Concept

Introduction

In its strategy as a University of Excellence, the TUD Dresden University of Technology (TUD) describes digitalization as a central driver of innovation. In addition to the aspects of digitalization research addressed there and the planned measures for further digitalization in administration, TUD focuses on digital approaches in teaching as an integral element of innovation, individualization, quality assurance and internationalization. These approaches are strengthened by a central support structure based at the Center for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL). Further training courses for knowledge and skills in the field of digital teaching are developed and offered together with the Center for Continuing Education (ZfW). In cooperation with the Centre for Information Technology and High-Performance Computing (ZIH) and the Else Kröner-Fresenius Centre for Digital Health (EKFZ), technological dimensions of the digitalization of teaching and learning processes are supported with consulting, training and service offers.

Problems and challenges

Many digital teaching solutions are currently insular and limited to specific fields of application. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need to virtualize teaching formats. Technical scaling problems of the platforms and the need for a critical approach to digital technologies are challenges that need to be addressed. The aim is to integrate successful digital teaching methods into curricula in the long term.

• The need to virtualize course formats and to support learners and teachers in terms of higher education and digital didactics is an immense challenge.
• Platforms continue to reach their technical limits; scaling them for simultaneous operation is still a central task.
• Learners and teachers need to support each other more in dealing with digital technologies and critically reflect on the use of technology.
• In addition to a strategic goal orientation that strengthens openness and cooperation, it is particularly relevant for contemporary academic teaching that innovative and successfully evaluated virtualization is anchored in the development of study programmes, in the interpretation of examination law and in the curricula in the long term.

Conclusions

A position paper from 2020 formulates short, medium and long-term goals for the digital supplementation of teaching at the TUD. It emphasizes the importance of including the student perspective and the use of synergies to further develop digital teaching.

Innovation idea

virTUos stands for the innovative redesign of digital teaching at TUD Dresden University of Technology. Three central areas of activity have been identified in which virTUos operates: Internship & Assessment Formats, Collaboration & Internationalization and Competence Development & Open Teaching. These areas are addressed by two innovation teams that develop hybrid and virtual teaching and learning formats in an interdisciplinary exchange.

HYBRID strategy:

• Developed and driven forward by the integration team - identification and evaluation of potentials
• Strategies for sustainable integration into curricula and examination law

Innovation teams:

• Two teams standardize teaching formats in four steps: conception & further development, testing, transfer, dissemination
• Support from a steering committee

Integration of expertise:

• Cooperation with partners such as DIU, SLUB, CA/UKD
• Goal: Long-term offer of virtual and hybrid scenarios

Innovation features:

• Students as active co-creators
• Development of teaching-learning scenarios with international appeal
• Hybrid learning as part of strategic university development
• Open teaching as Open Educational Practices (OEP)

Networking and collaboration:

• Interdisciplinary and interprofessional sub-projects
• Agile innovation teams coordinate central support structures

Goals of the HYBRID strategy:

• Institutional anchoring of the solutions
• Harmonization of digital teaching and learning approaches
• Promotion of a culture of digital learning

Project implementation:

• Agile and iterative work processes
• Strategic coordination by the steering committee
• Integration into existing curricula and international dissemination This structured overview provides a clear insight into virTUos' digitalization strategy, which aims to improve the quality and flexibility of university teaching at TUD.

_{Fig. 1 (high-resolution version): virTUos structure. left: Orchestrated interaction of virTUos departments, support and transfer partners. right: Project matrix with work packages (WP 1.1-3.4), which can be assigned to three areas of activity (rows) and four project steps (columns) and whose results are integrated and implemented in a university-wide strategy HYBRID.}

Project plan

The virTUos project aims to develop and consolidate hybrid and virtual teaching and learning scenarios. The university is drawing on expertise from various departments and local transfer partners such as Dresden International University (DIU) and the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB).

