e-Week: A Convivial Experience for Professors

The ‘e-Week’ is a unique and challenging experience in which, by solving a challenge defined by a company, teachers contribute their knowledge, collaboration, and leadership to solve it.

The “e-Week” (“Semana e” in Spanish) is a week in which teachers completely leave their academic environment to link up with a company called a training partner. It is a unique and challenging experience in which, through resolving a challenge posed by a company, the teachers contribute their knowledge and leadership. During this process, the educators develop skills and competencies while collaborating with other teachers and the partner company to deal with the current, real problems faced by the company.

Teacher training is a fundamental activity to become updated on relevant social issues. It is a way to bring fresh proposals and ideas to the class and improve teaching. This preparation directly impacts the subjects taught. However, it is not easy for teachers to continually renew themselves or be in direct contact with what is happening in the non-academic world. Therefore, experiences such as e–Week bring the professors closer to the business environment to address real problems in a company, collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, and apply their knowledge to generate practical solution proposals to the company or training partner.

“Being in a company, collaborating on the solution to a challenge, and having the opportunity to interact with company executives, become a unique and stimulating experience, knowing that when you present your proposal, you will be evaluated.”
– Professor Cynthia I. Rodríguez Medellín of the State of Mexico campus.

Teacher training through challenges

The e-Week is a new form of teaching experience. The letter “e” refers to the word “experience.” This concept was created and designed by the Center for Teacher Development and Educational Innovation (CEDDIE) of the Rector’s office at the Tecnologico de Monterrey campus in Mexico City. This center’s role is fundamental because it coordinates the connection between the university (the professors) and the training partners.

The objective of e-Week is that teachers leave their conventional activities to immerse themselves in solving a challenge posed by the training partner or company during the week. This collaboration between the university and the training partner seeks a win-win relationship. On the one hand, the training partner obtains proposals or solutions proposed by specialists, who, having an external perspective, are usually innovative because they do not have a bias or work commitments in the company. On the other hand, the university wins because its teachers develop skills, put their knowledge into practice, and generate new learning for the courses they teach.

 “Having the teachers participate in each activity and listening to their different points of view and reflections have been of great value for the company. We are convinced of the important role that academia has in the training of talent not only in the integration of the workforce but also in our society.”
– Orlando Mejía, Human Resources Partner Deloitte Consulting Group, S.C.  

The Tec21 Educational Model and its relationship with e-Week

The Tec21 Educational Model of Tec de Monterrey is based on Challenge-Based Learning (CBL). CBL is a pedagogical approach that engages the student actively in a relevant real-world problem; it involves defining the challenge and implementing a solution (Edu Trends, 2016). At Tecnologico de Monterrey, actual companies face these challenges, i.e., the companies share with the students a current problem requiring a solution that involves the topics covered in a course they are taking.

The e-Week offers teachers the same experience that the students have under the Tec21 Educational Model. It is practice-based experiential learning to support teachers with convivial situations similar to their students, allowing them to connect to business reality by solving real cases. When teachers participate in an e-Week, they understand better what students live and experience each day in their classes.

How is an e-Week designed and implemented?

Since 2019 to date, six e Weeks have been launched, in which 173 teachers have participated.  Planning for each week should start at least four months in advance. The planning activities are:

1. Companies that can act as training partners and carry out the project are contacted. The e-Week’s objective and scope are explained, emphasizing that those who will carry out the project will be teachers and not students, as they are used to working with the Tecnológico de Monterrey students. Also, the benefits of doing the project are explained to them.

2. Once they demonstrate their interest in participating, the companies design a challenge that the teachers will resolve with each of the companies.

3. When the challenge is defined and confirmed, the company promotes it with the teachers.

The six e-Weeks carried out to date are:

1.     SANOFI “GENZYME 2019” Challenge: Various alternatives and strategies were explored to increase access to social security for people who did not have it due to their socioeconomic status or health status.

2.     Procter & Gamble Challenge (P&G) “Gillette Challenge 2019”: A multi-channel strategy was developed for the Gillette brand.

3.     Colgate Challenge 2020: Teachers had to develop various solutions for three categories: Oral Care, Personal Care, and Home Care.

4.     Deloitte Challenge 2020.  A proposal was presented to solve a business case applying the firm’s consulting methodology.

5.     PepsiCo Challenge 2021. An innovative real-time price communication solution was developed for the traditional food channel.

