Digital & Hybrid teaching funding program

The RPTUzero orientation course was held for the first time at the Landau location in the summer semester of 2023.

The object of the funded project is the interdisciplinary individual courses of this program. They familiarize students with the general aspects of university studies and are intended to help them clarify whether taking up a degree course is the right next step in their own educational biography.

As the events were difficult to integrate into students' individual timetables and were not in high demand, they were revised as part of the project and combined into a compulsory hybrid series of events across all locations with a fixed weekly date. In the second project phase, in summer semester 2024, the newly designed hybrid course series will be implemented in RPTUzero. An evaluation of the revised course offer is planned.

Responsible for the project:

Prof. Dr. Mechthild Dreyer, Britta Rudolf

The project makes use of the possibilities of the newly created Technical University by bringing together the potential of both locations. As part of a course, which will be streamed simultaneously in Landau and Kaiserslautern, knowledge of the narratological foundations of radio plays (German studies, Landau) will be combined with knowledge of the technical aspects of production (media and communication technology, Landau) for the development of a short radio play. The focus is on the independent development and recording of a short radio play by the students. Learning videos prepare basic knowledge in the preparatory work so that it can be applied in greater depth during the course. Prospective teacher trainees thus gain an insight into the possibilities of current hardware and software, while prospective engineers learn about the narratological functions of acoustic elements and technical processing.

Responsible for the project: Dr. Michael Bahn

The seminar "Qualitative Methods 1: Data Analysis with ChatGPT" offered in the Master's program "Social and Communication Sciences" examines the performance potentials and performance limits of artificial intelligence (ChatGPT 3.5/4) for the application of interpretative methods of qualitative social research. The discussion of epistemological and methodological foundations of qualitative social research, the integration of AI in the development of qualitative research designs and, last but not least, the practical testing and practicing of AI-supported, hermeneutic data analyses takes place in interactive teaching/learning environments with presentational, synchronous and hybrid components. In addition to the acquisition of future-proof digital key qualifications, the seminar contributes to the discourse on the use of AI in university contexts and promises to show how AI systems can be integrated sensitively and responsibly, competently and confidently into scientific research and teaching.

Responsible for the project: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Raab, Rouven Wagner

The aim of the project is to develop and test interactive video vignettes for analyzing and coping with challenging situations in psychotherapy with children, adolescents and families. The aim is to use the vignettes embedded in a seminar to promote the therapeutic skills of students in the "Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy" Master's program and to optimally prepare them for their professional internships. We use the established video tool ViviAn from the Institute of Mathematics at RPTU.

Responsible for the project: Dr. Raphael Gutzweiler, Verena Kathmann

Lorenz and colleagues (2021) show that the frequency of use of digital media and the digital skills of teachers are mutually dependent. In order to integrate the competence facets of the TPACK model, which are necessary for a didactically reflected lesson design with digital media, into the portfolio of professional competence, the project is developing a modular, adaptive self-learning environment as an OLAT course with various GeoGebra activities. Following the principle of the pedagogical double decker (Wahl 2013), students independently develop the general and subject-specific didactic facets of GeoGebra learning environments via learning environments implemented in GeoGebra. The heterogeneous general and subject-didactic digital competencies of the students are to be met by adaptivity with dynamic decision structures in OLAT, so that the self-learning environment can be iteratively linked to the subject-didactic courses throughout the entire teacher training program.

Responsible for the project: Dr. Susanne Digel, Alex Engelhardt, Henrik Ossadnik

As part of this project, which is funded by "DigiKompASS Landau" for one year, an ePortfolio template eStage is to be developed and implemented on the Mahara platform and evaluated after an initial run. The aim is to interlink the practical experience in the various educational institutions more closely with the studies in the compulsory internship of the subject General Educational Science (AEW) and to enable a process of active documentation and reflection. The previous summative coursework at the end of the internship is to be replaced by a formative experience and reflection report. Using specific reflection questions and tasks, students should be able to reconcile their goals, perspectives and experiences in the internship with their knowledge from the courses before, during and after the internship. The introduction of a common ePortfolio template should help to systematize the process of supervising compulsory internships and work towards greater comparability in terms of structure, assessment and submission deadlines. Lecturers and students alike could benefit from this gain in transparency.

