In December 2021, around 30 students of Business Intelligence and Data Science and Economics signed a petition. It contained the wish for a dramatic change for the “Economics of Leadership” course. I signed, too. We wanted change and change happened: two months later the university announced a newly revised course “Data-Driven Leadership” which was to replace the old course. My fellow students Nikhil and Stefanos were two of the petition leaders, so I reached out to them for an interview.
This article is about them telling you the story of what happened. If you plan to study in Dalarna University, I want this story to empower you. That you will find a University here that cares to listen to you. And when you are here that you find the courage to give feedback if you think there is a way how Dalarna University can improve. In my opinion this is one best things here, that you are able to talk so freely to the teachers.
On the other hand this article is about realistic expectations: How much you work do you need to put in and what you can expect how the university will react. As you will see Nikhil was very happy with the results and Stefanos was not. Without further ado, let me introduce the main characters of this story.
Nikhil Sennik
“In terms of the schools’ response, I was very impressed. Not only at the speed but how receptive they were to listen to us.”
My name is Nikhil Sennik, I’m a Master’s student in the Business Intelligence programme. My Background is largely in the IT Domain. I worked 8 years as a Business Analyst and customer success manager, so I have a lot of IT and Business experience. What am I doing at Dalarna University? Looking to enhance my technical skills to be more efficient in the modern workplace.
Stefanos Sakellariou
“In this specific request that we made about the study sessions, at least personally, I was not satisfied with what we got back.”
My name is Stefanos Sakellariou, I hold a Bachelor’s degree in economics, but I have worked 10 years as a professional musician. I recently decided to change careers and decided the best way to do it is through a Master’s degree and I’m now studying Microdata Analysis and Business Intelligence in Sweden.
What was the reason you decided to do something?
Nikhil: The general feedback for the Economics of Leadership course was that, while being useful in many aspects, it was not intuitive for people who were not from a technical background who are doing the Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Science (DS) programme. We felt that the language wasn’t very intuitive for us and the way it was presented could be made in a much more efficient manner.
Stefanos: The point where I decided that it was the time for us to act? I strongly remember the incident of a student storming out of the class because he was frustrated. In the same period, I spoke to one other student who told me he stopped joining the lectures because he felt that could not understand anything. I felt that something had to be done.
What action did you take then?
Nikhil: After we identified the problem among us, the students, in December 2021 during our discussions, we decided to formally put this to the school. We gathered signatures to make sure that we had everyone’s commitment to this, to show the school that it was a genuine point of concern for the students.
Stefanos: It was not difficult to gather the signatures. We have this WhatsApp group where we communicate with each other, where most of the students of the programme are in. I have also individual contact with most of the people. It was quite fast, but some people wanted to make sure that this report would represent all the students included. So, Nikhil and I shared a draft of the report and asked for feedback from all the students in the group. We discussed some things that were included in the report, and some things that were not.
Nikhil: We then took the petition to the head of the Business Intelligence programme, Kenneth, who was very receptive, listened to our frustrations, and felt that we had valid criticism of the course. The next step was to speak to the head of the Economics department, Catia, who was again very receptive to the suggestions put forth.
Tell me more about these meetings with Kenneth and Catia
Nikhil: In these meetings, we had Stefanos and myself, who were representatives of the current student intake group. A student from the previous batch who has also done this course was also there, to see to check if it was a consistent issue. During this discussion Catia was a little bit skeptical, as she should be, to see if our complaints were valid. Therefore, we showed her visually our concerns about the content, by showing her some slides of the lecture, to show how it has been presented to us. I think at that point she realized that it was a pedagogical issue and she had to step in and make some changes.
The school took some time to make this decision, maybe about a week or so to discuss this internally. We then had a couple more Zoom discussions where they kept us informed during the process, making sure we knew that they were taking it very seriously. After some more Zoom calls with stakeholders from different departments of the school, they finally came to the decision. They would change the course for next year, give us more time to undertake the exam.
Stefanos: We were also promised that we will get these extra study sessions that we asked for. But it was a strange period around the Christmas holidays, so it was difficult to find someone to do these sessions for us and answer our questions.
In the end, we had two online meetings with a different teacher, but we only had the chance to ask about practicalities and technicalities that had to do with the exams. For example: What kind of gear should we should have if we want to take the online exam?
Also a forum was created where the original teacher of the course was accepting content-related questions. She tried to answer as well and as fast as she could, which was helpful. There were maybe 15 questions submitted by all the students. The answers to some questions were more helpful than to some other questions.
How do you feel about the university’s response?
Nikhil: In terms of the schools’ response, I was very impressed. Not only at the speed but how receptive they were to listen to us. Initially, I thought, these courses have been going on for a long time and things aren’t going to change. But they took the feedback very positively and acted quickly. And I think that gives us confidence for the future, that if we have any issues and any other programs that people are willing to listen which is very encouraging in this learning environment to have that kind of attitude.
Stefanos: In this specific request that we made about the study sessions, at least personally, I was not satisfied with what we got back. We didn’t have the opportunity to directly ask questions live and to answer our doubts. The forum was good to have compared to nothing, but I think we would have preferred to have sessions on campus and with a different teacher. I think that’s my opinion.
The University replaced it with a new course. What do you think of “Data-Driven Leadership”?
Nikhil: In terms of the new Data-driven leadership course. I had a look at the syllabus. I think it directly answers the issues that we had with the previous form of the course in that it is very driven in terms of the language used and the way it is structured for BI and DS students. So, I think it is much more relevant for the course and I think the students will see the value the very quickly compared to the old course. Having seen the syllabus it’s a course that I would like to take myself, I think it’s a well-structured course.
Stefanos: We had a meeting with the programme coordinator, Kenneth. He had the chance to present the syllabus and it looks different in a good way. We just had a sneak peek, but I think it looks more relevant to the program. Since it’s under the umbrella of this department and Kenneth structured it himself, I think that it’s already more relevant and more suitable for this program.
Final words
Big thanks to both Nikhil and Stefanos for agreeing to this interview and also for all their work representing us BI and DS students. Of course, our experience is unique and I can not say what will happen if you speak out when you have problems with the teaching. Still, my general experience here has been at Dalarna University, that the teachers are approachable and care about your input. If you approach them the right way you might be surprised how forthcoming they are! No University is perfect, but here in Borlänge and Falun, you will find a Campus that is always willing to listen to you and make changes to give the best education to the students.
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