A team led by Professor Jochen Zimmermann developed the WiWiNow app. It is a significant building block for the expansion of digital teaching at the university. “The corona pandemic has also presented new challenges for university teaching. With this project, the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics is resolutely realizing digitalization in teaching,” states the business scholar.
App Users Achieve Higher Grade in Exam
The app was initially implemented in the accounting class “Rechnungswesen und Abschluss” during the winter semester 2020/21. An accompanying study by the involved researchers Florian Johannsen, Martin Knipp, Thomas Loy, Johannes Voshaar, and Jochen Zimmermann shows: The app usage had a significant positive effect on exam results. This means that students who seriously used the app achieved a significantly higher grade in the exam in comparison to those who did not use the app in a consistent manner.
Out of 731 final class exam participants, 668 registered in the WiWiNow app. In a survey of 120 students, 77% confirmed that the app increased their motivation to revise and 78% would recommend the app to a friend.
Lasting Motivation Thanks to Gamification
The app poses exercise and quiz tasks as well as tools for self-organization, for example, individual revision tracking, a class overview, and a calendar export tool for important appointments with a subsequent reminder function based on push notifications. Game-like elements, such as a quiz that needs to be completed and a ranking, contribute to students’ lasting motivation. Furthermore, lectures are made available digitally, as are learning videos, within the app.
The application is also to be used in lecture halls as soon as face-to-face classes are possible again. Interactive surveys during the classes are to make direct, low-threshold student participation possible.
WiWiNow Project
The WiWiNow digitalization project is an interdisciplinary project between the economists and business data processing specialists at the University of Bremen and Schmalkalden University of Applied Science. The project has the aim of transferring innovative, technological solutions to teaching and learning in a university context. The app is free for iOS and Android systems.
Further Information:
WiWiNow project: https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/controlling/wiwinow
up2date. article: https://up2date.uni-bremen.de/en/teaching-studies/wow-wiwinow
Johannsen, Florian; Knipp, Martin; Loy, Thomas; Voshaar, Johannes; Zimmermann, Jochen (2021) in print: A Mobile App to Support Students in the „Transition-In“ Phase, in: Twenty-Ninth European Conference of Information Systems (ECIS 2021).
Contact:
Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Jochen Zimmermann
Professor of Business Administration, Accounting, and Control
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-66680
Email: jzimmermannprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
