Digitalization in Studies and Teaching
The digital transformation will be reflected in the content of academic teaching and prepare students for the requirements of the digitized world of research and work. The use of digital media can qualitatively enrich the teaching of knowledge and skills and increase the flexibility of studies. The University of Jena is continuously expanding its technical infrastructure for students and lecturers and accompanying this with offers for further education, qualification and support.
In developing the goals and measures for digitalization in teaching and learning, members and institutions of the university will be involved, including the Vice President for Learning and Teaching, the Academy for Teaching Development, the deans of studies as well as students from the faculties, the University Computer Center including the Multimedia Center, the ThULB, the Servicestelle LehreLernen, the Center for Teacher Education, the Michael Stifel Center Jena and the Office of Legal Affairs. Furthermore, the strategy is aligned with the broad spectrum of teachers and students from all faculties through regular surveys and is to be further developed with them on an ongoing basis.
Opportunities and challenges
Overcoming distances for international teaching and educational collaborations
The use of digital media can increase location and time flexibility (Goal G1) in teaching and bridge distances to establish new collaborations with (international) educational partners - all in the spirit of sustainability. Conducted online, lectures gain coverage, benefits, and visibility beyond the university itself and connect students and lecturers from different regions or countries with each other.
Of course, communication at a distance poses a special challenge for the university, the teachers and the students. In addition to adequate qualification, sufficient technical equipment and the provision of access to online services also play an important role. Digital communication channels must enable intensive interaction between students and lecturers (G2) inside and outside courses and promote easy accessibility, effective collaboration, and direct feedback between them.
Qualitative enrichment of teaching and learning
The wide spectrum of students in all faculties is united in the pursuit of knowledge and the acquisition of competencies. The use of digital media and teaching formats based on them offer new opportunities to impart knowledge and competencies effectively (G3).
For innovative media-supported teaching, students and lecturers must be sufficiently familiar with the University of Jena's growing portfolio of digital services, confidently master their didactically meaningful use, and be encouraged to use them. Therefore, we need to create qualification and counseling with the goal of motivation, orientation possibilities and pronounced competence to the digital offer (G5). The high degree of self-reliance in the digital learning environment has emerged as an obstacle for students in the interim surveys of the pandemic semesters, which is why support for structured self-organization and motivation (G4) must be provided.
Digital competence for the research and working world
In the world of research and work in all areas, methods and tools of digitalization are increasingly being used. They create opportunities in the form of new solution possibilities, increase efficiency and facilitate cooperation. To do this, they require sound basic digital skills and often presuppose more advanced technological skills, especially in the secure, responsible and critical handling of data, as well as concepts and technologies from the field of artificial intelligence.
As a comprehensive university, we are challenged to create and further develop qualification offers for students, young scientists and lecturers of all disciplines to achieve pronounced media competence (G5) as well as interdisciplinary teaching and further education offers to build up well-founded technological skills (G6).
Goals
G1: High location and time flexibility
We will meet the technical requirements for distributed and international teaching formats through powerful digitalization offers and their continuous further development. We set ourselves the goal of expanding multimedia equipment for digital teaching (measures M3) in such a way that the wide variety of teachers with needs ranging from simple and easy-to-use solutions to complex special solutions is covered. In addition, we will further support students by providing mobile equipment (M2). We are addressing the trend of switching between face-to-face and online formats by steadily expanding rooms for digital learning (M1) with Internet access and power supply directly on campus.
G2: Intensive interaction between lecturers and students
In expanding multimedia equipment for digital teaching (M3), we also set ourselves the goal of providing students and lecturers with powerful, secure and easy-to-use digital services for communication to enable lively professional exchange, collaboration in learning groups and the best possible support at a distance. Through the continuous development of online services for digital teaching and learning (M4), we will create the technical conditions for students and lecturers to exchange material and information with each other in a paperless manner, to work together with it, and to support each other.
