Students as teachers: international IT seminar inspires learning

Twenty years ago, three universities — HES-SO in Switzerland, Haaga-Helia in Finland, and Universidad Europea in Spain — joined forces around a shared idea: to create a rotating international seminar where IT students would not only learn but also teach. The concept was simple yet powerful: students are more engaged in the subject when they are responsible for teaching it themselves. This core idea has proven so effective that it has remained unchanged throughout the seminar’s history.

Since its launch in 2006, the International IT Seminar has been held 17 times. It was paused in 2013 due to lack of funding and again in 2020–2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet each time it returned, it did so with renewed strength—reinforcing the belief that students learn best by teaching others.

In 2025 the seminar took place in Madrid, hosted by Universidad Europea. Each university sent a team of around ten students, who were divided into multinational groups. Over four days, they learned, built, and shared knowledge through collaborative projects.

Each country’s team led one full day: the Spanish team on Tuesday, the Finnish team on Wednesday, and the Swiss team on Thursday. Students didn’t just assist — they designed and delivered workshops, organised competitions, and guided international teams through technical challenges. As on student out it:

It was exciting to take part in a study trip abroad, and I really wanted to learn thoroughly so I could teach other students about our topic.

Teaching was also learning — the entire week was built around the idea that active participation deepens understanding and builds confidence.

Technology, teamwork, and teaching

Spanish Day focused on reinforcement learning and object detection using the YOLO algorithm, designed for fast image interpretation. The home team kicked off the week with strong energy and led the first hands-on workshops. Their teaching style emphasised clear roles: two lead students handled the theory and exercises, while others supported the groups and helped solve problems. After the initial rush, students successfully built computer vision systems capable of impressively accurate object recognition.

Finnish Day explored embedded systems. Workshops covered Arduino, the ESP32 microcontroller, and the use of AI in programming. The day included a coding competition and a team challenge, where students used AI to build as many IoT devices as possible from identical components. The Finnish team shared the theory collectively, and each student led their own group. AI was given a list of available parts, and its generated code was used to build the devices. The best team created eight working devices in just four hours.

Swiss Day was dedicated entirely to cybersecurity, led by students from HES-SO. Workshops covered threat detection, data protection, and network security. The Swiss team also divided roles between lead instructors and support students, who helped others when challenges became too complex — especially for less experienced Spanish and Finnish participants. Spontaneous cross-national support was also evident. Inspired by the concept of capture-the-flag games, the Swiss team gamified their teaching, much like the Finnish team had done the day before, clearly boosting motivation and engagement.

Another student commented:

Helping others troubleshoot deepened my own understanding — it made common mistakes visible that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

It was fascinating to observe how students from different countries approached teaching. The Spanish and Swiss teams distributed content among their members, while the Finnish team shared a unified theory session and used a consistent method for group guidance. Beyond the teaching, the week also included cultural exchange and shared free time. On Friday, students visited the Museum of Aeronautics and attended a closing ceremony—a fitting end to an intensive week of learning.

Reflections and ideas for improvement

Student feedback highlighted the positive impact of the seminar:

Working in teams and discussing ideas with international students gave me new perspectives and ways to solve problems.

Students praised the hands-on workshops, the use of AI for learning, and the supportive, motivating atmosphere. Teaching others boosted not only technical skills but also communication and confidence.

Suggestions for improvement included clearer scheduling, more balanced participation from local students, and harmonised academic credit across institutions. Others proposed moving the course earlier in the spring to reduce overlap with other studies and adding a few more theoretical sessions at the beginning.

Looking ahead: Sierre 2026

With the 2025 seminar concluded, the next destination is already set:  Sierre, Switzerland, hosted by HES-SO in 2026.

The week in Madrid reinforced our basic premise from 2006: giving students responsibility, encouraging international collaboration, and letting them teach each other fosters holistic development. In addition to technical skills, students gain the qualities that future IT professionals truly need: adaptability, teamwork, communication, and the ability to learn — together.

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