Responsible for the project:

Dr. Kristina Ackel-Eisnach, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau Landau, IAEW, AB Professionalisierung und Organisationsentwicklung, Bürgerstr. 23, Rm. 182 (3rd floor), 76829 Landau, e-mail: kristina.ackeleisnach[at]rptu.de

Dr. Susanne Spieker, Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau, IAEW, AB Heterogenität, Bürgerstr. 23, Rm. 093 (1st floor), 76829 Landau, e-mail: spieker[at]uni-landau.de

In this module, students are taught the digital content of the new Psychotherapists Act. This includes the topics of patient safety, therapeutic relationship management, diagnostics, patient information, patient education and guideline-oriented treatment recommendations.

The content required by the Psychotherapists Act is taught to students through interactive video case studies. For this purpose, videos are made with actors to make the relevant content clearly understandable. The videos contain work modules that students can work on at their own pace. The videos are intended to enable students to work interactively; they film themselves working with the video to record their learning progress. The students upload these videos and then receive individual feedback from experts. They then record the feedback in digital learning progress logbooks to help them consolidate positive aspects and improve exercises that are more difficult for them. Following this, they practise the skills they have learned on real patients.

Students upload these videos and then receive individual feedback from experts. Once the feedback has been received, the students record it in digital learning progress logbooks to help them consolidate positive aspects and improve exercises that they find more difficult. The next step is to practise the previously learned skills on real patients. The use of video-based case seminars ensures that students do not try around techniques they aren't versed in directly on patients, but have already internalized the neccessary knowledge beforehand in order to make learning as practice-oriented as possible. Practicing on actual patients in case seminars, together with digital teaching and feedback, has never been done before in clinical psychology.For the upcoming reform of the psychotherapy master's program, it will be important to implement the required content of the Psychotherapists Act at the university through such forms of learning.

Responsible for the project:Prof. Dr. Julia Glombiewski

Department 8 Psychology

The aim of the project is to integrate the advantages of a digital excursion into a face-to-face excursion and to reduce its weaknesses. In addition, in semesters in which student mobility is restricted (e.g. due to a pandemic), the aim is to strengthen digital excursions through live presence elements (of the excursion leader) and recorded videos from previous face-to-face excursions. This does not simply result in two hybrid excursion types, but a digitally-enhanced face-to-face excursion and a face-to-face-enhanced digital excursion. Depending on the type of semester, one type can then be used in each case.

Responsible for the project: Dr. Janpeter Schilling

Department 7 Geography

The corona pandemic made it necessary to digitize courses and many innovative solutions in the university teaching-learning process were successfully implemented. Laboratory experiments from various scientific disciplines were also videotaped and digitized, as was the case in the course "Fachdidaktisches Praktikum" from the B.Ed. in Biology, which won the digital teaching award. Interactive digital experiments are to be implemented in this course to enable students to conduct multiple experiments in digital space. Since conventionally digitalized experiments do not fully promote subject-specific working techniques or methods compared to specially conducted face-to-face experiments due to the lack of intervention options, potential insights into the practical and mental processes of the subject of biology are not gained.

 By actively influencing the experiment, students not only reproduce working techniques such as pipetting or brushing, but can also actively simulate subject-specific working methods such as experimentation or modeling. The interactive videos are therefore prepared in such a way that they expand the area of knowledge acquisition as sustainably as possible.In addition, the implementation of interactive experiment videos enables the promotion of students' digital skills and encourages reflection on alternative, methodical approaches to conducting experiments in school lessons and university teaching.The concept of digital interaction can be equivalently transferred to experiments in other scientific laboratory exercises and practical courses.In addition, the concept can be modified in such a way that potentially any digitized content from courses in all subjects allows interactive participation (e.g. through interactive case studies in psychology or medicine; through digital simulation games in political science and economics).

Responsible for the project: Romina Posch

Faculty 7, Natural and Environmental Sciences, Institute for Science Education, Biology Didactics Group

Department 8 Psychology

The "Dealing with Emotions" program of the Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence unit has been running for eight years. Within the project, psychology students adapt prevention programs to strengthen the social-emotional skills of pupils and implement them in primary and secondary schools in the Palatinate. In doing so, they draw on evidence-based manuals and take individual concerns into account. Our previous studies have shown that participation in the prevention seminar is associated with a high level of acceptance among pupils, teachers and students, increased emotional competence among pupils (Pfeiffer et al., 2018) and increasing self-efficacy among students (Gutzweiler et al., 2022). With the support of the "Digital and Hybrid Teaching" funding program, an accompanying synchronous ("office hours") and asynchronous tutorial is to be offered to support students in the implementation of their prevention programs and the acquisition of skills.

