Mai 2023
University of Oldenburg Faculty Newsletter
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Mai 2023
University of Oldenburg Faculty Newsletter
Three questions for...
...the OLE+ project coordination team
(personal-career-oriented and cross-phase teacher training in Oldenburg)
What do you do at the Department for Study Affairs?
We coordinate the Personal-Career-Oriented and Cross-Phase Teacher Training in Oldenburg (OLE+) project. It has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since 1 January 2016 as part the Teacher Training Quality Initiative and is now in its last year.
Five schools, 17 research associates, the Centre for Teacher Training and Didactics, the Presidential Board and other people are involved in the project. So one of our main tasks is facilitating the information and communication flow. As the coordination team, we also do project planning and documentation, management and financial controlling. The University of Oldenburg has been developing teacher training quite successfully over the years. For example, teaching and learning rooms were set up and developed as part of the project at our university, so student teachers can go there and meet with pupils to try out their teaching. The Research Academy and the associated Research Training Group Teacher Training 2040 were also established.
What are you currently working on?
One exciting task we’re currently working are films on teacher training at the University of Oldenburg aimed at prospective and new students. We developed ideas developed and created content in collaboration with various key players in teacher training, staff from the OLE+ project and student teachers. The films can be found on the teacher training information portal. The portal was initiated by the OLE+ project, is currently being developed by the Centre for Teacher Training and Didactics (DiZ) and should be launched this year.
What impact would you like to see?
Since we’re currently in the last year of the project, the sustainability of the project and its results are an important issue at the moment.
We wish for teaching and learning rooms to continue to be used and developed beyond OLE+, as they are a distinctive feature of teacher training in Oldenburg. We also hope that the use of places of learning outside of university (for instance, museums, memorials, other public places) is expanded and integrated into courses for other subjects. The newly established teaching and learning rooms have already been incorporated into the existing OLELA network, which facilitates continuous dialogue on further developments.
In addition, school development groups have been set up as part of the project at the five teacher training schools, where regular exchanges on topics relevant to teacher happen. We hope that these discussions will continue to take place and make a lasting difference in the coordination of learning and teaching.
We also hope that the establishment of the Research Academy and its integration into the Centre for Teacher Training and Didactics will provide the basis for joint research and support of early-career researchers. This would result in making Oldenburg's research in teacher training more visible to the outside world.
The OLE+ project website Teaching and learning rooms at the University of Oldenburg Research Academy OLELA network
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education/ e-didactics
bigTAP – Qualitative mid-semester evaluation for large study courses
Instructors who want to actively involve their students in the development of their courses can use the Teaching Analysis Poll (TAP) created by the Internal Survey and Teaching and Learning in Higher Education teams. The TAP is now also being offered for large classes with 30 or more students, such as large lectures in lecture halls. The Teaching Analysis Poll for Large Courses (bigTAP) and the regular TAP for smaller courses are qualitative methods that supplement the central course evaluation.
The method, actively used at the University of Oldenburg, provides instructors with structured feedback from their students about aspects of the course which promote and hinder their learning. The TAP is not composed solely of individual opinions, but seeks to determine commonly agreed statements about strengths of the course but also possibilities for improvement.
You can find more information on the TAP on the website. Please note that availability is limited due to capacity constraints.
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Professional Development and Networking
Workshops, lunchtime meetings or consultation: the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education team provides a diverse range of topics and formats for instructors who are looking for professional development opportunities or want to discuss their ideas about teaching. The current events can be found on the events page.
Feel free to send suggestions or topic requests by email to orga.hochschuldidaktik@uol.de.
forschen@studium
Grant applications for instructional projects and ideas about research-based learning open until 4 June 2023
Research-Based Learning programme provides grants to instructors at the University of Oldenburg for implementing research-based learning formats in their courses. Applications for funding courses or ideas related to research-based learning (e.g. hiring student assistants or material resources) can be submitted until 4 June 2023. Instructors can apply for a total of €3,000.
The calls for applications and application forms are available at the forschen@studium website.