The virTUos project pursues two central perspectives:

• Innovation line for teaching-learning scenarios:
  • Development of concrete teaching-learning scenarios in interdisciplinary sub-projects.
  • Testing and further development of these scenarios.
• Process and structure development:
  • Focus on interdisciplinary concept and offer developments.
  • Development of concepts and recommendations for a university-wide rollout of hybrid teaching and learning contexts through the HYBRID strategy.

HYBRID strategy:

• Systematic bundling of developments and findings from the areas of activity.
• Development of needs-oriented concepts to strengthen and consolidate the advisory and support structure in the area of digitalization in teaching.

Areas of activity and sub-projects:

• Internship & assessment formats: collaboration of projects such as HybParc, PraktikaHybrid and Telepresence.
• Collaboration & internationalization: Projects such as DikoLint and Digital Herrnhut combine their experiences to virtualize teaching offerings.
• Skills development & open teaching: Projects such as ExDiMed and TutoringHybrid provide support with digital didactic expertise.

Project implementation:

• Four development steps: conception, testing, transfer, dissemination.
• Synergetic collection and standardization of hybrid solutions.
• Provision of resources for didactic and technical scaling.

Quality assurance:

• Support from an external Advisory Board and a Steering Committee.
• Regular strategy meetings and review meetings for evaluation and quality assurance.

Implementation and transfer concept:

• Development of a concept for internal transfer and external dissemination.
• Establishment of a change management unit for operational implementation.
• Use of formats such as Design Thinking Sprints and Corporate Learning Community.

Cooperation with partners:

• Involvement of partners such as SLUB, DIU and CA/UKD for sustainable learning and international dissemination.
• Development of new training methods and continuing education courses.

_{Fig. 2 Sub-projects work together within the areas of activity in agile innovation teams (see Fig. 2). Cross-field interaction is supported by the integration team, further developed in the HYBRID strategy and coordinated by the steering committee (see Fig. 1).}

Project implementation

Development steps:

• Conception & further development: Identification and standardization of existing hybrid solutions. Development of new components as required.
• Testing: Interdisciplinary cooperation for practical application and feedback of the digitization concepts.
• Transfer: Establishment and dissemination of proven concepts as standards. Securing resources for didactic and technical scaling.
• Dissemination: Documentation and accessibility of the developed concepts within and outside the TUD, in cooperation with SLUB, DIU and CA/UKD.

Strategic integration:

• Use of agile and iterative work processes.
• Assignment of timelines to the areas of activity and the HYBRID strategy.

Quality assurance:

• Steering by a Steering Committee, supported by an Advisory Board, for strategic coordination and evaluation.
• Organization of strategy meetings and review meetings for quality assurance and public discussion.

Implementation and transfer concept:

• Development of concepts for internal transfer and external dissemination by innovation teams and the integration team.
• Establishment of a change management unit for operational implementation.
• Direct feeding of project results into existing curricula.
• Use of formats such as design thinking sprints for multidirectional transfer.

Collaboration with partners:

• Involvement of SLUB, DIU and CA/UKD for sustainable learning and international dissemination.
• Development of new training methods and further education courses in cooperation with DIU.

In the course of the project (Fig. 4), the timelines resulting from the objectives and development steps are assigned to the areas of activity and the overarching HYBRID strategy. Agile and iterative work processes form the basis.

Process, structural and result quality

Quality assurance:

• The Steering Committee, supported by an external Advisory Board, is responsible for the strategic coordination of implementation, transfer and evaluation.
• Reporting to the Teaching Coordination Staff at the Vice-Rector Academic Affairs and the Standing Committee of the Senate.
• Supporting the integration team in the planning and implementation of regular strategy meetings to evaluate results.

Review meetings and public formats:

• Organization of review meetings for discussion and quality assurance with external guests.
• Implementation of public exchange formats such as final conferences, based on the experiences of the Future Labs and the Lessons Learned series.

HYBRID strategy:

• Formulating recommendations for sustainable integration and change management in collaboration with the Steering Committee and the Advisory Board.
• Promotion of an open error culture inspired by design thinking: rapid testing and multi-perspective evaluation of interdisciplinary concepts.

