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4D – 4 Dimensions of Digital and Didactic Development

The 4D – 4 Dimensions of Digital and Didactic Development project, funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre (Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching), is promoting digitalisation at the University of Freiburg from 2021-2024 with a wide range of measures. The Department of Teaching Strategy and Digitalisation is responsible for the coordination of the overall project, as well as the implementation of several sub-projects (awarding E-IDAs and E-Teaching Fellowships, strengthening the network of digitalisation ambassadors and conceptualising a Centre for Learning and Teaching).

The project aims to bring the university as a learning organisation into an agile transformation process in four dimensions (4D) to strengthen university teaching. This is in keeping with the guidelines of the Strategy for Digitalisation of Teaching developed at the University of Freiburg in 2017-2020.

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Advancing the curricula for students is at the heart of the first dimension of our model, where digital competences and future skills are fostered in digital learning environments. From a methodological perspective, the focus here is on self-directed, student-centred learning. Activities in the second dimension include providing (media-)didactic support to instructors involved in digital teaching, strengthening networks between instructors and promoting innovative digital teaching through various incentives (E-IDAs and E-Teaching Fellowships). Organisational development is the goal of the third dimension, where efforts include testing digital tools for collaboration and adding them to the digital infrastructure of the University of Freiburg. A further key component of the third dimension involves improving re-accreditation processes with regard to digital components of degree programmes. One of the core objectives here is the greater strategic integration of the teaching support units and the creation of a ‘Centre for Learning and Teaching’ as a central point of contact for innovations in teaching. The fourth dimension focuses on supporting digital internationalisation (i.e. through AI-supported translation of content and events) and encouraging the openness of teaching through Open Educational Resources (OER).

Overall Architecture 4D (German)

4D is funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre.

Information on E-IDAs and E-Teaching Fellowships is available at the bottom of this page.

 

New trends

4D is setting new trends. A key player in the student dimension is the Center for Key Qualifications (ZfS), which offers required electives in the area of ‘profession-oriented skills’ (berufsfeldorientierte Kompetenzen (BOK)) for all bachelor students. The existing BOK programme will be expanded to include new modules, e-learning formats and a certificate in future skills. In addition, the ZfS is working with the Faculty of Medicine to open up BOK modules to medical students for the first time and to develop these modules according to their needs – topics include digitalisation, increased integration of self-learning components and e-learning formats. The aim is to integrate courses on higher-level competences into degree programmes in medicine and dentistry. The Faculty of Biology is also working on a new digital offer for students: an app that teaches and activates interdisciplinary principles and networked thinking in a playful manner.

New offers are not limited to students; 4D is also expanding the range of continuing education courses for instructors: The Department of Higher Education Didactics and Digital Learning and Teaching Development is expanding the university didactics training and advisory services and developing a (media-)didactics qualification programme designed specifically for post-doctoral researchers. This will provide postdocs with the opportunity to combine continued education and coaching formats (the current training offers can be found here) and to develop their teaching skills further as they prepare for future careers. In addition, the tutor qualification programme will be expanded to include an e-tutor module to support student tutors who help shape digital teaching and learning. All instructors also have access to new funding instruments in the areas of digital teaching, hybrid teaching and blended learning in the form of E-IDAs and E-Teaching Fellowships.

The entire University of Freiburg as an organisation benefits from new collaborative tools that are being integrated into the ILIAS learning environment under the direction of the Department of E-Learning. Tools for collaborating on text documents as well as a chat environment are not only available for use in teaching; they also further the development of ILIAS into an integrated platform with a wide range of tools for collaborative work on projects of all kinds (an introduction to the features already available can be found here). The departments of Quality Management in Academic Affairs and Higher Education Didactics and Digital Learning and Teaching Development are also involved at the organisational level, where they are working to systematically integrate and jointly shape processes in order to best support departments and degree programmes in their reflection and further development (including with regard to competence orientation). Special attention is paid to the potential of digital teaching and learning. To this end, survey and evaluation instruments are being expanded to include criteria for good digital teaching. Similarly, criteria for assessing (digital) teaching skills in appointment procedures are being developed.

As a result of Covid-19’s influence on teaching, Open Educational Resources (OER) have become an important topic both within and beyond the University of Freiburg. Many instructors have produced large amounts of educational materials in recent years, from which not only they themselves, but also many other instructors can benefit. Publishing these materials under a Creative Commons Licence allows their free use without copyright issues and contributes to strengthening the teaching community beyond university and national borders. 4D funds are being used to finance an advisory position, whose role is to support instructors at the University of Freiburg and to advocate for the topic of OER at the university and at state levels. The efforts in the area of 'Digital Internationalisation', under the direction of the International Office, also have an impact on the social dimension. These include AI-assisted translations, glossaries and a contact point for translation queries in the form of a website.

 

Networking

4D connects. Operationally, 4D is designed in such a way that at least two different university stakeholders work together in each of the sub-projects. The following stakeholders, amongst others, are involved in various constellations and with varying frequency: the Center for Key Qualifications, the University Library, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Biology, the Department of Teaching Strategy and Digitalisation, the Department of Higher Education Didactics and Digital Learning and Teaching Development, the Department of Quality Management and Accreditation, the Department of E-Learning and the International Office.

Networking is a central concern of 4D, not only operationally, but also in terms of content. The network of digitalisation ambassadors ensures a lively exchange with regard to digital teaching between all faculties and the central university administration. A list of the current ambassadors can be found here. 4D oversees the mediation of this network and provides the ambassadors with an annual budget for the duration of the project to support both individual and coordinated measures in consultation with the academic deans of the faculties. The new collaborative tools mentioned above also support networking. Open Educational Resources as well as the work on AI-driven translations in the International Office should be mentioned again in this context. Use of the latter in conjunction with a translation tool can, for example, break down access barriers by reducing the language skills required for participation in courses or conferences.

A common goal of the different levels and forms of networking within 4D is the development of a Centre for Learning and Teaching at the University of Freiburg. On the one hand, the services the University of Freiburg offers to students and instructors are broadly spread across various institutions and contact points. On the other hand, the digitalisation push of the last few years has made the topic of university learning and teaching much more dynamic. The basic idea of the Centre for Learning and Teaching is, therefore, to create an (initially virtual) space that not only makes it easier for students and instructors to find and access what the University of Freiburg has to offer, but also provides space and formats for (further) development of learning and teaching at the university.

 

Sustainability

4D is not focused on projects with a short duration and half-life, but on sustainability. Third-party funding is not always helpful in this respect, because the loss of resources and positions once the project concludes means that there is a risk that programmes will end and knowledge stocks will be lost. 4D is looking for alternatives.

This can be seen, for example, in the Electronic Institutional Development Awards (E-IDAs), where 4D funds are used to support teaching projects (see "Incentives for good teaching"). While funding instruments typically require innovation, this is not the case with the E-IDAs. Instead, transfer projects that extend existing offers at the University of Freiburg to other areas or better anchor them are deliberately treated on an equal footing with new ideas and approaches. In addition, each eligible project must make a plausible case for how the results achieved can continue to have an impact beyond the funding period. In this way, support is targeted to projects that strengthen digitalisation processes at the University of Freiburg in the long term.

The Department of Quality Management and Accreditation contributes to the sustainability of 4D by integrating indicators of good digital teaching into university-wide evaluation elements, as well as through quality development processes for degree programmes. A systematic measurement, evaluation and review of the digital innovations initiated in the context of 4D supports project participants in optimising synergies and resources during the project term. It also helps secure the most important lessons and success criteria of such a complex transformation project for the future, thereby providing for consistent and systematic quality assurance and the ongoing development of digital teaching at the University of Freiburg in the long term. Close coordination with the Department of Higher Education Didactics and Digital Learning and Teaching Development ensures productive cooperation and the use of synergies at the organisational level.

Further examples of how 4D is designed to ensure continuity include the network of digitalisation ambassadors, whose existence is not dependent on 4D, the plan to permanently integrate offers from the Centre for Key Qualifications into the medical curriculum, the integration of tools for long-term use into the ILIAS environment and the conception of the Centre for Learning and Teaching.

 

Incentives for good teaching: E-IDAs und E-Teaching Fellowships

Just as intensive research accomplishments go hand in hand with prestigious grants and prizes, financial support should also be available to incentivise innovative digital teaching. E-IDAs and E-Teaching Fellowships are two measures that use 4D funds to support instructors who want to further develop and sustainably integrate digital teaching at the University of Freiburg.

The tried-and-tested Freiburg ‘Instructional Development Award’ (IDA) for promoting particularly ambitious teaching innovations is being further developed into the ‘E-IDA’: Projects that contribute to the sustainable integration of digital teaching at the University of Freiburg – whether through innovations or by further developing and transferring existing concepts and tools – will be funded at €40,000 each. The E-IDAs also seek to promote digitally supported face-to-face teaching in order to emphasise that digitalisation in teaching does not mean a development towards teaching exclusively online.

2022/23 E-IDA Winners

2023/24 E-IDA Winners

In addition to funding larger projects through E-IDAs, there is a need to create low-threshold opportunities with a broad scope for digital teaching development – for example, through reductions in teaching load. Although the Baden-Württemberg Teaching Obligations Ordinance (Lehrverpflichtungsverordnung – LVVO) has allowed for the possibility of reducing teaching loads to compensate for development-intensive digital teaching since 2016, this option is not used as the faculties lack funds to compensate for the time off for teaching staff. ‘E-Teaching Fellowships’ make these resources available, so that digital teaching development can be supported without creating financial or personnel bottlenecks at the faculties.

Call for Applications: E-Teaching Fellowships 2023

 

Contact

2022_Christian Kny

Dr. Christian Kny (Project coordinator)

Tel.: 0049 761-203-54309

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