Subject-specific and to the point!

In two years of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic, teaching at Saxon universities has had to adapt to completely new and different framework conditions: from working from home to face-to-face events to partially digitized formats. Some things have worked well, others less so; in some cases, established methods could also be applied digitally, while in others, completely new ideas and teaching methods were developed.

Many new things had to be developed quickly. Many lecturers were faced with the task of completely reorganizing their already prepared and planned teaching under different personal and institutional conditions. The knowledge that the teachers and students themselves had in the area of digital teaching was just as varied as the technical requirements at the universities. It therefore required efforts from all sides to carry out university teaching despite the pandemic situation.

Since March 2022, the project "Implementing digitalization in disciplines in a participatory way :: Competencies Connected" (D2C2) has provided an opportunity to safeguard and improve the quality of digital methods and skills, which have made enormous progress in the two years of the pandemic.

The project, which is anchored in the Vice-Rectorate for Education and International Affairs and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, is a Saxon joint project funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education. The overall coordination lies with the Saxon Center for Higher Education Didactics (HDS), 10 Saxon universities and the BA Saxony are involved. From the start of the project on 01.08.2021, the project will run for 3 years, during which research and testing will take place.

The focus of the project is on subject-specific challenges and topics. This means that the project aims to give subject experts the opportunity to share and report on their personal experiences. The research assistants in the sub-project at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, Lydia Laarz (based at F-M) and Deborah Halang (based at the Prorectorate for Education and International Affairs, ZWB), are setting up a Saxony-wide network for teaching engineers in which they can exchange ideas. What worked well for the colleague at HTWK when teaching from home? What experiences has the colleague from Zwickau had with the greater integration of OPAL?

In addition, the current situation is recorded via the networks: how is teaching now taking place, digitally, semi-digitally or in person? Which tools are used and how are they accepted? Where do lecturers see obstacles to the digitalization of their teaching? Four main areas of the digitalization of teaching are examined: Digital Workshops and Labs, Digital Skills, Digital Exams and Mathematics Digital.

To ensure that the data is collected as precisely as possible, the status quo is exchanged and surveyed in five subject networks: Health/Social Sciences, Computer Science, Engineering, Art/Design and Psychology/Psychotherapy. Even if there are many overlaps, educators often face different methodological challenges in seminars than mechanical engineers in the workshop. The specialist networks bring together experts who teach similar content using different methods.

In addition to the networks, the D2C2 project offers lecturers at the HSZG the opportunity to test new methods or tools in their own teaching and to evaluate their effectiveness and usefulness. The staff are available for this purpose and their interdisciplinary team brings in different perspectives. The student perspective is also important here, which is included through the equal participation of students in the team (Tina-Seline Göttinger, Faculty N and Christian Bauch and Ferenc Teichler, Faculty E-I). With the Saxon University Didactics Center as project coordinator in the Saxon network, a reliable knowledge base for didactic questions is also available and can be contacted at any time. Based on the exchange of experience in the specialist networks, the most suitable methods, tools and materials can be provided for teachers and individually adapted through the cooperation of the contact persons in the D2C2 project.

The project goal achieved in 2024 should be evidence-based teaching development and the development of recommendations for action for digital teaching. This means that the basis for the project is the experiences of teachers and students, which are used to derive what is needed for good digital teaching so that suitable measures can be taken to make this possible and to support and promote teachers and students in the best possible way.