University teaching of the future is not only more digital, but also more varied overall. Students are given more opportunities to get involved and take the initiative themselves. The participate@UOL project is working to implement new formats.
The Learning Lab is still something of an insider’s tip. The bright, welcoming room on the winding upper floors of the library is open to all students: it is a place where they can learn and work together, and which offers a wide range of technical facilities. The Learning Lab is one of the most visible outcomes of the participate@UOL project, which has been running since 2021 and has just been extended for a further year until the end of 2025. The ‘Innovation in Higher Education’ foundation has provided the university with 3.9 million euros to trial and further develop new teaching and learning formats, identify the best ones and ultimately put them into practice.
The project’s central aim is to transform university teaching, for example through more interactive elements and new technologies. “What drives us is our desire to make studying more attractive,” emphasises Peter England from the Department for Study Affairs, who, as project coordinator, is pulling the strings. The project team, comprising around 20 people, is closely linked to many other areas of the university: some staff members are based in the Schools, others work in higher education pedagogy, and IT services and BIS are also involved.
The project focuses on many small improvements, which will first be trialled and then rolled out on a permanent basis. The innovations include training for lecturers on new digital tools, various free educational materials – known as Open Educational Resources – and digital support services for first-year students, including, for example, a virtual tour of the library. There are courses that utilise the possibilities of virtual reality (VR) and workshops run by students for students on topics such as mindfulness or drawing up a study plan.
Underpinning it all is the concept of participation, which is already reflected in the project’s title. “We start by addressing the students’ needs,” emphasises England. To identify these needs, student project team members Friederike Ulses and Isabel Larisch were actively involved in designing the Learning Lab. The two were tasked with finding out how students envisage an ideal learning environment and what constitutes an ‘attractive learning atmosphere’.
“In doing so, we found the peer-to-peer principle to be particularly effective,” reports Larisch, who recently completed her teacher training degree. She and Ulses met with the student body and student committees and discussed other students’ ideas with them in workshops. It turned out that whilst some requests – such as access to power sockets and a stable Wi-Fi connection – were widely shared, there were also very different needs beyond that.
“You’re allowed to move everything around and leave it that way. You don’t have to be quiet; lively discussions are encouraged.”
The Learning Lab has become a space that offers maximum flexibility. Groups can work together on the smartboard here in a pleasant atmosphere or arrange the seating loosely in a circle for a workshop. Two people can lean over a laptop together on cosy sofas with a partition, or practise giving a presentation in a virtual environment. There are fold-out group tables, beanbags and individual workstations. “You’re allowed to move everything around and leave it just as it is. You don’t have to be quiet; lively discussions are encouraged,” says Lars Seehausen, a specialist in digital teaching, who is on hand to help users with any queries.
In addition, the Learning Lab offers specialised technical equipment: there are computers available for editing films, others on which you can experiment with AI, as well as VR headsets, a podcast studio, a 3D camera and a multi-touch table. Here, students have every opportunity to produce not only traditional credits such as seminar papers or presentations, but also new formats such as podcasts, films or digital exhibition tours.
This could become more common in future – as new, mostly digital technologies are also finding their way into teaching modules. Peter England emphasises that good teaching does not necessarily have to be digital: “Even traditional seminars can be livened up with interactive elements, such as a quiz or so-called peer-to-peer learning, where students share knowledge with one another.” The important thing, he says, is to bring more interaction – and therefore more enjoyment – into teaching.
Making decisions in the virtual A&E
Digital teaching formats, however, offer particularly fascinating possibilities. This can be seen at
with Dr Susanne Quintes, a member of the ‘participate@UOL’ team in School V - School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She is responsible for the ‘virtual A&E’, a learning programme for medical students. In a seminar room, Quintes presents several VR headsets, the accompanying controllers, two laptops and a high-performance desktop computer. “That’s all you need for this,” she says. The virtual A&E works much like a computer game: The user finds themselves in a virtual hospital and receives a message that a sick patient is in the treatment room. They must now decide what to do next. Fellow students can follow the progress of the simulation on a large screen.
The aim of the exercise is for the trainee doctors to learn how to correctly assess emergencies under time pressure, prioritise tasks, make an initial diagnosis and initiate treatment – all in a safe environment where mistakes have no consequences. Last winter semester, the virtual A&E was used in two seminars involving more than 80 students. Quintes does not see the format as a replacement for established teaching methods, such as sessions with simulated patients, but rather as an extension to practise or experience things that would otherwise be difficult to achieve during the course of study. Such as the stress that arises in an emergency situation.
The evaluation showed that the new teaching method has been well received. After the VR training, many of the students rated themselves as more competent than before and felt better prepared to deal with emergencies. “VR will be used in one form or another in many degree programmes,” Quintes is convinced. For example, in chemistry, to illustrate the geometry of complex molecules, or in history, to immerse oneself in historical scenarios. Teacher training students could learn virtually how to handle difficult situations in the classroom.
Experimenting and trying things out becomes easier
For such new formats to become established in university teaching, lecturers must also be enthusiastic about them. The project team is also focusing on participation in this regard and, for example, supports courses in which new approaches are being tried out. Beyond this, the staff offer a great deal of support, helping, for instance, with the use of new technology such as VR equipment. In small training sessions, they also regularly introduce new digital tools for teaching, explaining how they work and which teaching concepts they are suited to. England has observed that those lecturers who successfully trial innovative formats act as champions: “They tell their colleagues about it. Their colleagues then come to us and want to try it out too.”
To make experimenting and trying out new approaches in teaching easier in future, a ‘Teaching Lab’ is currently being set up for all Schools. Much like the Learning Lab, it is intended to be as flexible a space as possible. England’s vision: “Ideally, even the walls could be adjusted or podiums moved so that every conceivable teaching scenario can be realised.”
This article first appeared in the current issue of the university newspaper UNI INFO .
