The university wants to expand the traditional model of face-to-face study with new digital and hybrid teaching and learning formats. Students and lecturers are to play an active role in this.
This is the aim of the recently approved participate@UOL project ("Strengthening participation in studying and teaching through digital and hybrid formats") led by Prof Dr Verena Pietzner, Vice President for Studies, Teaching and International Affairs, and Isabel Müskens, Head of the Department for Study Affairs and Teaching. The Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching is funding the project from August with around four million euros over three years. The University of Oldenburg is also involved in the joint project SOUVER@N ("Souver@nes digitales Lehren und Lernen in Niedersachsen"), which is led by the University of Osnabrück.
"We see it as a central task for the next few years to further develop the traditional model of the face-to-face university with digital innovations and thus to redesign studying and teaching in a creative way," says University President Prof Dr Dr Hans Michael Piper. The aim of the participate@UOL project is to enrich studies with new approaches, presentation methods and interaction possibilities.
Learning without barriers
The central idea is to strengthen the participation of students and lecturers in digital and hybrid formats. "We want to design the university in the digital age as a place of learning without barriers and encourage students and teaching staff to participate," emphasises Pietzner. Using planning documents and online surveys on digital teaching, the university analysed its strengths and weaknesses. As a result, the project team identified four areas, the expansion of which is the focus of the participate@UOL project.
The development area "Digital support services" is about a digital guide that provides students with orientation at various stages of their studies, for example at the start of their studies or in the management of studies. Other digital elements are intended to help students, for example, to network socially or get involved with the university. "We want to ensure that students are an active part of the university from their first day of study," says project manager Müskens.
In the second development area, "Open spaces for digital learning and teaching", new digital and hybrid learning and teaching formats are to be created with the involvement of students and teaching staff. One focus here is on research-based learning. In future, students will be able to try out self-organised learning with digital tools in a "Learning Lab". Teaching labs will be available to teachers, where they can work with their students to develop and test digital and hybrid teaching and learning settings, including examination systems. The project also supports teachers in integrating freely available learning content, known as open educational resources, into their teaching.
Support in one place
In the third development area, "Virtual Spaces", the university wants to utilise technologies such as augmented reality, i.e. the computer-assisted expansion of reality perception. One possible example is remote-controlled laboratories that enable students to explore subject matter independently.
The fourth area, "Support for digital and hybrid teaching", aims to develop a portal that brings together all of the university's facilities that support teachers and students in their work. The portal offers users access to all services in one place, from information to personal counselling and training.
The University of Oldenburg is coordinating a work package on shared teaching and learning materials in the joint project SOUVER@N at the University of Osnabrück. The aim is to develop digital teaching content based on a division of labour, for example specific qualifications for primary school teachers or materials to support student tutors in digital teaching. In addition, a collection of exemplary teaching/learning concepts organised by subject and target group is to be made generally available, for example via the Lower Saxony portal for Open Educational Resources.
