Investment in Digitalization of Teaching

The University of Bremen will receive funding of 3.6 million euros for the project “Studierendenzentriert | kollaborativ | innovativ Lehren und Lernen.” The funding has the aim of moving digitalization in teaching forward.

Digital formats played a significant role for teaching staff and students in the past months of the corona pandemic. The biggest challenge - alongside the technical realization - was the lack of opportunities for direct feedback and personal conversations. “However, I still believe this digitalization movement to be a fantastic chance to connect good face-to-face class formats with new ideas of digital teaching-learning scenarios,” says Professor Thomas Hoffmeister, Vice President Academic at the University of Bremen.

Digital Formats Will Be Integrated in Degree Courses

With the project SKILL - “Studierendenzentriert | kollaborativ | innovativ Lehren und Lernen” (Student-Centered | Collaborative | Innovative Teaching and Learning), which will be funded by Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, digital teaching, learning, and exam scenarios will be anchored in the curricula of the degree courses and will be further developed. In degree-related innovation labs, the methodical-didactic shaping of teaching, learning, and exam processes under consideration of the new digitalization possibilities will be investigated. The acquisition of subject-specific information and media skills is to also be integrated into the degree and the method portfolio of students is to be expanded in this manner.

Project Takes Experiences with Digital Teaching into Consideration

The project will be embedded in the long-term, strategic plans and is to form the foundation for the bundling of support structures for digital teaching. Experiences gathered during the pandemic and also from earlier e-learning projects will be included. The results of a survey of students on the summer semester 2020 will also be incorporated. Over 60 percent of the participants stated that they hope for there to be a stronger connection between online and face-to-face teaching in the future. Thomas Hoffmeister: “We know that useful hybrid formats that combine the advantages of face-to-face classes with e-learning are a significant motor for the further student-centered development of teaching.” This would improve the quality of teaching and contribute to an increase in learning success for the students.

Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre

In their first campaign “Hochschullehre durch Digitalisierung stärken” (Strengthening University Teaching Through Digitalization), the new foundation “Innovation in der Hochschullehre,” which was established by the federal government and states, handed out funding amounting to 330 million euros for projects in teaching at universities across the country. The funded projects were chosen in a scientific process by experts and students and a total of 264 proposals were submitted. Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre is funded by the federal government and states. Innovation strength and transfer opportunities were main criteria when the projects were being chosen. Funding will begin on August 01, 2021.