Digital Transformation is a ubiquitous process envisioned to enhance operations, business models, and customer contact. Practically, barriers stand in the way of these enhancements. In a Master’s course on Business Informatics, a research-based learning design was used to research these barriers. Furthermore, the research-based learning design was expected to generate a positive student engagement, as the course had to be adopted to Covid-19 teaching policies. Results of the data generated throughout the course show a high explanation power of the applied barrier model as the adjusted R² is 0,648. In the evaluation of the course design, students perceive the effects of the research-based design on their understanding and their critical thinking as excellent.