11.01.2021

Learning 4.0: Project for digital teaching at the TU Ilmenau

Meike Hofmann

Ilmenau University of Technology is launching a project on innovative formats for digital university teaching: a basic course for prospective engineers that combines the advantages of classroom and digital teaching. Already in the middle of the coming summer semester, in early summer, the new basic course is to be offered in parts. The SIMGAM project is funded by the joint program "Fellowships for Innovations in Digital University Teaching" of the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany and the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society with 50,000 euros for 12 months. Dr. Meike Hofmann from the Department of Technical Optics at TU Ilmenau is leading the SIMGAM project - "Simulations and Games in the Self-Learning Phases of a Blended Learning Basic Course". The project develops new learning formats with which students can adapt learning phases to their personal needs and thus make their self-study more attractive. Digital tools, for example videos, computer games and other computer applications, are used for this purpose. Learning content is recorded and is thus available at any time. In order to progress to the next learning unit, tests can be completed and points collected. Such game-like elements are intended to increase the students' motivation to deal with learning content independently and to optimise their learning progress. Phases of self-study are combined with face-to-face events or video conferences or hybrid events, in which in-depth knowledge is imparted and complicated issues are explained in detail. In addition, teachers and students can exchange ideas in person - an essential prerequisite for successful learning. The SIMGAM project will be carried out, among other things, within the framework of a project seminar. It is also planned to involve student assistants, who will be financed with the funding, as well as the necessary technical aids. "The project is a step towards the systematic development of innovative university teaching with digital support," says Prof. Anja Geigenmüller, Vice President for Education at the university. According to her, the Corona pandemic has fundamentally changed university teaching, and not only in Germany: "While we had to switch to online teaching rather involuntarily in spring 2020, we are now faced with the challenge of combining the best of both worlds - online teaching and face-to-face teaching - to create a new teaching quality." The combination of online and face-to-face forms of teaching is the order of the day. The Vice-President believes that a return to exclusively face-to-face teaching is out of the question: "Despite all the restrictions, students and lecturers have also experienced many advantages of online teaching: flexibility in terms of time and place, the possibility of self-determined development and repetition of learning content, new didactic concepts. These experiences will influence the evaluation of teaching offers, study models and thus study locations in the future. Projects like SIMGAM are therefore extremely important for the attractiveness of the TU Ilmenau."

Anja Geigenmüller is also proud that a young scientist from the TU Ilmenau was able to successfully assert herself in the competition for funding: "I would like to particularly emphasise the commitment of young scientists to develop innovative forms of teaching. Securing a skilled workforce only works with attractive courses of study, committed teachers and innovative teaching concepts. To achieve this, we should not only honour excellent research, but also excellent teaching, also with a view to young academics." Contact: Prof. Anja Geigenmüller Vice President for Education +49 3677 69-5010 vpb@tu-ilmenau.de