In the fifth Future Lab on May 26, participants focused on strategies for dynamic teaching

Magdalena Selbig

"Outstanding teaching forms the basis for outstanding research." With these words, Rector Prof. Ursula M. Staudinger welcomed the 207 participants of the fifth Future Lab. "We strive for a suitable combination of digital and classical teaching and examination formats that represents the best offer for academics at a leading university." To realize this vision, "we need to become more flexible and individualized."

Prof. Michael Kobel, Vice-Rector Academic Affairs, explained which impulses of the Future Labs 2015/2018 were realized. Good and digital teaching is recognized by teaching awards (e.g. the GFF or the "E-Learning Schmuckstück"). The FLiK modules teach interdisciplinarity in an increasing number of study programs. The "Teaching Synergies Program" promotes university didactic topics. To hone their digital skills, students are provided with a comprehensive portfolio by the Career Service and lecturers by the ZiLL.  

EXU measures such as FOSTER and "Teaching Excellence Tracks" as well as the supervision of theses by "TUD Young Investigators" focus on research-oriented teaching. So, what about plans for the future? The Vice-Rectorate's strategy for TUD is to transform into an excellent place for lifelong and research-oriented study. "We want to expand the infrastructure for mobile learning in seminar rooms and lecture halls," said Prof. Kobel. A second aspectis competency-based teaching and an educational mission focused on personality development and preparation for societal challenges. The prerequisite for quality assurance of study-centered teaching is an appreciative and trusting exchange between lecturers and students. Following this short presentation, the participants had the opportunity to join four thematic groups out of a total seven.

In the "Digitalization" thematic group, participants praised asynchronous teaching, such as downloadable lectures on the Saxony video campus. Other support tools also worked well in online teaching during the pandemic and should become a permanent feature e.g.  for oral exams. "TUD can lead the way with fresh, innovative concepts if you dare to experiment with digital teaching," wrote one participant. In retrospect, it was precisely this need that had a unifying effect over the usual hierarchical principles between lecturers and students: a united community in the acquisition of new competencies. Since there was consensus on online teaching, there would be a need for new formats of social communitarization. In this context, hybridity became the concept of the future: conducting online frontal teaching and holding dialog-orientated lectures on-site. The next step would be a hackathon, in which the participants would gather all the technology and try it out to design hybrid-teaching formats.

The university-wide teaching mission was discussed in thematic group 2. Together with the Extended Rectorate, various working groups elaborated on teaching-related issues, such as research orientation, program development, or teaching quality. The function of the "vision for teaching" and the creation of a practical reference were discussed in the thematic group: "How should the mission statement help our lecturers? More support staff is of no use without a relevance for seminars," expressed Dr. Dr. Julia Koinova-Zöllner (teaching staff representative of the Faculty of Education) and she added: "We have to fight for student assistant (SHK) positions, while modularization requires us to bring a lot of information into practice." Whether new structures will emerge following the mission statement on teaching would remain open for the time being due to its non-binding nature. However, the framework conditions for technically demanding subjects and models for digital teaching could be anchored in it.

The participants in the fourth thematic group discussed new approaches to the development of study programs. Prof. Eric Schoop (Chair of Business Informatics - Information Management) said, "TUD needs more situational learning to establish relevance to businesses." The Erasmus program was also addressed as a topic. In this regard, Claudia Meißner (Social Affairs Officer in the Student Council) said, "Stays abroad are not important in the degree programs. The credit transfer is cumbersome or not provided for. The stay abroad is left out because you have to finish your studies quickly." The argument of deadlocked teaching models was rebutted by the Vice-Rector Academic Affairs: "Lecturers can design courses flexibly. If that's not enough, we also change module descriptions." Dr. Lydia Günther (teaching coordinator in the Medical Biology Department) addressed a core problem: "There is consensus on content and ideas. However, it takes a certain amount of funding to effectuate the implementations. That's where teaching takes a back seat compared to research." In contrast, the improvisations in the pandemic were considered progress.

The sixth thematic group dealt with the soft skills that future TUD graduates should have, especially since core competencies are the goal of many module descriptions in the course of studies. One participant stated, “Lecturers have to be taken by the hand since they have not been taught key competencies." Dr. Eckhard Auch (Research Associate, Chair of Tropical and International Forestry) added, "If concrete implementation ideas - e.g., facilitation by students - are fixed in the modules, the goal becomes more binding." Academic writing and self-management should be placed as foundations at the beginning of studies, he said. Topics such as sustainability, social responsibility and business studies could be taken over by the general studies program. Lutz Thies (representative of the student council in the Senate) challenged the concept: "Depending on the study program, the scope of AQUA modules turns out to be very inconsistent. In addition, the offers are selectable in such a way that core competencies are not addressed." Offering interdisciplinary lectures, which however must not be part of the overcrowded curricula, was a suggestion of the thematic group.

At the end of the Future Lab, Prof. Kobel pointed out how interconnected all the topics of this Future Lab were. In addition to thanking all participants, he also emphasized the superb preparation "by a team that has worked intensively over the past months to bring about our profitable exchange."

For information on the topic circles 3, 5 and 7, visit https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/profil/exzellenz/zukunftslabore-2021/zukunftslabor-5. The next Future Lab on the topic of digitalization has been on June 14, 2021.