World Congress on Undergraduate Research (WorldCUR) 2023
From 4 - 6 April, the third World Congress on Undergraduate Research (WorldCUR) took place at the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). Over 550 students from 35 countries attended. Three students from the University of Oldenburg also attended the congress, where they presented their student research and discussed their work.
The event is characterized by its international atmosphere and the diversity of research areas, which allow participants to engage in a stimulating and interdisciplinary exchange.
Funded research-based learning projects for the 2023 summer semester
Under the auspices of Prof. Karsten Speck, Vice President for Teaching, Learning and International Affairs, the Research-Based Learning committee has selected nine research-based learning instructional projects and seven student research projects on the topic of Crisis-proof?! that will receive grants.
The instructional projects are being carried out in the summer semester. The results of the student research projects will be presented on 30 November 2023 at the Day of Teaching and Learning.
Online student journal forsch! - New Beginnings Edition
The latest issue of the online student journal forsch! on the topic of New Beginnings is coming out this May. The issue publishes the final reports of the student research projects that were funded by forschen@studium in 2022 on this topic. A new addition is an editorial section offering insights into research-based learning at the University of Oldenburg.
Quality management in studying and teaching
Explained, in a nutshell: Quality circle
The quality circle meets three to four times per year to discuss general issues in learning and teaching. The quality circle provides a university-wide forum for exchanging ideas among schools and other institutions.
Members include the Deans of Studies, the learning and teaching coordinators, the Quality Management (QM) Officers of the schools as well as representatives from the Centre for Lifelong Learning (C3L), the Centre for Teacher Training and Didactics (DiZ), Division 3 and the Department for Study Affairs. Two student representatives elected by the Student Parliament (StuPa) have also attended quality circle meetings since 2022. The member of the Presidential Board responsible for teaching and learning (Vice President for Teaching, Learning and International Affairs) moderates and chairs the meetings.
Once a year, the quality circle discusses the quality management system for learning and teaching as well as its further development. Please feel free to send suggestions to:
Internal Surveys
Teaching degree survey
The survey for all students in teacher training degrees is currently open until Sunday 21 May 2023. Students in the Master of Education programme are asked for their opinions on their skills, the course’s theoretical and practical relevance and the coordination of different areas of their studies. The aggregated results will be available starting July on the Internal Surveys website.
Course evaluation
The aggregated results from the 2022/2023 winter semester for the course evaluation carried out every semester are also available online – grouped by school and institute or department.
The main objective of the course evaluation is to receive student feedback on quality of teaching. On an individual level, these results are relevant for the course instructors; in aggregated form, they help to observe the quality development in teaching in individual fields and disciplines.
Currently, the 2023 summer semester evaluations are being prepared. Instructors who would like to have their courses evaluated can contact their school’s evaluation officers.
First year student survey
From mid-November 2022 to mid-January 2023, first year students enrolled in Bachelor's and State Examination degree programmes were asked if they were satisfied with the start of their studies as well as about their expectations and needs, their skills at the start of their studies and their intended career goals as part of the first-year student survey for the 2022/2023 winter semester. The results grouped by school and students’ specialisation, have been published in February 2023.
Project news
SOUVER@N: Working groups results available at all times
The project’s working groups will continuously publish their results for external and internal use via the SOUVER@N project website and the internal messenger service Element.
The legal framework working group compiled legal principles for online examinations according to the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG). Written in collaboration with a working group composed of the legal departments of the SOUVER@N universities, the paper addresses the legal requirements for including online examinations in examination regulations in accordance with the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG).
Credit options for online teaching formats according to Lower Saxony teaching workload regulations (LVVO)
The paper written by Dr. Janine Horn discusses how the voluntary provision, preparation and supervision of online teaching activities can count towards the teaching load in accordance with the Lower Saxony teaching workload regulations at universities (‘Lehrverpflichtungsverordnung’ or LVVO for short).
