Syllabus: Future Skills for Engineers

TU Berlin Winter School

Course Instructor: Ulrike Zillmer-Tantan, TU Berlin teaching fellow

Location: January 2 – 5, 2024: Room 2.12 in Hardenbergstraße (HBS),

Hardenbergstraße 16-18, 10623 Berlin

January 8 – 10 + 12, 2024: Room H 2037 in the Main Building (H), Straße des
17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin

January 11, 2024: Room 550 in the Mathematics Building (MA), Straße des
17. Juni 136, 10623 Berlin

https://www.tu.berlin/en/studying/university-life/campus-map

Key to Learning Formats

Orientation or Cultural
Lecture Practical Excursion Assessment
Program Session*

*The cultural program timetable will be emailed to you shortly before your course starts. For more
information about the cultural program, and for examples of previous schedules, check out our website:
https://www.tu.berlin/international/summer-school/cultural-program

Week 1: January 2 - 5

Date Session Information Details

Tuesday, Welcome and Introduction Welcome to the TU Berlin, overview of the Winter
January 2 TU Berlin Winter School Team School program, distribution of the welcome pack and
introduction.
Time CET: 10:30am -12:30pm

Lunch

Time CET: 12:30 -1:00pm

Campus Tour with Winter

School staff

Time CET: 1:00 -1:45pm

Introduction and Orientation  Presentation of trainer & participants

U. Zillmer-Tantan  Overview on course structure & contents
 Establishing seminar culture
 Time CET: 1:45 -3:45pm  Information on examination
Format: Lecture

Wednesday, Future trends  Challenges of a VUCA world

January 3 U. Zillmer-Tantan  Megatrends in Global Society
 Impact and implications for the workplace
Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am
Format: lecture

Future skills models  Future job profiles

U. Zillmer-Tantan  Exploring different approaches to future skills

Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm

Format: exercise

Cultural Program

Start Time CET: 1:30pm

Thursday, Game session  Card game on future skills

January 4 U. Zillmer-Tantan  Choosing teams & topics for your presentations

Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am

Format: exercise

Walking Lecture on Futures  Guided tour by Dr. Christian Engelbrecht,

Literacy Futurium Berlin
Futurium Berlin  Moment of Reflection

Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm

Format: excursion

Mini-Workshop on Future  Future Scenarios: utopia & dystopia

Scenarios  Postcards from Future
Futurium Berlin (lab)

Time CET: 1:30 -3:30pm

Format: excursion

Friday, Futures Storytelling, part I  Life in 2050: Training Creativity, Collaboration and
January 5 U. Zillmer-Tantan Presentation skills using Scenona Cards

Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am

Format: exercise

Futures Storytelling, part II  The moon village challenge

U. Zillmer-Tantan  Debriefing the exercises

Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm

Format: exercise

Moral courage & Ethics  Ethical decision-making under extreme

U. Zillmer-Tantan circumstances: The bunker dilemma
 Looking back on week one
Time CET: 1:30 -3:30pm
Format: exercise
 Cultural Program

Start Time CET: 4:00pm

Sunday, Individual Assignment  Personal reflection on your own future skills,

January 7 maximum length 2 A4 pages.
Deadline CEST: 11:59pm  Extra-task winter school: Personal reflection on the
“The bunker dilemma.” exercise (about 1 A4 page)
and peer-review.

Week 2: January 8 - 12

Date Session Information Details

Monday, Thinking outside the box  Cognitive Flexibility & Critical Thinking or “Are you a
January 8 U. Zillmer-Tantan good detective?”
 “How normal am I?”
Time CET: 9:00am -10:30pm
Format: exercises

AI & diversity issues  Cognitive biases, logical fallacies and the role of AI
Dr. Marco Wedel (guest
lecturer)

Time CET: 11:00 -12:30am

Format: lecture

The Danger of a Single Story  WEIRDness

U. Zillmer-Tantan  TED talk and discussion

Time CET: 1:30 -3:30pm

Format: lecture

Cultural Program

Start Time CET: 4:00pm

Tuesday, (Co-)Creative problem solving  Generation Z, six hats and many heroes
January 9 U. Zillmer-Tantan

Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am

Format: exercise

Design your Future  Trying to find your ikigai in life via the design
U. Zillmer-Tantan thinking approach

Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm

Format: exercise

Coaching with presentation  Discussing the intermediate status of the group

teams assignment (ca. 20 min per group)
U. Zillmer-Tantan

Time CET: 1:30 -3:30pm

 Format: coaching

Wednesday, The future is emotional, right?  What emotional intelligence is and why it matters.
January 10 U. Zillmer-Tantan

Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am

Format: lecture

Vulnerability, shame and  Lessons from Dare to Lead by B. Brown: Sympathy

empathy vs. Empathy, empathy misses
U. Zillmer-Tantan

Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm

Format: lecture

Thursday, Resilience  Reflecting values, belief systems and inner drivers

January 11 U. Zillmer-Tantan  Lessons from Kintsugi

Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am

Format: exercises

Patience and Gratitude  Time spent study

U. Zillmer-Tantan  Lessons from Braiding sweetgrass by R.W.
Kimmerer
Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm
Format: lecture

Non-violent communication  Lessons from five chairs: Practicing observation,

U. Zillmer-Tantan feelings, needs and requests
 Practicing active listening
Time CET: 1:30 -3:30pm
Format: exercises

Friday, Student presentations  Presentations of teams (30 min each), incl.

January 12 U. Zillmer-Tantan interactive parts (10 min each)
 discussion and peer-feedback
Time CET: 9:00 -10:30am
Format: assessment

Student presentations  Presentations of teams (30 min each), incl.

U. Zillmer-Tantan interactive parts (10 min each)
 discussion and peer-feedback
Time CET: 11:00am -12:30pm
Format: assessment

Student presentations  (Presentations, if needed, see above)

& Wrap Up  Personal take-aways and evaluation of the course
U. Zillmer-Tantan

Time CET: 1:30 -3:30pm

Format: assessment

Certificate Ceremony

Start Time CET: 4:00pm

Student Learning Outcomes

The following overview provides information on the key topics to be covered each week and how they
relate to the learning goals in your course.

Learning Goals for both weeks

Students will
 gain an overview about key changes and trends in society impacting our lives and future challenges
at the workplace
 increase their self-awareness by assessing their own future skills, analyzing their potentials and
exploring how to train them
 understand their own values, communication style and thought patterns
 learn to better deal with complexities, adapt to uncertain situations and thus be equipped for the
workplace of the future

Week 1
Topics and Activities:
 introduction to the research field of future skills
 excursion to Futurium
 focus on training specific future skills such as
o future literacy
o joy of learning, curiosity and experimentation
o communication and collaboration
o creativity, improvisation and co-creation
o moral courage & ethics
o embracing change

Week 2
Topics and Activities:
 focus on training specific future skills such as
o critical thinking and cognitive flexibility
o multiperspectivity, systemic thinking, problem solving
o emotional intelligence, empathy
o resilience
 exploring wisdom from non-western contexts
 students‘ perspectives on future skills (presentations)

Assessment information

You will be assessed in the following ways (see yellow sessions in schedule, if applicable):

o Participation and contributions during sessions (such as topic-related and constructive

contributions to our discussions as well as collaboration and reflection on the exercises)
o Personal reflection, assignment due on 7.1.2024
o Group presentation, on 12.1.2024

Your assessments will be weighted as follows:

 20%: Participation and contributions during sessions

 40%: Personal reflections
 40%: Group presentation incl. interactive element

Please note that all participants must attend at least 80% of their classes in order to be eligible to pass
the course. Failure to attend 80% of classes without an adequate reason will result in an automatic fail.
Grading information

All participants will receive a grade under the German grading system. The following table provides an
overview of the grading system and equivalent scores for international credit transfers:

Total mark German grade English description

Greater than or equal to 95 1,0 Excellent
Greater than or equal to 90 1,3 Very good
Greater than or equal to 85 1,7 Good
Greater than or equal to 80 2,0 Good
Greater than or equal to 75 2,3 Good
Greater than or equal to 70 2,7 Satisfactory
Greater than or equal to 65 3,0 Satisfactory
Greater than or equal to 60 3,3 Satisfactory
Greater than or equal to 55 3,7 Sufficient
Greater than or equal to 50 4,0 Sufficient
Less than 50 5,0 Fail

Credit Points

ECTS is a point system and European standard developed by the Commission of the European Community
and refers to the European Credit Transfer System. The aim of the system is to provide common
procedures and guarantee academic recognition of studies abroad. The credit system is based on student
workload. All lectures, homework and group assignments count towards the workload. One point is
awarded for the equivalent of 25-30 hours of workload.

Allocation of workload and ECTS

Orientation + cultural program 10 hours

Lectures 23 hours
Practical 22 hours
Self-study/ Homework 13 hours
Final exam/ Project presentation 07 hours
Total 75 hours
25 weekly semester hours ≙ 1 Credit  3 Credits

Reading list

Following is a list of reading materials which will be used or referred to during the course. You are not
required to read these in advance, unless otherwise advised. These materials are provided for your
information and reference.

All sources below are available either open source, in the TU Berlin library, or will be provided to you
directly by your lecturers, during the course.

To search resources available in the TU Berlin library, check here: https://www.ub.tu-

berlin.de/en/searching-for-resources/

 Marr, Bernard (2022): Future Skills: The 20 Skills and Competencies Everyone Needs to Succeed in a
Digital World. Wiley; 1. Edition.
 Prince, Emma-Sue (2019): 7 Skills for the Future, Pearson Business; 2. Edition.
 Pölönen, Perttu (2021): Future Skills, Viva Editions.