Digitaliziation as a recipe for success

Recording studio of the Multimedia Center of the University of Jena.

Image: Jens Meyer (University of Jena)

The University of Jena offers lecturers a broad portfolio of high-performance multimedia services for digital teaching and examination.

The technical equipment of the lecture halls is continuously being expanded. To this end, the University of Jena has also participated in the development of tracking systems that enable automatic camera guidance and are based on a LiDAR system (Light Detection and Ranging, environment detection by means of laser beams). The large pool of mobile AV transmission solutions also allows conventional teaching rooms to be used flexibly as multimedia lecture halls. The technologies can be seamlessly integrated with the Moodle learning management system and the OpenCast recording system.

Beyond that, the equipment leaves hardly a wish unfulfilled: With high-speed cameras, drones for aerial shots, powerful 3D scanners, a fully equipped studio for sophisticated film productions, an easy-to-use self-recording studio, a speaker's booth for podcasts and other audio recordings, and a transparent learning glass whiteboard, extensive possibilities are offered for media production in teaching.

Two people at a monitor analyze persons in the next room, separated by a pane of glass.

Image: Jens Meyer (University of Jena)

Digital learning requires know-how and equipment. The University of Jena therefore provides extensive support for students:

Self-management and time management, learning strategies, scientific work and presentation techniques are taught with the Digital Learning Kit. It contains interactive self-learning materials in German and English.

In the project "Digitale Lotsen" (digital guides), experienced students support their fellow students in self-directed and digital learning and the use of digital tools.

From the winter semester 2023, students will be able to network with their fellow students in digital learning communities and benefit from subject-related exchange and collaboration in small groups.

Lab Buddy System with highlighted components.

Image: Falko Sojka

Scientific findings on digitalization should be able to quickly unfold their impact in all disciplines. Elaborate teaching programmes accelerate this knowledge transfer and lay the foundation for further curricular developments:

With funding from the BMBF, the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and the Ilmenau University of Technology are taking on the task of bundling their academic know-how on AI in a certificate programme in the THInKIExternal link joint programme and thus opening it up to students and young scientists from all disciplines.

To holistically teach and deepen the important data literacy skills, the University of Jena is developing DaLiJe, another multi-level and interdisciplinary certificate programme.

Both projects work closely with lecturers in the various departments to implement the topics in the students' courses in a sustainable way.

Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the digiPHOTON project is an outstanding example of innovative digital teaching: to enable international students to conduct real laboratory experiments from afar, the remote-controlled laboratory environment XRTwinLab was developed there in collaboration with the Lichtwerkstatt Jena.

A typical lecture in the Abbe School of Photonics Gather.town environment

Image: Falko Sojka

Users are at the center of successful digital transformation. The University of Jena therefore offers a wide range of qualification and advisory services:

Advice for lecturers on the correct use of digital technologies from a didactic perspective is offered by the Service Centre for Higher Education Didactivs (LehreLernen) with its certificate programme on digital teaching. Technical support for digital services is provided by the Multimedia Centre de. To support lecturers in the creation of digital teaching materials, students are also available as e-tutors and can expand their own experience and media skills in the process.

With the Competence Center Digital Research zedif de, the Michael Stifel Center offers researchers from all disciplines central support in networking with experts and using digital tools for their own research and FAIR research data management.

Through a grant from the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education, a new portal for digital teaching and learningExternal link will be developed by 2026 to serve as a central entry point for students and lecturers into the world of digital services.

Pictogram showing two folders emerging from laptop screen.

Image: Adobe Stock

Achieving even more with existing resources: Digitalizing processes in the administration increases efficiency, creates transparency, avoids media discontinuities and thus above all: paper.

With an integrated programme of modernisation projects, the University of Jena is tackling several areas at once: A new SAP system will be introduced for the areas of finance and human resources in 2024. In the areas of students and third-party funding, the introduction of HISinOne will continue until 2028. For the digitalization of files and workflows in a document management system, the university will rely on the solution from d.velop in the future.

In application management, appointment management and many other areas, the course has already been set for a digital service-oriented administration.