G3: Effective knowledge and competence transfer
The quality of teaching can benefit from the use of electronic media in many ways, e.g. through digitally supported teaching formats, visualizations of complex issues or the integration of interactive elements. Modern multimedia equipment (M3) in sufficient dimensions and online services for digital teaching (M4) will therefore also meet the requirements of lecturers at the University of Jena in terms of design options for innovative and didactically effective teaching and examination formats.
G4: Structured self-organization and motivation by students
As part of the further development of online services (M4), we will introduce e-portfolios, a new offering through which students can independently document, classify and track their learning goals and progress. In our programs for active student involvement (M5), we will continue to promote and structure mutual support between fellow students. In addition, students will receive their own offerings for continuing education (M6) and methodological support, e.g., in the form of digital learning materials tailored to the target group.
G5: Motivation, orientation possibilities and pronounced competence to the digital offer
The variety of digital offerings should be actively used for the innovative design of teaching and for effective, collaborative learning. We set ourselves the goal of introducing lecturers and students to digital possibilities in a target group-oriented manner through further training offers (M6), to strengthen their competences and to motivate them to use digital possibilities. In particular, we actively involve students in the support of lecturers and fellow students (M5). The support of the University of Jena will be continuously optimized (M7) so that questions are answered quickly and effectively. With a new portal for digital teaching, we will create a central, target group-oriented and customizable access point to our e-learning services.
G6: Profound technological skills
We offer interdisciplinary teaching and continuing education programs to strengthen technological skills (M8), in which students, young scientists, and lecturers are taught the knowledge and skills that are required in the digitalized world of research and work. We design these offers in such a way that they do justice to the great heterogeneity of participants with different prerequisites and from all faculties. For this purpose, new teaching content must be created and combined with existing teaching content in new formats and opened up to all interested parties.
Set of measures
Measure 1: Create space for digital learning
Students are increasingly faced with the challenge of frequent and rapid changes between face-to-face and online teaching. For this reason, we provide powerful PC pools and student workstations on the University of Jena campus for the use of students' own devices, equipped with sufficient power supply, Internet access and suitable acoustics. A working group for digital learning and examination rooms with the participation of the Office for Digital Transformation, the Division 4 Construction and Facility Management, the University Computer Center and the University Library will create and further develop viable concepts for modern and attractive student workplaces.
Measure 2: Provide mobile equipment for students
Flexible participation in digital teaching formats at home or on campus requires equipment with mobile devices. With the Laptop Donation Campaign, we continue to support numerous students through the University Library by safely removing old data from donated and purchased used devices, refurbishing them, and distributing them in an easily accessible manner. To participate in exams, web meetings, or consultations, students can also borrow webcams and microphones on a daily basis. Students can find technical support for their use in the notebook consultation hours of the University Computer Center.
Measure 3: Expand multimedia equipment for digital teaching
The University of Jena offers lecturers and students a broad portfolio of powerful multimedia services for digital teaching. Since 2020, the number of lecture halls with professional transmission technology has been increased from the original three to 25 to date and will be expanded to all larger lecture halls by 2025. A key criterion here is the ease of use of the systems, as the spectrum of users has spanned from early adopters and innovators to those with little technology experience. In addition, the Multimedia Center at the University of Jena is involved in the development of LIDAR-based tracking systems, which already provide automatic camera guidance at three sites. This is complemented by a large pool of mobile AV transmission solutions, through which conventional teaching rooms can also be used flexibly as multimedia lecture halls. The technologies are smoothly integrated with the Moodle learning management system and the OpenCast recording system. Automatic transcription provides subtitles for all recordings; in perspective, this service will be expanded to support additional languages. Lecturers are supported in the preparation, implementation and follow-up of their events by the staff of the Multimedia Center within the framework of standardized workflows. Powerful cloud-based video conferencing services, which will also be made available to all members of the University of Jena in the long term, are used for two-way communication and a high degree of interactivity.
