What do statistics, crops and the production of knowledge have in common? All three topics were the subject of outstanding courses. Eight lecturers have now been honoured for their lectures, seminars and projects.
The Vice President for Studies, Teaching and Equal Opportunities, Prof Dr Sabine Kyora, honoured the social scientists Prof Dr Sebastian Schnettler and Prof Dr Katharina Block, the economists Prof Dr Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach and Hendrik Wolter, the biologist Prof Dr Dirk Albach, the sustainability economists Julia Tschersich and Nina Gmeiner and the educationalist Dr Sylvia Jahnke-Klein. The winners each receive 1,000 euros in prize money for teaching.
The University has been honouring outstanding university teaching with the Teaching Prize since 1998 and encourages students to engage with teaching and learning processes at the university. The university is particularly keen to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. In the 2018/19 academic year, students were once again invited to nominate particularly successful courses for the award. "Outstanding courses are characterised by didactic expertise and creative design - and the courage to use new teaching methods. With the prizes awarded today, we are honouring particularly exemplary examples," explained Kyora at the award ceremony.
In a flipped classroom
This year's prize in the "Best Event" category went to Prof Dr Sebastian Schnettler from the Institute of Social Sciences. He was nominated by the students for the "Statistics I" lecture. Schnettler used the "flipped classroom" method. The lecturer creates videos on the content of the course and makes them available to the students in advance. Questions are then answered in the lecture, the content is deepened and understanding is checked. The jury of lecturers and students was particularly impressed by the use of digital media and the independent preparation and follow-up of the course according to individual learning needs.
Prof. Dr Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach and Hendrik Wolter from the Department of Business, Economics and Law and Prof. Dr Dirk Albach from the Institute of Biology were recognised in the "Research-based learning" category for their "Practical Project - What kind(s) of future do we need?". In this interdisciplinary course, students study crops with regard to organic farming and develop their own research project. Not only the result of the work, but the entire scientific process was recognised as a test achievement. In awarding the prize, the jury particularly recognised the constructive and appreciative feedback and error culture between teachers and students as well as between students themselves.
The grammar school, the post-growth society and the production of knowledge
The students' vote once again counted in a special way for the "Best course evaluation" award: Lecturers were able to apply themselves with the results of their course evaluation. This year, the prize was awarded to three seminars. Julia Tschersich and Nina Gmeiner from the Department of Business, Economics and Law received the award for their course "Happiness without growth - discussion of well-being concepts as foundations for a degrowth society". The two doctoral students had already received the award the previous year. The jury also honoured Prof Dr Katharina Block from the Institute of Social Sciences for her course "Focus on knowledge: Production of Knowledge". Dr Sylvia Jahnke-Klein from the Institute of Educational Sciences also received the prize for her seminar "The grammar school - yesterday, today, tomorrow?".
The Teaching Prize is sponsored by the Universitätsgesellschaft e.V. (UGO). This year, the award ceremony marked the end of the "3rd Day of Teaching and Learning" at the university. The focus was on current issues in university teaching: together, the Schools and the Department for Study Affairs presented a varied programme of activities for students, teaching staff and university employees to watch and take part in.