Evaluation of service and support surveys
The evaluations of the service and support staff survey for the Osnabrück University and TiHo can be found on the internal message service Element. A site-specific evaluation for Leuphana University of Lüneburg and for Clausthal University of Technology will be carried out soon. The general results of the previous surveys were presented by project staff members as part of the Day of Teaching and Learning in November 2022 at the University of Oldenburg.
participate@UOL: What do students need? – Survey results
The participate@UOL project facilitates innovative developments in learning and teaching (learning and teaching labs, virtual reality learning environments, OERs, etc.) both in the central university institutions and the individual schools. In order to better respond to student needs and ideas, all students were invited to take an online survey from mid-January to mid-February 2023. The results of the survey can be accessed on the project page:
DiOLL aufs Ohr: Podcast about digitalisation & teacher training
As part of the Digitalisation in Teacher Training in Oldenburg (DiOLL) project, project staff members are creating podcast episodes on digitalisation and education. In the podcast DiOLL aufs Ohr, the podcast hosts talk to various key players in the education sector and discuss topics such as data protection in schools or Instagram as a textbook. The latest episode addresses Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Open Source in schools and focuses on uses and challenges of such materials for teachers. Podcast episodes can be found on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and RadioPublic.
DiOLL aufs Ohr // University of Oldenburg
For your students
Funding for student research projects
As part of the Research-Based Learning programme, students can apply for funding for research projects all year round, which they implement in courses. The maximum amount of funding per project is €500. Final theses are not eligible for funding.
Let’s BarCamp – What’s on your mind when you think of studying?
When? Thursday 15 June 2023 3.30 p.m. – 8.00 p.m.
Where? University of Oldenburg (UOL), @Campus Haarentor, locations will be announced shortly
What is a BarCamp and what is it about?
A BarCamp provides a relaxed and informal atmosphere for exchanging ideas and networking. The programme is designed, planned and implemented on site together with the participants. During the session planning, which takes place at the beginning, everyone can suggest ideas and topics. These can be small contributions, a question or a topic with a view to discussing it with others. It could, for example, include these questions:
- What are you concerned about three years after the start of the pandemic? How has studying and learning changed? What’s important now?
- What aspects of online learning should be retained?
- What does participation and being involved mean for you?
- What makes UOL and studying here special?
Who are the BarCamp organisers?
participate@UOL project team members. The project focuses on teaching and learning – specifically: what novel approaches teaching and learning might look like.
Where can I find more information?
Barcamp 2023 & Participate Uni Oldenburg (Instagram)
Whether you just want to listen, generate ideas or join in the discussion, come along on Thursday 15 June 2023!
Upcoming events
Save the Date: Thursday 30 November 2023 – Day of Teaching and Learning and Presentation of the Award for Excellence in Teaching
The annual Day of Teaching and Learning and the presentation of the Award for Excellence in Teaching will take place on Thursday 30 November 2023. More information available at:
AI in higher education: events and activities
Artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has been a hotly discussed topics ever since the release of ChatGPT. This technology poses many questions and challenges for teaching and learning. In order to address these and start the conversation at the UOL, the Department for Study Affairs invited instructors and other interested parties to an information and discussion session in March. Participants agreed that text-generating AI can open up interesting new avenues for teaching, but the same time, there is an urgent need for guidelines.
Instructors at the University of Oldenburg who would like to keep informed on issues concerning ChatGPT and events related to it, can register for the Stud.IP community “Teaching and Learning in Higher Education” (Hochschuldidaktik). Further information, such as links, useful resources and upcoming events at the University, are available on the newly launched page Generative AI in Teaching and Learning (currently avaialbe only in German).
Useful information on AI in university teaching
ChatGPT in the university context – a commented link collection.
Series of events of the German Association for Educational and Academic Staff Development in Higher Education (dghd): Artificial Intelligence (AI) in university teaching (recordings of the talks via the dghd Youtube channel)
Lecture recording: AI generators in higher education (teaching) (2023-03-14 | AI generators in higher education (teaching) - Multimedia Kontor Hamburg (mmkh.de)