Little did I know five years ago what a unique experience my time at the TGM would be. The TGM (Technologisches Gewerbemuseum) is a higher technical college where I studied Information Technology with a focus on systems engineering and data science. From the basics of computer networking to databases and embedded systems, we had it all. But what really made my education special was not the curriculum but rather the way it was taught. I had the chance to be part of the “Open Learning Office” (OLO). That meant, that there would be no teachers actively lecturing. Instead, we had to lecture ourselves by working on assignments and doing practice tasks. This could be done alone or in a group. The teachers provided the materials and the assignments. If questions arose we could ask our teachers and they were more than happy to help us and explain difficult topics.

If this concept of student-centered learning seems odd, I totally understand. When I first heard about the OLO at Open-door day I was more than skeptical. In a presentation the Head of Department, Dr. Gottfried Koppensteiner, narrated us through, what would later become a typical school day for me. For example, the timetable did not say “3rd lesson: English” but rather “1st and 2nd lesson: OLO”. The same was true for the technical subjects, like Software Engineering and Media Technology. And in those two lessons, we could decide whether we would do English, German or Mathematics. We had to plan our week in advance which meant actively managing our own time. This was difficult at the beginning since we had no clue whatsoever how long we would need for our assignments. But rather quickly we learned to plan weeks and even months ahead.

When I compare the OLO I joined in first grade, to the OLO it is today, a lot of things have changed for the better. One being the material. Obviously, it took time for our teachers to get used to their new role as a tutor, and what exactly OLO-friendly material was, had not yet been established. Not all worksheets and books are meant for self-study.

If I had to name the most important skill I acquired during my years at the TGM I would say it is “the ability to learn”. Actively engaging in a topic and breaking it down into digestible pieces, working on complex theory, and applying it in practical examples. It is an invaluable skill that I would not have learned in a regular classroom, at least not that fast. I want to thank each and every person, students and teachers, who made the last five years as special as they were. I am very grateful for the education I got and the people I met, some of which are now my closest friends.

Finally, I want to express my gratitude and say “thank you” to Gottfried Koppensteiner, the man who envisioned the OLO and, despite many who thought that the OLO would fail, never stopped promoting its advantages. His seemingly endless reserve of excitement for what he does makes him one of the best educators I have ever met. Never will I forget the moment he told us how he conceptually designed the OLO on a piece of paper on a train ride after visiting an educational conference where he first heard of the concept of student-centered learning. I will always remember the excitement in his voice and his ability to capture our imagination of what the OLO could become. His progressive mindset is a very rare exception to the static educational system we have in Austria. Oftentimes people stick to what they call “tried-and-proven”, but in today’s ever-changing world we need more people like Gottfried Koppensteiner, who get out of their comfort zone and really try to meaningfully change our educational system.

The OLO is, in my mind, a glimpse into the future of education, but still, it is far from perfect and a lot of improvements have yet to be made. If I could change one thing about the OLO right now it would be the timetable. I would get rid of it. My dream of the OLO is, that there are all subjects available simultaneously and that students can wander from OLO to OLO as they like. 100% freedom. They can work on software engineering for half an hour if it’s what they want and then go immediately to English, where they can listen to a presentation about the role of art in today’s society. After that, they might end up in Maths and discover the mysteries of calculus.

A common misconception about the OLO is, that students learn a lot more than in a regular classroom. That is not true. Their goal is the same but their road is a different one. The OLO enables students to spend more time on subjects they like and want to improve on but still forces them to establish a common baseline. But what it really reinforces is social competencies. Students from the OLO interact with their teachers and each other on a whole different level than their regular-class peers. They need social interaction. It fuels their motivation and ambition.

Since my time at the TGM is coming to an end I am very grateful that I could openly discuss my ideas of how to improve the OLO and the chance to actively implement those ideas. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is famous for saying: “The only constant is change”, and this is even more true in the digital age we live in. I can only advise my younger colleagues and all students to come to point out flaws and inconveniences and actively take part in the discussion to further improve what we have. The ideas of each and everyone have a value and a right to be heard, and no place grants this right as well as the IT department at the TGM.