical competences should be valued
- Having knowledge what you can do during courses
- How to teach and manage the courses
- Students need to participate, teacher needs to be up-
to-date, and have good lecturing skills
4.2.3 Enablers and Challenges
The teachers proposed that the IT department could
have a bigger role in training the entire university, for
example in technical topics and competences. Having
this kind of role increases the university’s image. In
addition, a multidisciplinary university would have
better possibilities to provide professionals with
different kinds of profiles and skills, and thereby
efficiently answer to the demands of society and
industry.
Challenges were identified that impacted on
working and teaching. One major challenge came
from resources, mainly financial and human
resources. Cost cuttings had negatively impacted on
the courses and resources. As an example,
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demonstration-sessions were reduced, which
decreased students’ motivation to acquire sufficient
technical and working-life skills. The teachers also
identified challenges that originated from the students
(Table 4). They perceived that some students had
gaps in preliminary skills to succeed, such as the lack
of mathematical skills. In addition, some students did
not want to work towards a degree, for instance to
read course materials and books. Instead, the students
expected ready-made solutions from the teachers and
were passive during the courses. Some even refused
to participate in group works, which caused
frustration among the teachers.
One major challenge was the lack of active
feedback-loop and connection to industry
representatives (Table 4). Also various quality system
related aspects were not in place, and better
descriptions, guidance, and documentation were
needed (Table 4).
Table 4: The teachers’ perception of the challenges.
C4.1 Resources: Financial, Human resources
Resources
Examples
- Not able to make hands-on learning based elements
- Not able to have both demonstrations and lectures
- Not able to guide or mentor students
- Not able to show what students really know and are
able to do, lectures are boring as the focus is on
theoretical aspects
4.2 Students: Way-of-studying, Broad overview,
Readiness, Resistance, Preliminary skills
Examples
- Students are not ready to read anymore, they want fast
and prepared solutions
- Students know how to use tools, but not the broader
overview and connections of things
- Working-life readiness capabilities are insufficient
- Some students refuse to participate in group-works
- Inadequate level of mathematical skills (some
students)
C4.3 Quality and process: Metrics, Quality system,
Process, Documentation
Examples
- Unclear/lack of metrics and measuring practices
- Quality handbook/Quality system not in place
- Description of what and how (e.g., content, process,
and methods)
- Clear documentation of the courses and materials, and
overview of the education/degree (quality)
C4.4 Industry connections: Feedback, Updating-
education, Needs, Demands
Examples
- We do not have active feedback loops from industry
- We could have a bigger role in industry, but we do not
know what they want (weak feedback-loops)
- No-one knows future competence needs in industry
4.3 Analysis
Technical and substance knowledge. It was identified
that the IT specialists were technically skilled with
good substance level knowledge (i.e. hard skills) to
succeed. These findings correspond with the findings
from the university’s teachers. The main focus during
studies was on substance level knowledge (Table 3).
In technical fields the current and future problem is
the enormous amount of substance knowledge that
needs to be shared during studies. The amount of
topics will not decrease in future. Instead, new topics
and fields should be included. Therefore, teachers and
universities face a dilemma how to share a great
number of topics within a limited amount of time and
courses.
Communication and interaction skills. One major
challenge originated from soft skills: communication,
proactivity, responsibility, and consultancy-type of
approach and mind-set (Table 1). The IT unit
expected successful deliveries, open-minded ideas,
and proactively taking responsibility. Instead, the IT
unit felt that the supplier failed on its operational level
responsibility, which decreased the service
purchasing company’s satisfaction.
The university’s teachers identified similar kind
of working-life skill needs as the IT unit (Table 2).
Various critical thinking and working-life readiness
skills need to be learned during studies, such as social
skills, communication (verbal/written), interaction,
and taking responsibility and being self-guided. Some
of the identified challenges (Table 4) originated from
the students, such as being passive, waiting for ready-
made solutions or not being responsible for their
studies.
