Pedagogical innovation is the order of the day at EM Strasbourg: the cross-disciplinary educational project linked to the Entomovoria case study was awarded FNEGE certification in May 2023. This is great recognition for the team of faculty for the first year of Programme Grande École, who worked passionately on this large-scale project to break the codes of traditional teaching.
Entomovoria case study: “Good to think about, good to eat”
This case study for first-year Programme Grande École students enables them to manage a fictitious company, blending the disciplines of marketing, strategy, and accounting. They have to respond to a very real problem: feeding humanity. Students imagine the food of tomorrow by zooming in on the edible-insect market.
In creating this trilingual case study, the aim was to break down the silo effect through an innovative, cross-disciplinary teaching approach that touches on CSR dimensions, soft skills, and the digitalized environment, and that has two main objectives:
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Develop students' interpersonal skills: teamwork, communication, boldness, creativity, and efficiency. Today, these skills are essential for productive group work.
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Understand an interdisciplinary approach, an essential element of management science, which ensures the smooth running and sustainability of any organization. To do this, students draw on worksheets from their strategy, financial accounting, and introductory marketing courses to demonstrate their interdependence and answer the questions raised by the case study by making a video.
Nearly two years after its creation, the success of this cross-disciplinary teaching approach is tangible, and the students have grown from the experience. They unanimously emphasize their interest in working on a concrete case study that creates a link between management subjects, while enabling them to put their knowledge into practice in an innovative and fast-growing field of activity. “At a grande école, some subjects may initially seem abstract to students. This case study creates a link between the different disciplines. Students realize that theoretical tools can be very useful,” stresses Amélie Boutinot, associate professor in charge of the project.
FNEGE certification, a major seal of approval
FNEGE created in 2019 the FNEGE certification and prize for best teaching methods in the digital age. The jury awards the certification by assessing the added educational value according to the following criteria:
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Innovative character, compared with existing practices
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Rigorous, high-quality content that reflects the most advanced knowledge in the field
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Appropriate use of technologies and media to achieve learning objectives
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Ability to be deployed on a large scale and transferred to other contexts and audiences
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Involvement of one or more permanent faculty members in management sciences
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Proven or potential impact
This recognition by the FNEGE highlights the pedagogical efforts of the PGE's team of faculty for the first year of the program to invent new ways of teaching. It also attests to the fruitful collaboration between professors from different management disciplines.
“It's a wonderful award that recognizes the commitment and interdisciplinary collaboration of the School's faculty. Enriching the educational offer through innovative teaching formats is an essential part of educating effective managers,” says Marie Pfiffelmann, Associate Dean for Faculty Management & Research.
A new case study is currently being created to replace Entomovoria. The new topic will be unveiled at the start of the 2023/2024 school year.