For those who want to actively shape vocational education.
We prepare future teachers for vocational schools for a diverse and highly relevant professional field. Our work focuses on the vocational subject area of Business and Administration, on the development of didactic expertise, and on the question of how high-quality teaching can effectively prepare young people for working life and participation in society.
With contemporary teaching, digital learning, and innovative instructional concepts for vocational education, we create an academic and professional environment that meaningfully connects research and practice.
Rethinking Business Education
Our professorship stands for modern, practice-oriented, and future-oriented teacher education. Discover what this means in practice.
New LISA Project Supports Students in a Successful Start to Their Studies
With the project LISA – Learning Strategies: Individually Steering and Applying, a new research and development initiative is being launched at the Chair of Business and Economics Education for Vocational Teacher Training, in cooperation with the Chair of Accounting and Auditing in the Private and Public Sector at the University of Potsdam. The project aims to promote students’ self-regulated learning strategies during the initial phase of their studies.
The start of university studies is often characterized by high demands on self-organization, motivation, and time management. Empirical findings show that self-regulated learning strategies are key predictors of academic success and student persistence. LISA builds on these insights and combines them with the development of a digital, interactive teaching-learning environment that supports students in consciously recognizing challenges of academic learning and developing preventive strategies.
At the core of the project are short, interactive learning videos featuring realistic decision-making situations in which students can explore different courses of action and experience their consequences immediately. Alongside the development process, the learning offer will be empirically examined and evaluated. The aim is to gain insights into how digital, interactive learning environments need to be designed in order to effectively foster self-regulated learning strategies. On this basis, LISA seeks to better prepare students for an increasingly self-organized course of study.
The project is funded through the University of Potsdam’s Kreativraum funding line and will run from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027.
Visit to ICERI 2025 in Seville: Business and Economics Education Team for Vocational Teacher Training Represents University at International Conference
From November 10 to 12, 2025, the Business and Economics Education team for Vocational Teacher Training at the University of Potsdam participated in the 18th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI) in Seville, Spain.
Under the broad conference theme “Transforming Education and Transforming Lives” and with an impressively diverse program, ICERI2025 provided an intensive insight into current developments in educational sciences and international teaching and learning research.
The Potsdam team contributed three research papers, each addressing key challenges and innovation potentials related to digitalization, professionalization, and learning support in educational processes:
Group Discussions in Business Studies: An NLP-Based Feedback System
A. Emter & C. Siegfried (University of Potsdam)
This contribution explores how a Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based tool automatically transcribes, categorizes, and visualizes group discussions in a dashboard. The tool supports teachers in monitoring group discussions in business education and enables targeted scaffolding to enhance learning outcomes.
Professionalisation in the Digital Transformation: Critical Events and Challenges for Continuing Education Staff
L. Sasse (University of Potsdam)
This paper focuses on the professionalization of adult education instructors in the context of the digital transformation.
Drawing on theoretical approaches from professionalization research and digital competence development, the study examines which skills educators need to effectively design collaborative digital learning environments.
Qualitative interviews with adult educators before and after seminars in different formats (in-person, online, hybrid) reveal clear differences in attitudes and action patterns.
The findings feed into an evidence-based orientation framework designed to help educational institutions structure digital continuing education programs.
When Those Who Need It Most Use It Least: Engagement with Video-Based Learning Strategy Training in Higher Education
L. Wahrhausen, J. Tadge & C. Siegfried (University of Potsdam)
This paper investigates how video-based learning strategy training can promote self-regulated learning in higher education. It focuses on how students engage with supplementary learning videos that teach strategies for goal setting, time management, motivation, and collaborative learning — and examines how this interaction affects both their academic performance and their learning strategy competencies.
Beyond the rich academic exchange, the stay in Seville also offered an opportunity to experience the cultural diversityand culinary specialties of southern Spain — an enriching complement to the scholarly discussions, for which the entire team is deeply grateful.
New Professorship in Business and Vocational Education at the University of Potsdam
Professor Dr Christin Siegfried has been appointed W3 Professor of Business Education for Vocational Teacher Training at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Potsdam.
After completing a dual degree programme in International Business Administration at accadis University of Applied Sciences Bad Homburg and Northumbria University in Newcastle, she went on to earn a master’s degree in Business Education at Goethe University Frankfurt. She subsequently completed her doctorate there on the topic of professional economic competence and was awarded her habilitation in 2022. During this time, she also served as acting professor of Business Education at Georg August University of Göttingen. She was then appointed Professor of Economic and Social Studies and Their Didactics at Weingarten University of Education.
Her long-standing research on (professional) economic competence was recognised in 2022 with the “New Horizon – President’s Award” of Goethe University Frankfurt.
In her research, Professor Siegfried focuses in particular on the learning potential of new educational technologies, on communication processes in the context of learner interaction, and on the professionalisation of teachers for economics-related education.
