Skills-based volunteering: Sharing know-how from the field to engineering schools

For several years now, skills-based volunteering has become a powerful way to bring the corporate world closer to higher education. Through the experience of Loïc RIEGEL and his colleagues, we can see how practical, field-based expertise can sustainably enrich the training of future engineers.

Continuous involvement for three years

Loïc has been involved in skills-based volunteering for the past three years, always working in pairs. His natural interest in training and knowledge sharing led him to engage early in this type of initiative. At T&S, he has mentored several colleagues and organized internal workshops and training sessions, which were a first step before moving into academic teaching.

Full modules at ENSISA in Mulhouse

For the past three years, full teaching modules have been delivered at ENSISA in Mulhouse to Bachelor-level (Bac+3) students. These are not one-off lectures, but complete courses designed from start to finish, including:

Pedagogical preparation,
Around 30 hours of lectures, practical sessions, and project work,
A module focused on ASE (Automatic Embedded Systems).

The credibility of these courses is largely based on the practical experience brought by the instructors. At the end of each module, a survey is systematically conducted to collect student feedback, which has been very positive so far.

This year, a new component will be added to the program: an introductory module related to artificial intelligence.

INSA Strasbourg: from short sessions to a structured module

Since last year, Loïc has also been teaching at INSA Strasbourg. The first sessions were shorter (2 × 3 hours), with limited preparation, and were mainly focused on experience sharing.

Due to the strong interest from students, the school has decided this year to adopt the same format as ENSISA: a complete and structured module of around 30 hours.

Teaching students: a different challenge

Teaching students is very different from training colleagues in a company. The challenge is not only to transfer technical knowledge, but also to adapt the message, build a real teaching approach, and take part in the assessment of learning outcomes.

One of the most demanding aspects is the discussion with academic supervisors to define relevant evaluation methods. To strengthen this dimension, Loïc completed a pedagogical training course (“Train the Trainers”, led by Stéphanie GOETSCH KOCHER), which proved very useful to better understand different learner profiles and adapt his teaching style.

A motivation driven by human values

Beyond the technical aspects, teaching brings strong personal satisfaction. Positive feedback from students is a major source of motivation. This experience also strengthens the ability to share knowledge with clients, who increasingly express interest in this type of support.

A collectively supported initiative

These skills-based volunteering actions are part of a collective approach, made possible thanks to internal support and the commitment of several contributors, notably Lionel MEYER and Yannick KUHN, who is co-teaching with Loïc this year.