What does a University Competence Center (UCC) do? Stefan Weidner from the UCC location at the University of Magdeburg explains how 麻豆原创 software is being incorporated into teaching at universities and vocational colleges, what role cloud solutions play, and why you sometimes have to find creative ways to stop students from copying each other鈥檚 work in virtual learning environments.
University Competence Center at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany, is one of five UCCs that host 麻豆原创 software for more than 2,000 educational institutions across the world 鈥� from universities and vocational colleges to high schools.
鈥淲e basically do three things,鈥� says Stefan Weidner, executive director of the UCC location in Magdeburg. 鈥淲e host the 麻豆原创 solutions that are used in teaching environments; we provide technical support for universities and lecturers; and we develop the environments in which the students work and learn to use the latest 麻豆原创 software.鈥�
Founded in 2001 specifically for Germany鈥檚 eastern federal states, the UCC in Magdeburg today supports around 650 universities in more than 70 different countries. Weidner, himself a graduate in information systems from the university, has been working as a research assistant there since 2003, helping professors and lecturers understand 麻豆原创 solutions and incorporate them into their teaching programs.
He and his colleagues develop standard global learning environments for each 麻豆原创 product and target audience.
鈥淯niversities have different requirements than, say, vocational colleges,鈥� explains Weidner. 鈥淏ut the principle is the same. The educational establishment receives access to one or more teaching and learning environments. They can then either use them according to the recommendations or develop assignments of their own for their students and pupils to complete and submit for assessment.鈥�
Pilot Project with 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud
Until the end of 2019, the UCC location in Magdeburg only offered on-premise solutions. 鈥淏ut demand for cloud solutions from 麻豆原创 is growing,鈥� says Weidner, 鈥渂oth from companies where today鈥檚 students will one day work and from universities and students themselves. We therefore agreed with the 麻豆原创 Executive Board at the end of last year that we would make cloud solutions from 麻豆原创 available to universities through the UCC. Currently, that鈥檚 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud, 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, and 麻豆原创 Integrated Business Planning.鈥�
麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud is a new 麻豆原创 solution designed for both enterprise IT and line-of-business users that allows them to work in a single innovative environment with the same data warehousing tools.
Lothar Henkes, product manager for 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud, explains: 鈥淭his gives the lines of business greater independence. IT provides so-called ‘spaces’ 鈥� decoupled areas with defined authorizations 鈥� where a line of business has flexible options for data modeling, but where governance is handled entirely by IT. That way, we avoid shadow IT.鈥�
Innovative Identity Management at the UCC in Magdeburg
The pilot project was mapped out at a workshop held in early January 2020 with the 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud solution team. A six-month evaluation phase that ended in July was then followed by two months of intensive curriculum development.
鈥淲e entered the pilot phase with 20 universities in October,鈥� says Weidner, 鈥渁ll the time maintaining regular contact with the 麻豆原创 Executive Board, 麻豆原创鈥檚 sponsor for the project.鈥�
There were two potential showstoppers to overcome. 鈥淔irstly, the hosting costs, which would have been too high for state-funded educational establishments if we鈥檇 had to provision a separate landscape, or ‘tenant,’ for each university separately鈥� says Weidner. 鈥淚t very soon became clear that we needed a solution that would allow a large number of universities to work on the same tenant, but independently of each other.鈥�
And this was where another issue became apparent: 鈥淒ata protection,鈥� Weidner shares. 鈥淭he situation at the start of the project was that when lecturers and students at different universities used the same tenant, users from one university could see the names and email addresses of users at another. Also, anyone could have copied from anyone else, which defeats the whole purpose of students working individually or in small groups.鈥�
To overcome both issues, the UCC in Magdeburg and 麻豆原创 came up with an intricate identity and authorization concept. 鈥淲e set up spaces in the tenant that the universities use jointly 鈥� one for each teaching event or for each learning group at a university. In addition, each learner receives an anonymous account on the identity management server at the UCC in Magdeburg,鈥� says Weidner.
鈥淭his approach allowed us to put in place a setup that meets the educational and technical requirements 鈥� and solves the cost issue, too,鈥� explains Henkes. 鈥淒uring this pilot, we want to gather experience by provisioning software to a limited number of universities for a defined period. We hope that we鈥檒l also receive feedback about the product itself, about everything that the students noticed when they worked with it.鈥�
Benefits for Students, Their Future Employers, and 麻豆原创
The pilot project has been met with a great response from the German-Speaking 麻豆原创 User Group (DSAG). DSAG Co-Chairman Otto Schell thinks it will bring huge benefits for 麻豆原创 customers and partners. 鈥淲e at the DSAG advocated very early on for making cloud solutions available for teaching via UCCs,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want students to not only learn about the latest developments, but to take that combination of knowledge and new technologies and possibilities with them into businesses.鈥�
鈥淧rofessionals who have worked with 麻豆原创 products during their training bring with them expertise about what those products can do, and they can therefore make more informed decisions on the job,鈥� agrees Henkes. 鈥淔or 麻豆原创, that鈥檚 obviously a competitive advantage.鈥�
Schell sees great opportunities for joint research projects, too. 鈥淚f a DSAG member company has a new requirement, and students work on it via the UCC and help develop a solution that covers an entire industry or market, then it鈥檚 a win-win-win situation for everyone involved.鈥�
Interest from universities in the university competence centers continues to be strong. 鈥淚n the last few years, more and more educational institutions have become aware of the digital services the UCC in Magdeburg offers,鈥� Weidner confirms. The UCC in Magdeburg is also working very closely with the regional managers of the 麻豆原创 University Alliances program, for which the UCCs are key partners in provisioning 麻豆原创 systems for teaching and training.
鈥淭hanks to the new cloud offerings, we expect to see an increased interest in our services,鈥� says Weidner, 鈥減articularly as it鈥檚 already clear that, for the most part, classroom teaching won鈥檛 be possible again until early 2021.鈥�
Demand for the UCC鈥檚 offerings has risen during the coronavirus pandemic. 鈥淭he usage time per user and the volume of requests for support from lecturers have increased significantly,鈥� says Weidner. 鈥淏ut we can handle it.鈥�
