Teaching is also learning. The Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM), together with Philipps University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen aims to contribute to quality teaching and therefore hosted the conference "Teaching Futures – Challenge Accepted" at the Friedberg campus. It offered lecturers, students, researchers, and other interested parties the opportunity to exchange ideas and network about innovative teaching and learning methods.
150 guests attended the conference in person and 80 online. Among them was a group of ten students from Colombia. Online connections from contributors and participants came not only from all over Germany, but also from as far away as the Netherlands and Ukraine. The welcoming address was given by Prof. Dr. Katja Specht, THMVice President for Student Affairs and Teaching: "I am delighted that we are daring to look into the future today. With this conference, we are trying to link projects in order to achieve a lasting impact at the end of the day." Prof. Dr. Alexander Goesmann, Vice President for Student Affairs and Teaching at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), confirmed: "It is important that we work together in the various projects to open up new perspectives for teaching and keep a close eye on current developments, and this includes the topic of AI." Prof. Dr. Kati Hannken-Illjes, Vice President for Education at Philipps University Marburg, expressed her opinion: "We can enrich our students through new, flexible study formats. Teaching can become more successful, fairer, and more international."
The main topics of the event were: Presence, Hybrid & Co - learning design of the future, artificial intelligence (AI) in university teaching processes and cooperative digital learning worldwide. There were also impulse contributions that provided insights into future-oriented developments in the area of digitally supported teaching and learning at universities. In addition, we worked together on future topics in six workshops. The participants were able to gain practical insights into the work of the Center for Blind and Visually Impaired Students (BliZ) at THM and the VR/AR laboratories of the partner universities of the NIDIT project. The content started Dr. Kerstin Helker from the Eindhoven University of Technology, who presented the concept of “Challenge-Based Learning” in her keynote speech.
The conference was organized in cooperation with the projects Network for Impactful Digital International Teaching Skills (NIDIT), HessenHub and the THM Center for Cooperative Teaching and Learning (ZekoLL). The NIDIT joint project of the three universities in Central Hesse has set itself the goal of strengthening the skills of teachers in the digital and international space. In the joint project “HessenHub – Hessen Digital University Teaching Network”, 13 Hessian universities have come together to develop innovative concepts for digitally supported teaching.
The conclusion took place in a relaxed atmosphere and offered the opportunity to clarify final questions, exchange ideas and learn from each other. In addition, the group game of the European Football Championship between Germany and Hungary was watched together.