Ursula Bach

Teaching Professional Knowledge to XL-Classes with the Help of Digital Technologies

How can the systematic use of digital technologies affect a lecture of 1500 or more students? Moreover, to what extent will it affect the learning outcomes of the students? At RWTH Aachen University, subjects like Mechanical Engineering have to cope with a very high number of students each semester – currently the number lies at approximately 1500 with an estimated increase up to 2000 in the next semester. In order to create an interactive learning environment despite these difficult conditions, the IMA/ZLW&IfU (Institute of Information Management in Mechanical Engineering, Center for Learning and Knowledge Management and Assoc. Institute for Management Cybernetics) of the RWTH Aachen University is currently developing a pilot scheme that includes the application of Audience Response Systems in lectures with such large numbers of student listeners. The implementation of the described system demands a redesign of the lecture with special regards to the content. Questions have to be developed that allow the students to interact with the lecturer as well as each other. This variety of questions ranges from multiple-choice questions to the inquiry of calculation results etc. When giving students the chance to actively take part in a lecture of the described size by answering questions the lecturer asks with the help of technical equipment – which could in the easiest case be their own mobile phones – the lecturer creates a room for interaction. In addition to that he has the chance to get an immediate insight into the perceived knowledge of his or her students. This in turn enables the lecturer to react to obvious knowledge gaps that obstruct successful learning outcomes of the students. An additional benefit hoped for is that the attention of the students – which is a difficult issue for lecturers that face lectures with such a large number of students – might be kept at a higher level than average. The described redeployment of a lecture of the mentioned size is expected to bring about an enhancement of the quality in teaching of professional knowledge. The presumptions made in this paper will be surveyed and thoroughly analysed during and after the realization of the project. Fig. 1: Large Class at RWTH Aachen University (http://www.taz.de/!86786/)

Diving in? How Users Experience Virtual Environments Using the Virtual Theatre

Simulations are used in various fields of education. One approach of improving learning with simulations is the development of natural user interfaces, e.g. driving or flight simulators. The Virtual Theatre enables unrestricted movement through a virtual environment by a Head Mounted Display and an omnidirectional floor. In the experimental study presented (n = 38), the effects of objective hardware characteristics were being tested in two groups. The task was the same: Remembering positions of objects after spotting them in a maze. One group fulfilled the task in the Virtual Theatre, the other group on a laptop. Personal characteristics (gaming experience, locus of control) and perception measures for immersion (spatial presence, flow) were also assessed. Analyses show that the Virtual Theatre indeed leads to more spatial presence and flow, but has a negative effect on the task performance. This contradicts the common assumption that immersion leads to better learning.

Innovation Rules 2030

Innovative research structures provide the possibility to address new stakeholders on the topic Preventive Occupational Health and Safety.

Challanges of Large Group Study Courses in Engineering Education

Teaching in front of large audiences (> 700 students) is a challenge to every lecturer. Because of the rising shortage of skilled workers particularly in engineering education new ways to provide high-quality education while at the same time allowing for large audiences need to be designed. An essential way to improve engineering education is seen in the “shift from teaching to learning”, i. e from teacher-centered to student-centered education. A possible strategy of student-centered learning is “project-based learning” which facilitates action-oriented and sustainable learning. Although it is a big challenge, project-based learning can also be successfully used in large group study courses. Besides a description of central challenges when dealing with large audiences the article points out the importance of didactically innovative and student-centered forms of teaching and learning for engineering education. Furthermore, the article sketches project-based learning as a form of student-centered learning and gives a case study of the course “Communication and Organizational Development” at RWTH Aachen University.

Creating an E-Learning recommender system supporting teachers of engineering disciplines

Numerous reviews and studies have shown that Learning Management Systems at university level often are lacking from a number of characteristics such as the support of various didactical approaches, the possibility to consider different specifics of engineering disciplines or a lecturer friendly interface. In this paper, a new recommender system is proposed for teaching staff of engineering disciplines; the novelty of the recommender system is that criteria used by the system are based on standards for engineering education in conjunction with the framework for pedagogical evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments. The suitability assessment scenario being suggested identifies the various needs of teaching staff member with regards to his/her course, teaching methods and also suggests tools that are necessary to increase functionality.

Chances and risks of using clicker software in XL engineering classes - From theory to practice

Teaching and learning in XL-classes is a huge challenge to both lecturers as well as students. While lecturers face the difficulty of speaking to a mostly loud and very heterogenic audience, students often lack the opportunity of being an active participant in class. To counteract these difficulties and give the opportunity of immediate feedback, an audience response system has been introduced in the class of information technology in mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University.

