Changing Approaches in Teaching   [12.06.19]

The universities face a number of teaching challenges: The cohorts are getting smaller, the competition with other universities bigger, the student body more heterogeneous, and the tasks of the universities more diverse. Anyone who wants to position themselves as an attractive place to study in the future should also take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitization. With a new staff unit for the further development of teaching, the University of Hohenheim wants to respond to these changes and contribute to networking among the various players. The Online Courier met the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Prof. Dr. Korinna Huber, and Dr. Folkert Degenring from the new staff unit for coffee.

Mrs. Huber, Mr. Degenring, why exactly was the new staff position set up for the further development of teaching?

Huber: For some years now, university teaching has been undergoing a profound change, which we want to and must actively shape. There is, for example, the steadily growing willingness of young people to take up a degree program and the rapidly growing number of students per year.

At the same time, in the future we must prepare ourselves for ever greater competition with other universities for students, on which the allocation of budget funds also depends. And last but not least, there is the mega-trend of digitalization, which also affects universities in many ways.

The conclusion from these observations is that if the university wants to remain successful, it must adapt its teaching to the changed conditions.

Degenring: This is exactly what the new staff position is all about: a coordinated and networked approach and support for topics that are evident in all three faculties.

Huber: Developments in higher education policy should also be mentioned: For example, funding in the field of teaching is increasingly being allocated on a competitive basis - very much in the same way as has long been the case in the field of research. Mr. Degenring will also support this in the future: In submitting applications and coordinating projects.

 

How is Hohenheim positioned for all these changes?

Huber: In recent years, we have met these challenges very successfully.

For example, we have succeeded in attracting an above-average amount of funds for teaching: Starting with our award-winning reform project "Humboldt reloaded" through to our successful applications for the fund "Erfolgreich Studieren in Baden-Württemberg".

Degenring: In the past, for example, we were able to raise funds to better support first-year students in orienting themselves at university and closing any gaps in their knowledge.

Other objectives of projects in teaching are:  To coordinate teaching contents even better and to define clearly in which module students acquire which competences. It is also particularly important to make it clear from the outset what teaching content is needed for later on. Examinations should also focus on the competences acquired and not on memorizing knowledge.

Huber: We want to continue all these activities in the future and continue the initiatives that have been successfully launched. The faculties and the President's Office agreed that we needed a central point of contact for this on a permanent basis. That person should support the Vice President for Academic Teaching, network actors, and help to raise new funding for teaching and, last but not least, develop offers for the faculties and degree programs when there is a need for change.

We are very happy that we were able to recruit Mr. Degenring for this task, who has already coordinated the STEP up! project.

You mentioned some challenges that the university has to face in the area of teaching. Can you elaborate a little more on that? For example, isn't it a good thing if more and more young people want to study? Especially when you think of the declining birth rate?

Degenring: Indeed. In 2001, about 36% of a cohort studied, in 2017 it was 57%. I personally consider this development to be very pleasing, because it means greater diversity.

Nevertheless, the trend towards "mass universities" poses challenges for us. Because at the same time it is accompanied by very different levels of knowledge and competence at the start of studies.

This is particularly clear in subjects such as mathematics. We can no longer assume that all first-year students will equally have the necessary basic knowledge for their studies. For this reason, we have created a series of offers in the introductory phase to bring all students to the same level: e.g. bridge courses, in-depth tutorials, or special offers for exam preparation.

Beyond this aspect, it is our goal to facilitate orientation in the first semesters and to respond better to the different needs of the students.

 

With the Abitur you actually acquire the general higher education entrance qualification. Doesn't this delegate tasks to the universities which should actually be done at the schools?

Huber: One can evaluate the development quite differently. Personally, I think it would be better if the universities could concentrate fully on their real task, which is scientific education. What is certain, however, is that the current development will continue for the foreseeable future. We must therefore rise to the challenges and make the most of the prevailing conditions.

Although, in percentage terms, more and more young people are studying, the low-birth cohorts seem to be gradually making themselves felt at the universities. In this semester, enrollments at the University of Hohenheim have fallen by approximately 3% and applications by as much as 13%.

 

What must the University of Hohenheim prepare for in the future? Is there a danger that courses may have to be reduced again? Because fewer students automatically means less money and fewer jobs.

Huber: Of course we want to avoid this in Hohenheim as much as possible. However, we will only succeed if we maintain our position as a particularly attractive place to study in competition with other universities.

It is therefore important that, in addition to the activities already mentioned for the further development of teaching, we also better highlight and communicate the special profile of the Hohenheim degree programs. As a small campus university, we traditionally work very closely together and were thus able to launch unique programs such as the interfaculty Bioeconomy program. We should make even greater use of this advantage.

Incidentally, the comparatively sharp decline in the number of applications may also be interpreted differently...

In what way?

Huber: The University of Hohenheim and many other universities are working towards ensuring that young people are better informed before they start their studies and that they make a conscious decision about a degree program or place of study.

On the one hand, we hope that this will lead to a decline in multiple applications and reduced expenses for the procedure to offer other applicants places in a program when too many who were accepted in the first round decide to enroll in another program. Above all, however, we want our students to really be there with all their hearts and to successfully complete their studies. Perhaps these efforts are already showing the first signs of success.

Degenring: At the University of Hohenheim, we support prospective students in their decision-making, e.g. through the "Virtual Study Orientation" (ViStO) project. In this context, we have completely revised our information pages on the individual degree programs.

 

You also mentioned digital change earlier. What does it mean in concrete terms for Hohenheim?

Degenring: Digitization affects us at very different levels. On the one hand, the areas we explore and teach are changing: Agriculture has been at the forefront of digitisation for many years and has been a pioneer in the use of GPS data, for example. And the financial sector has been undergoing a fundamental transformation for some time now due to new technologies - to name just two examples.

But digitization also affects all administrative processes at the university and, last but not least, of course, the way people teach and learn. Here, the potential of digitisation will be exploited even better in the future with new teaching formats.

 

 

 

Can you give me an example?

Degenring: One approach that is already being practiced in Hohenheim is, for example, the "Flipped Classroom" concept.

There is no longer one authority person standing in front and talking for 90 minutes while the students listen. Instead, students acquire content independently with the help of digital materials.

The time in the lecture hall can then be used more effectively to discuss, deepen, apply, and ask questions with lecturers and fellow students. In the future, we want to create the conditions for further developing such modern teaching and learning formats.

 

We will report, thank you very much for the interview!

Interview: Leonhardmair; Translation: Neudorfer