To avoid breakdowns, a new monitoring system for multimedia technology has been in operation since 2022. The efficient and sustainable use of technical resources will be optimized until 2025 by establishing a user and content lifecycle management. With high-speed cameras, drones for aerial photography, 3D scanners, a studio for demanding film productions, an easy-to-use self-recording studio, a speaker's cabin for podcasts and other audio recordings, and a transparent learning glass whiteboard, extensive opportunities for media production in teaching are offered already in 2023. Starting in 2023, the offerings for secure electronic examinations will also be expanded, e.g., through PCs with particularly secure equipment.
Measure 4: Further develop online services for digital teaching and learning
For the efficient and user-friendly implementation of digital teaching, the University of Jena's online services and tools are securely operated and continuously developed. In addition to the Digital Library Thuringia, a central role is played by the Moodle-based systems for learning management and electronic examinations, for which a particularly high level of stability, reliability and performance is guaranteed. As an openly designed Moodle system with easy cross-university access for supra-regional or transnational courses, as well as plenty of room for innovation and high student participation, the University of Jena is also rebuilding the Glocal Campus as a central service. For the goal of supporting students in self-organization, motivation and communication during their studies, the Digital Learning Communities project is implementing the e-portfolio system Mahara. For joint work on electronic files, lecturers and students have access to the NextCloud system of the University of Jena, whose functional spectrum is constantly being adapted to the requirements of users and technical possibilities.
Measure 5: Actively involve students in programs
In order to build media competence, provide orientation in the digital offerings, and promote self-organization and motivation, students are actively involved in the design and support of digital teaching in programs at the University of Jena. Student assistants are trained to assist as e-tutors of the Servicestelle LehreLernen in the development of digital teaching and examination formats. In the Digital Pilots program, students from all faculties provide assistance to their fellow students, serve as contact persons should questions or problems arise in digital learning, and create faculty-specific offerings on their own initiative, e.g., advice on literature management software or on the use of LaTeX.
Measure 6: Enable continuing education for lecturers and students
With the continuous updating of the certificate program Digital lehren, the Servicestelle LehreLernen motivates lecturers to use digital methods and tools for teaching, offers orientation in their selection and imparts competencies for their effective use from a didactic perspective. Technical basics are taught in the qualification courses of the University Computer Center, so that teachers have a holistic offer for strengthening their media competence. In the Digital Learning Kit project, we are developing multilingual self-learning materials for specific target groups in order to introduce students with their diverse backgrounds to technologies in a location- and time-flexible manner and to teach them methods of self-organization and motivation. The annual E-Learning Day of the Office for Digital Transformation serves as an information and exchange format for lecturers and students at the University of Jena.
Measure 7: Improve support for digital teaching
We want to answer users' questions and concerns that arise in the digitalized teaching environment quickly, competently, and comprehensively. In the electronic ServiceDesk, the University Computing Center, the Multimedia Center, and the Office for Digital Transformation provide efficient and easily accessible assistance. In its Confluence Wiki, the University Computer Center has built up a comprehensive collection of easy-to-understand self-help instructions that is continuously updated. Further information on the didactically meaningful use is provided by the Office for Digital Transformation on the E-Learning website. Through a funding grant from the Stiftung für Innovation in der Hochschullehre, we are developing a new portal for digital teaching and learning by 2026 that will serve as a central access point for students and lecturers to the world of our digital services. It will make it easier to find suitable offerings, enable navigation between them, and provide suitable contacts. The portal will also be designed to be target group-oriented and customizable.
Measure 8: Implement interdisciplinary teaching programs for technological skills
The requirements for technological skills are growing rapidly in all areas. Through two certificate programs, we create access to teaching and continuing education opportunities for students and lecturers of all disciplines. Since 2018, we have been imparting skills in dealing with data (data literacy) through the DaLiJe (Data Literacy Jena) certificate program. In addition, since 2021, a joint certificate program for artificial intelligence has been established in the BMBF-funded joint project THInKI of the University of Jena and the TU Ilmenau. DaLiJe and THInKI cover the broad spectrum of target groups through modular, multi-level and interdisciplinary course offerings in line with their needs. The projects work closely with lecturers in the various departments to implement the topics sustainably in students' subject studies.