"it's impressive, but in practice ...": Experiencing a Realistic Digital Transformation in and beyond the Classroom

Serious games, particularly board games, have long been employed in production management education to teach various concepts. While they have demonstrated educational effectiveness, their integration with emerging Industry 4.0 technologies remains limited. Furthermore, there is a lack of empirical research on how industry practitioners apply these digitization technologies in the workplace. To bridge this gap, we designed a course that integrates digital technologies into a traditional board game. We conducted two studies to evaluate both knowledge gains within the classroom and knowledge transfer back into the manufacturing industry. Our results show an improved understanding of the synergies between production management principles and Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as the real-world challenges students face when attempting to transfer this knowledge. Our work contributes pedagogical and practical perspectives on how technology-enhanced serious games can extend learning in and beyond the classroom. © 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).