Quality standards:

• Alignment of didactic interventions according to the standards of the German Association for University Didactics (dghd).
• Integration of quality analysis into the TUD's quality management system, supplemented by teaching analysis polls and formative interviews.

Evaluation of project collaboration:

• Agile evaluation through retrospectives and review meetings.
• Public reporting of quality assurance results at conferences and in OEP/OER materials.

Implementation and transfer concept

HYBRID strategy:

• Development of a concept for internal transfer and external dissemination by two innovation teams and the integration team.
• Goal: Anchoring change in teaching and learning practice.

Change management:

• Establishment of a transformation-oriented change management unit for operational implementation.
• Innovation teams as central hubs for networking, exchange and dissemination.

Multidirectional transfer:

• Integration of different competence levels (DigCompEdu).
• Promotion of tutoring and reverse mentoring.
• Use of corporate learning community formats and design thinking sprints.

Transfer partners and dissemination:

• Collaboration with SLUB, DIU and CA/UKD for sustainable learning and lifelong study.
• DIU develops new educational methods and conducts continuing education programs.
• SLUB provides open practices and resources for external audiences.

International orientation:

• Involvement of international projects and target groups (e.g. DikoLint, DigitalHerrnhut).
• Exchange and testing of project results in international contexts.

Collaboration structures:

• Use of agile innovation teams, integration team, steering committee and advisory board.
• Regular retrospectives and review meetings for quality assurance and further development.

Long-term anchoring:

• The approach of agile innovation teams will be continued as an integrated teaching development model of the ZiLL.
• Publication of project results as part of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

References and project-relevant literature in selection

• Altmann, M., & Clauss, A. (2020). Designing cases to foster virtual mobility in international collaborative group work12. In Proceedings of the EDULEARN20 (pp. 8350-8359). https://doi. org/10.21125/edulearn.2020.2059

• Funke, I., Mees, S. T., Weitz, J., & Speidel, S. (2019). Video-based surgical skill assessment using 3D convolutional neural networks. International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, 14, 1217-1225. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11548-019-01995-1
• Funke, I., et al. (2019). Using 3D convolutional neural networks to learn spatiotemporal features for automatic surgical gesture recognition in video. In D. Shen et al. (Eds.), Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention - MICCAI 2019 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 11768). Springer, Cham. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-32254-0_52
• Hoidn, S., & Klemenčič, M. (Eds.). (2021). The Routledge International Handbook of Student-Centered Learning and Teaching. Abingdon, New York.
• Ludwig, M., & Schlegel, B. (2021). Coaching in the context of university tutor qualification. How tutors can be supported in the digital semester. Coaching Magazin, 2/2021.
• Pfeiffer, M., et al. (2018). IMHOTEP: virtual reality framework for surgical applications. International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, 13, 741-748. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11548-018-1730-x
• Redecker, C., & Punie, Y. (2017). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu). Luxembourg. https://doi. org/10.2760/159770
• Röhle, A., Horneff, H., & Willemer, M. C. (2021). Practical teaching in medical studies in times of COVID-19. Report on the COVID-19-related redesign of peer-supported teaching in the skills lab using an inverted classroom format. GMS Journal for Medical Education, 38(1). https://doi. org/10.3205/zma001398
• Schmidt, H. J. (2021). "Method: sticky notes?"! Design Thinking and the digital transformation of higher education. In O. Janoschka (Ed.), Shaping digitalization in studies and teaching together. Wiesbaden.
• Schoop, E., & Lasch, A. (2021). New learning culture of digitality. In Microsoft Envision Education 2020. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
• Schoop, E., Clauss, A., & Safavi, A. (2020). A framework to boost virtual exchange through international virtual collaborative learning: The German-Iranian example. In Virtual Exchange Borderless Mobility between the European Higher Education Area and Regions Beyond. Bonn. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
• Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK). (2017). Education in the digital world. Strategy of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs. Berlin. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
• Zitzelsberger, O., et al. (Eds.). (2019). Qualification of female subject tutorsin an interdisciplinary perspective* (Blickpunkt Hochschuldidaktik, Vol. 135). Bielefeld.