E-LEARNING PROJECT Design of experiments
Project management:
Junior Professor Dr. Stefan Scherbaum
Project coordination:
Project staff members:
cand. psych. Micha Englisch
cand. psych. Diana Ewert-Altenhain
cand. psych. Paulina Lemper
cand. psych. Johannes Steffen
Experience has shown that the interface between subject-specific problems and the methodological tools of psychological research methods and experimental design causes students considerable difficulties. In order to provide additional support for the training of students in the subject Methods of Psychology, the Chair of Methods of Psychology, headed by Prof. Bergmann, developed the pilot version of the e-learning module "Experimental Design" in 2008 and 2009 with significant support from the TU Dresden Media Center(http://versuch.file2.wcms.tu-dresden.de/w/index.php/Hauptseite), which has been very well received by students and has attracted attention both inside and outside the TU Dresden, see ZFHE 6(1), 58-71 or FBZHL of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
As part of the completed second project phase, the module was also significantly supported by the TU Dresden Media Center - on the one hand adapted to changed conditions in the courses after the transition from the diploma to the bachelor's degree programs. In addition to imparting knowledge, the module continues to consist primarily of differently designed exercise series and application tasks for experimental design.
On the other hand, the content of the module was expanded to include the subject area "Methods of Psychology" in order to cover the entire content spectrum of the module "M1: Methods of Psychology" in the Bachelor's degree program. An important concern of the further development was the inclusion of modern interactive elements, such as the targeted use of wikis or blogs to support communication among students and between students and lecturers.
After testing the further developed e-learning module in the Bachelor's degree program in Psychology at TU Dresden, the module will be used in addition to the regular courses in this degree program. Its use at other universities in the subject of psychology is conceivable in the future. A step-by-step adaptation of the module to the requirements of other human science degree programs is also possible in the future.
The project was successfully completed on schedule in July 2015. The current version of the module can be found here. In the coming semesters, the module will be evaluated in detail and continuously supervised and developed further in terms of content.