Prävention und Innovation - Strategische Ausrichtung, aktuelle Fragen und Ausblick

Die Innovationsfahigkeit des Arbeits- und Wirtschaftsstandortes Deutschland mit seinen Technologien, leistungs- und wettbewerbsfahigen Unternehmen sowie seinen kompetenten Menschen erfordert betriebliche Pravention und eine humane Arbeitsgestaltung, die nachhaltig in der Praxis verankert ist. Sie zielt auf die Erhaltung der Kreativitat und Arbeitsfahigkeit der Menschen in einer Arbeitswelt, die durch dynamische, vernetzte Arbeitsformen im demografischen Wandel gepragt ist.

OpenBologna: a strategic instrument for integrating students in curriculum development

In 2010, the Mercator Foundation and VolkswagenStiftungs initiative Bologna – the Future of Teaching introduced funding for degree programmes and competence centres for a variety of issues in Germany, following the example of UK Subject Centres. In order to tackle the challenges in engineering sciences brought about by the Bologna Process, three large German technical universities (RWTH Aachen University, Ruhr-University Bochum and Technical University Dortmund) launched the Competence and Service Centre for Teaching and Learning in Engineering Sciences (known as TeachING-LearnING.EU). Here, students are involved in the improvement of teaching and learning using the strategic instrument of OpenBologna. It is based on the concept of Open Innovation, developed and used by companies in the business sector to actively integrate customers into new product developments. This paper illustrates the OpenBologna strategy and its potential benefits for curriculum development. The general aims of the Competence and Service Center TeachING-LearnING.EU and the strategic instrument OpenBologna are presented. A short introduction to Open Innovation describes the foundation on which the new strategy for curriculum development is based. This is followed by some general thoughts about the transfer of Open Innovation to the educational sector and a description of the operational level of OpenBologna. In order to give the reader an impression of the outcome of OpenBologna, the results of the first ideas contest are presented and reflected on in terms of their benefits to curriculum development. The paper concludes with upcoming measures and corresponding research questions.

Herausforderungen kooperativen Lernens und Arbeitens im Web 2.0

Hochschuldidaktische E-Learning-Angebote werden zunehmend mit interaktiven Web 2.0-Komponenten kombiniert. Aus dem ,,Web 2.0“ wird ein ,,E-Learning 2.0“ (vgl. Downes, S.: E-Learning 2.0. E-Learn Maga-zine – Education and Technology in Perspective, Oktober 2005. Online unter http://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=1104968). Der vielfaltige Einsatz und die Gestaltungsmoglichkeiten dieser Medien bringen fur Lehrende und Lernende neue Erfahrungen mit sich, die Gegenstands des Workshops ,,Herausforderungen kooperativen Lernens und Arbeitens im Web 2.0“ im Rahmen der TeachING-LearnING.EU Tagung waren. Die Teilnehmender, grostenteils Dozenten mit mehrjahriger Lehrerfahrung, berichteten uber ihre Erlebnisse mit Web 2.0-Anwendungen in der Lehre und bezogen dabei die Perspektive ihrer Studierenden mit ein. Aus diesen Erfahrungswerten heraus wurden fordernde und hemmende Faktoren fur mediengestutztes gemeinschaftliches Lernen identifiziert. In der Diskussion wurde deutlich, dass an eine mediengestutzte Lehre im ingenieurwissenschaftlichen Bereich besondere Anspruche gestellt werden, die es kunftig zu berucksichtigen gilt.

Massive Open Online Courses in Engineering Education

Though higher engineering education generally lacks students in Germany, some universities are faced with the challenge of dealing with extremely high enrollment numbers due to recent changes in education policy. In the winter term 2011/2012 approx. 1,900 students enrolled for mechanical engineering and industrial engineering and management at RWTH (Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule) Aachen University putting the educational skills of teachers to the test. Obviously, new concepts become necessary to find adequate teaching models. Modern information and communication technologies have already become a constant part of everyday life among the new generation of students. But their full potential for higher education has not yet been exploited. Concepts hitherto focused on integrating technologies such as Audience-Response-Systems or mobile applications into face-to-face lectures. Only recently a new approach emerged, bearing the potential of teaching increasingly high numbers of students entirely online and of revolutionizing the higher education landscape: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). They seem to highly motivate their students to actively participate in online courses and to interact with teachers and fellow students using social and technical networks. As demonstrated by initiatives such as the Khan Academy, udacity, edX, or Coursera MOOCs attract enormous numbers of students (In 2011 160,000 students followed the Stanford lecture on Artificial Intelligence by Prof. Thrun and Prof. Norvig with 23,000 earning a certificate). This paper aims to show how MOOCs might help to tackle the challenges of teaching large classes in higher engineering education. As they have attracted large amounts of students especially for engineering topics, they might be adequate for higher engineering education. A variety of MOOCs have emerged so far based on fundamentally different learning principles that cater to the needs of engineering education in different ways. Thus, this paper categorizes MOOCs according to their underlying didactical approaches in a first step. In a second step it is evaluated to what extend the different kinds of MOOCs can be used to implement active and problem-based learning in a large class and for what purposes in engineering education they can be best applied. The results are useful for any university teacher in higher engineering education dealing with large classes.