Digitization - Challenges and Hopes

Even in the third semester, which was shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to hold the courses largely digitally via platforms such as Zoom or BigBlueButton. While many students have come to terms with this form of teaching, some also had problems due to insufficient internet connections. Many students were in their home towns during the semester and only sporadically in Göttingen. According to the students, it was a great challenge for their own discipline to participate in the digital courses in a concentrated manner, often over several hours a day. We also had to adjust the format of the exam. Since physical examinations in the lecture halls and examination rooms for electronic exams were initially not possible due to the Infection Protection Ordinance, some examinations were held orally via the digital platforms. Most exams, especially for large cohorts in the Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology bachelor’s program, were conducted as online exams. The students had to work on tasks at home on their computers and send the solutions back to the examiners using digital documents. However, the comparability of these exams with the usual face-to-face exams is very limited. Therefore, both students and examiners were happy that, due to the improved infection situation and progress in vaccination, face-to-face examinations were again possible to a limited extent in the summer that was just ending.

A highlight of the 2021 summer semester was the graduation ceremony for Master's students from the 2019/20 and 2020/21 years, which was held digitally for the first time via YouTube. With a live stream from the university auditorium on Wilhelmsplatz, Dean Christian Ammer and Dean of Studies Dirk Jaeger were able to honor more than 60 digitally connected graduates, who were shown by name and sometimes with photos, in a context appropriate to the importance of the degree. The highlights of the event, in addition to the speech by Prof. Jürgen Bauhus from the University of Freiburg, were the awarding of the sponsorship prizes from the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology to the best bachelor students of the year, as well as the Sayn-Wittgenstein sponsorship prizes and the Göttingen prizes for forest ecosystem research to the best master's students . Even though we have received positive feedback on this digital event, we very much hope that from the coming winter semester the situation regarding the pandemic will have improved to such an extent that courses will largely be possible in combination with digital live transmission. Hopefully, the graduation ceremony planned for May 6, 2022 will again take place in Göttingen together with the graduates and their families and friends.