Three friends – one app

Three H-BRS computer science students develop a roster app

Business founders and developers: Tim Bastin, Sebastian Kawelke, Frédéric Noppe The idea was born in a pub. “At my job at the time at Quirls in Bergisch Gladbach, I noticed that there was a problem: rostering,” says Tim Bastin, a computer science student at H-BRS and one of two developers of the StampLab app. “There were constant difficulties with the question of who works when and how best to manage the whole thing.” Tim Bastin and fellow student Sebastian Kawelke were convinced that there had to be a solution to this problem – so they decided to develop an app. In autumn 2019, the two began to put their project into action, and StampLab was launched in December 2020. A few months earlier, they founded the start-up behind it, “l3montree”. Staff schedules and working hours

The idea with the app was that companies could create staff schedules, have them booked automatically and record the working hours of all employees with just a few clicks. And not only that. StampLab facilitates the search for substitutes, integrates employees into the planning and helps with the distribution of tasks. Customers come from all sectors – from health care and gastronomy, but also from the trades. Many COVID test centres also use StampLab, and many of them are even allowed to use the app free of charge.

Equipped by H-BRS

Tim Bastin and Sebastian Kawelke are now studying in the Master’s degree programme in Computer Science at H-BRS. The Bachelor‘s degree was an important basis for the app development. “During our studies we learned many concepts that we can now apply in practice. When you’re faced with a real problem, you suddenly understand what this or that concept can serve as a solution for,” says Kawelke. The theoretical knowledge from the university allows students to recognise connections and backgrounds – how programming language functions and how a computer works.

For the StampLab team, which now includes fellow computer science student Frédéric Noppe, the app is more than just a side project. “It‘s a hobby substitute. Other people are at football training in the afternoon; we sit in front of the computer. Countless hours of work go into l3montree,” reports Master‘s student Kawelke. The computer scientists cannot yet make a living from their start-up, but the project is growing steadily. “We’re on the right track.”

More: The company name l3montree stands for “lemon tree” https://l3montree.com/en

Andrea Schröder

is Administrative Director of the Centre for Teaching Development and Innovation (ZIEL) and Presidential Commissioner for University Didactics

“Good teaching is my passion. When I started my first teaching job at the university in 2008, it was immediately clear to me that it depends just as much on the content as on the way it is taught. But what does ‘good teaching’ mean? For me, it’s important to offer students different approaches to knowledge that correspond to their respective personalities. But not every teaching method fits everyone – as a teacher, I have to remain authentic. Teaching is also science. Not only the course content, but also the teaching and learning methods should always be up to date with the latest research. How do we succeed in good teaching at H-BRS? In the Centre for Teaching Development and Innovation, we develop various building blocks. We offer teachers a hand-picked workshop programme, individual counselling on learning settings, special formats such as the Didactic Dessert and Teaching Day. In all our activities, we keep the students in mind, because our core business is expanding their talents. They should educate themselves academically, develop personally and get a qualified job after graduation. In this respect, we support our teachers in the best possible way to provide good teaching. Last but not least, ZIEL itself is a learning unit, because we research our teaching at H-BRS, are internationally networked in university didactics and offer teaching staff space to work together on didactic topics. The beauty is that the more intensively we exchange ideas, the more players we connect, the more we unfold our potential.”