Training methods and approaches. The GSOE
training outcomes were inadequate to be able to
succeed in operational level activities. The GSOE
training mainly focused on familiarizing the new
practices and working culture. The main teaching
approach was teacher-focused approach instead of
using practical and hands-on methods. As an
example, there was a lack of connection between the
training topics (such as processes) and real-life daily
activities and situations with end-customers and
stakeholders. Therefore, the training did not build
proactive way-of-working approach although it was
needed to succeed (Table 1).
The university teachers also identified challenges
to combine theory and hands-on practicing during
courses (Table 3). The main focus was on ensuring
substance related competences instead of practical
adaptation and enhancing communication skills. Due
to cost savings, various group-works and
The Transformation Challenge of IT Education and Training in Higher Education and Industry
245
demonstrations were decreased were students could
practice the needed competences and interaction
skills (Table 4).
Pedagogical skills and experience. We identified
gaps in pedagogical skills and teaching experience in
the GSOE training situation. More focus was needed
on training methods, arrangements, targets, content,
and pedagogical competences. It is possible that the
GSOE trainers used teacher-centred lecturing
method, because they were accustomed to it during
their own studies. It is notable activating teaching
methods and approaches have increased in
universities significantly during the past few years.
However, the GSOE trainers had not adopted
activating teaching methods.
Similarly, the university teachers also brought
forth the need for pedagogical skills to support their
teaching arrangements (Table 3). The pedagogical
skills would provide competences to use a wider scale
of methods instead of relying only on lecturing types
of solutions. It is notable that in university,
pedagogical qualification is not required in addition
to substance level knowledge.
Measuring effectiveness. In the IT unit’s case,
measuring the training effectiveness and conducting
follow-up practices were missing. Clearly, in this
kind of situation the service purchasing company
should be an integral part of the training
implementation, because they have the business,
practical, and tacit knowledge of the operation.
Similar challenges were identified in the
university’s case, because the university did not have
a clear idea of how useful and effective the courses
were at working life (Table 4). Also an active
feedback-loop to industry was lacking.
Overall summary. More focus was needed on
building communication and interaction
competences. The passive communication and
interaction challenge was visible in both of the cases.
However, the challenge is not only on developing
communication and interaction skills, because the
passive approach needs to be transformed into active
approach, and students and actors need to be
responsible for their own learning and willingness to
take responsibility to learn. Teachers are not anymore
leading the learning situation, instead they operate as
coaches and facilitators and students and actors are
responsible for their own learning and skills. In recent
years, universities have implemented activating
teaching methods, which have not yet been
transferred to business environments. The situation is
changing in a near future when students move to
working life and apply these activating practices also
in industry.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this paper was to identify and analyse
factors in self-organized training arrangements in a
global selective outsourcing situation and the
correspondence of those on a university’s findings.
This was examined by analysing two sets of
independent interviews. In this case research we
found similarities with the industry and the university
findings.
Providing good technical and substance level
knowledge is one of the main requirements for IT
education. Also, communication and interaction
skills are considered as fundamental. Both industry
and education require proactivity. Therefore, passive
approach needs to be transformed into active, and
people need to be responsible for their own learning
and actions. It was found that lecturing was the
primary teaching method and lecturing method
includes also several good aspects. Practical hands-on
knowledge and pedagogical skills were identified as
critical to ensure successful knowledge transfer.
Activating methods would provide better operational
level skills and mind-set in the industry case.
We acknowledge the limitations of this study as
the results come from only one university and one
industrial training case. At the same time, however,
the results are well aligned with the existing research
and discourse, especially in the university case. Also
the case industry company and its IT supplier were
global companies and familiar with outsourcing
arrangements and training activities. Therefore, this
case study can provide valuable findings from in-
house based training situations.
Future research should be reflected to a larger set
of educational innovations, in terms of structure and
methods. One of the arising hypotheses for future
research is to study and design educational
interventions and methods to be used in-house and
self-organized training arrangements in industry. We
argue that university education could play a bigger
role in this than it does now. There is also a need to
develop training practices to become more
transformative. This would enable more active
feedback-loops between university level education
and the industry. Higher education could have a
significant role in transformations. One future
research area could be to study how universities can
provide education and training solutions to industry
needs, and how universities could arrange more
advanced studies and carry out project type studies in
cooperation with companies.
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