6.     Chicco 2021 Challenge: Identify the new trends in the Mexican baby products market in post-pandemic times, understanding the perceived value of the Chicco brand in the Mexican market.

Image 1 shows the number of teachers participating in the different challenges, the campus participants, and the modality (virtual or face-to-face) for the 173 teachers collaborating to solve the challenges.

The perception of the teachers who participated in these challenges was positive. However, in 2020, the pandemic forced migration to a virtual modality. The university and the training partners decided not to suspend the e-Week but adapt it to the new reality.

Final Reflection

To know the impact that the e-Week left on teachers, we carried out a study to identify the teachers’ competencies and results under this learning theory. Also, we measured the ease of teachers integrating into multidisciplinary and multigenerational teams. The participants perceived that the skills they developed the most were teamwork, problem-solving, and learning about other disciplines. The most mentioned personal challenges were getting out of the comfort zone, discovering training needs, and becoming personally motivated.

For the training partners, this different and unique experience was of great value. The Colgate Company commented that through the e-Week project, it was possible to receive new and exciting ideas with different perspectives and the feasibility of implementation in the short-medium term. They realized that the professors were more up-to-date on business matters than they had imagined. The teachers’ diverse expertise made both the way to resolve the challenge and the final proposals very comprehensive. They considered different characteristics and elements to arrive at the best possible solution. Each professor’s curiosity and experience in their field made a big difference.

The e-Week is a teacher networking strategy that is here to stay. We invite the professors of Tecnologico de Monterrey who wish to join this initiative to be on the lookout for future e-Week calls. We also invite companies to participate as training partners in this experience with our professors. If you are interested in participating as training partners, you can send an email to claudia.rodriguez@tec.mx.

About the authors

Claudia Elsa Rodríguez Medelín (claudia.rodriguez@tec.mx) is Director of the CEDDIE (Center for Teacher Development and Educational Innovation), Campus Santa Fe. She has more than 20 years of experience as a professor at the university and high school levels. She has served for more than 14 years as a director of Marketing curriculum, Marketing and Communication, and Public Accounting and Finance at the Mexico City Campus. She has experience as a consultant and business coach in national and international companies. During her professional career, she has had the opportunity to work with students and teachers, developing diverse experiences inside and outside the institution and the country.

Maria Andrea Trujillo León (andrea.trujillo@tec.mx) is a professor-researcher in Marketing at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Santa Fe. She belongs to the Retail research group. She is a member of the National System of Researchers. In her almost 30 years of professional life, she has trained several generations of professionals, obtaining awards and recognitions for her teaching work. She has published academic articles and books on quality in green services and marketing. She has also developed marketing projects for different companies and organizations. In addition, she is a founding partner of a couple of companies and coordinates the book collection of Motivos para amar a México (Reasons to Love Mexico).

Cynthia Ivonne Rodríguez Medellín (cmedelli@tec.mx) since 2006 has been Director of Marketing and the Marketing and Communication Curriculum at the Campus State of Mexico. She has been a Tec21 academic advisor since 2019. She has more than 30 years of experience as a professor at the university and high school levels. She has worked on projects focused on strengthening students’ skills through connections with various national and foreign companies. She has also participated in multiple initiatives of the School like Family Businesses and Better Mexican Businesses.

References

Ortiz, G. (2019). Semana E: la nueva alternativa de desarrollo docente en el Tec. Retrieved June 23, 2021 from https://tec.mx/es/noticias/santa-fe/educacion/semana-e-la-nueva-alternativa-de-desarrollo-docente-en-el-tec

Gutiérrez, W. (2020) Profesores se capacitan para enfrentar retos académicos. Retrieved June 23, 2021 from https://tec.mx/es/noticias/santa-fe/educacion/profesores-se-capacitan-para-enfrentar-retos-academicos

Gutiérrez, W. (2020) De la mano de Deloitte profesores Tec toman reto. Retrieved June 23, 2021 from https://tec.mx/es/noticias/santa-fe/educacion/de-la-mano-de-deloitte-profesores-tec-toman-reto

Gutiérrez, W. (2020). PepsiCo y profesores del Tec se unen para innovar en estrategias. Retrieved June 23, 2021 from https://tec.mx/es/noticias/santa-fe/educacion/pepsico-y-profesores-del-tec-se-unen-para-innovar-en-estrategias

Edited by Rubí Román (rubi.roman@tec.mx) – Observatory of Educational Innovation.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Claudia Elsa Rodríguez Medelín

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