E-learning at the University of Göttingen
What are the objectives of digital teaching and learning?
Digital technologies offer students and teachers a wide range of new opportunities and challenges. Almost all areas of life are influenced by digital technology. The task of universities must therefore be to enable students and teachers to develop the competences they need for study, research, the work environment and social participation. This goes far beyond knowledge acquisition and the transfer of knowledge. Digital teaching and learning therefore has two objectives; to develop the digital competencies of students and teachers and to promote professional and social competence through the active use of digital technologies.
What does digital teaching and learning offer?
The current applications for digital technologies in teaching and studying are numerous. Organizational processes, from the enrollment to the self-organization of studies to the validation of certificates, are executed digitally. Social media platforms and short message services have fundamentally changed the communication behavior. Videoconferencing and cooperative platforms facilitate the international co-operation of researchers, teachers and students. Simulations and virtual reality open up realistic scenarios for the testing of acquired knowledge as one step on the path of competence development.
An important building block in teaching
DThe Georg-August-Universität Göttingen understands e-learning as an important building block in teaching with the aim of supporting students in the learning process, thereby increasing the quality of study. Students can use the available possibilities to explore new forms of learning and communication, to participate directly in teaching, and to make the study more flexible through location and time-independent content availabilities.
Teachers can include multimedial content in their lectures, prepare teaching and learning material for digital systems, use mobile devices and thereby increase the interactivity and motivation of the students.
The range of methods allows use of digital media beyond the classroom teaching, right up to the complete digitization of the content for different target groups.
Blended learning models, for e.g. the Inverted Classroom is designed to enable the students to access the relevant content beforehand digitally and the classroom session serves for the consolidation of the subject matter and for the practical learning of content.
The digitization of some subjects even allows professional people to train themselves and to study almost time and location-independent. (Example: AgriCareerNet).
Sustainable anchorage in the everyday life of a university
A user and service-oriented infrastructure has been created for a lasting establishment of e-learning at the University of Göttingen. Training measures and easy access to support and services ensure flexible care and accompany the implementation in the university daily life. The central contact is the team of the Digital Learning and Teaching services.
The financing of e-learning is based on funds for study quality, on the Quality Pact for Teaching (Projects Campus QPLUS and eCULT +), on funds of the Higher Education Pact and university budgets.
Functional specification of E-learning
The presidential board approved the e-learning concept of the Georg-August-University in the meeting on July 14, 2010 after prior approval from the expert committees and the Senate. The document defines framework conditions and central services that are designed to stimulate and promote a positive development of e-learning at the university. The goal is to support teaching through modern methods and tools.
To the concept ...