University honours eight lecturers

On 19 November 2015, eight lecturers from the University of Oldenburg received the Teaching Prize for the 2014/15 academic year at a ceremony open to the university under the patronage of Prof. Dr Gunilla Budde, Vice President for Studies and Teaching. For the first time, the jury awarded a special prize in the category "Best Major Event". The winners each receive 1,000 euros in prize money for teaching.

With the Teaching Prize, the university recognises outstanding university teaching and at the same time encourages a debate about teaching and learning processes at the university. "The proposals submitted impressively convey how well the teaching staff who have now been honoured succeed in supporting students in their learning processes in a motivating and activating way. An attractive learning environment is crucial for the success of students and therefore a central pillar of our university," explained Prof Dr Gunilla Budde at the award ceremony.

In the 2014/15 academic year, students were once again invited to nominate particularly successful courses and modules for the Teaching Award. A jury selected this year's award winners from the nominations received. This year's prize in the "Best Module" category went to physicist Prof Dr Martin Holthaus for his successful teaching of complex fundamentals. In the "Best Event" category, the jury recognised the didactic concept on conflict management in schools by Olaf Meyer-Ahrens from the Institute of Educational Sciences. Prof Dr Jutta Kunz (Institute of Physics), Dr Thorsten Plaggenborg (Institute of Chemistry) and Prof Dr Björn Poppe, Thomas Albin and Andreas Schönfeld (Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics) taught students "In-depth Observation Techniques in Astrophysics" and thus impressed in the "Research-based Learning" category. The students' vote counted in a different way for the "Best large-scale event" award: Lecturers were able to apply themselves with the results of their course evaluation. Computing Science lecturer Prof Dr Axel Hahn did best with his teaching of Business Informatics.

^{UGO board member Oliver Thomsen (far left) and Prof Dr Gunilla Budde (far right) congratulate the award winners on their success (from left): Prof Dr Jutta Kunz, Andreas Schönfeld, Prof Dr Martin Holthaus, Thomas Albin, Prof Dr Axel Hahn, Olaf Meyer-Ahrens, Prof Dr Björn Poppe, Dr Thorsten Plaggenborg.}

The University of Oldenburg has been honouring outstanding achievements by university lecturers since 1998. The jury is made up of lecturers, students and a representative of the Oldenburg University Society (UGO).

The "Teaching Prize" is sponsored by the UGO.

The award winners at a glance

Category: Best module

Prof Dr Martin Holthaus (School V, Institute of Physics)
Module: "Theoretical Physics I: Classical Particles and Fields I"

From the jury's statement: existing difficulties in understanding are taken seriously throughout, they are addressed in a didactically exemplary manner; special challenges are realistically assessed; appropriate and student-orientated "portioning" and increasing of the demanding content and requirements, successful script as accompanying material

Category: Best event

Olaf Meyer-Ahrens (School I, Institute of Educational Sciences)
Course: "Conflict management in secondary I and secondary II general education schools"

From the jury statement: Successful contribution to teacher training, in which school theory, practical, skills-based training and research orientation overlap and complement each other in a targeted manner

Category: Research-based learning

Prof. Dr Jutta Kunz (School V, Institute of Physics), Dr Thorsten Plaggenborg (School V, Institute of Chemistry), Prof. Dr Björn Poppe, Thomas Albin and Andreas Schönfeld (School VI, Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics) in collaboration with the team from the C2PU observatory in Nice (France)
Course: "In-depth observation techniques in astrophysics"

From the jury statement: Students' methodological and research skills are significantly expanded in an exemplary, contemporary manner and in an international context; largely independent planning and activity of the students can be observed, appropriate and goal-oriented supervision by the lecturers

Special prize "Best large event"

Prof. Dr Axel Hahn, Department of ComputingScience
Course: "Wirtschaftsinformatik I"

Lecturers were able to apply for the "Best Large Course" award with the results of their course evaluation. Prof Dr Axel Hahn scored best among the applicants with his overall assessment by the students in the course evaluation.