Responsible for the project: Dr. Simone Pfeiffer

Department 8 Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence

In the project "Digital Excursion: Explore Waters - Understand Interrelationships - Protect Biodiversity (DigiEx)", students in the Bachelor of Environmental Sciences and Biology Teacher Training programs will be given the opportunity to visit the Eußerthal Ecosystem Research Facility (EERES) digitally. With the help of 360° images, students walk through the research station and the grounds at Eußerthal. In the process, they learn about aquatic ecology topics (such as native fish fauna, watercourse development, relevance of floodplain areas, and scientific measurement methods) through 11 modules using different didactic methods.

The aim of the DigiEx project is to raise awareness of the topic of "flowing waters and their importance for nature and society" and to communicate current research topics in aquatic ecology.

Responsible for the project: Dr. Tanja Joschko

Faculty 7 Natural and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ecosystem Research Eußerthal Plant

[Fachbereich 7 Natur- und Umweltwissenschaften, Institut für Umweltwissenschaften, Ökosystemforschung Anlage Eußerthal]

The seminar entitled "Semiotic Landscaping: The documentation, analysis and pedagogical use of multilingual and multimodal scapes" (SoSe 2022, 2 SWS) is aimed at Master of Education (M.Ed.) students majoring in English.

The seminar has two main goals: For one, "(language) spaces" of English-speaking foreign countries are to be made more accessible to German university students (and prospectively also to highschool students) of the subject English, and more authentic explorations are to be facilitated than is possible, for example, on the basis of textbooks. To this end, the didactic-methodological potential of the software "Thinglink" will be explored, which enables teachers to create visual and interactive experiences for student-centered learning. The transport of English-speaking cultural areas into the foreign language classroom with the help of didactically prepared interactive graphics (photos, 3D models, videos) takes into account the motivating and stimulating importance of authenticity in English lessons, which is explicitly demanded in the curricula of the state of RLP, among other things.

Furthermore, the occurrence of "environmental English" in the immediate environment of the learners is to be documented and interpreted, among other things with the help of a (picture) database. Field research in Landau and Kaiserslautern is planned for this purpose: Students will undertake a so-called "environmental print walk" in which English-language/multilingual "signs" (such as stickers with socio-political messages, graffiti/mural paintings, election posters, advertising posters, shop window lettering, street signs) will be captured with the help of a digital camera and processed in an image database (tagging, cross-referencing). Pointing out the occurrence of English "linguistic landscape" items in the learners' immediate environment on the one hand enables them to tie in with what they already know (especially for students) and on the other hand stimulates (critical) reflection on the role of English as a global language.

For the first half of the seminar (semester weeks 1-6), both asynchronous digital elements and face-to-face teaching in the university's seminar rooms are planned. Using instructional videos (Camtasia), students will gain an overview of the linguistic research branch of "Linguistic/Semiotic Landscape Studies" - the theoretical underpinnings and goals of this approach, the methodological approach to documenting semiotic landscapes, and the potential for application to school teaching (English as FS). In the 2-week seminar sessions, this content will be deepened and applied to new examples.

In the second half of the seminar, the students will engage in "Linguistic Landscaping" themselves; thus, non-university learning sites will be added as well as the joint creation of online (image) databases and interactive graphics (Thinglink). This can take place partly in the self-study center [Selbstlernzentrum(SLZ)] of the university, or collaboratively online. The didactic format as well as the selection of e-learning tools meet several requirements for digital teaching. For one, it is a sustainable approach: By creating learning videos as well as expandable (image) databases and interactive graphics, the materials can be used multiple times and - if necessary in modified form - serve as an input source in diverse educational contexts. At the same time, the students, and here especially the student assistants, acquire media competence through their direct involvement in the project (e.g. in the creation of interactive graphics and the input of the collected material into databases), and their viewing comprehension is trained. The latter is continuously increasing in importance due to the almost unmanageable multimodal, media-prepared information offer with which the learners (and prospective teachers) are confronted on a daily basis.

Project management: Dr. Monika Reif

Department 6, Institute for Foreign Language Philologies, Subject English Studies

[Fachbereich 6, Institut für fremdsprachliche Philologien, Fach Anglistik]

The module "People and Work" will be a mandatory module in the planned M.Sc. Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior program. This study program is designed as a joint cross-location offer of the new TU. Therefore, a didactic concept is needed that ensures that students from both locations can take the module and receive high-quality, demand-oriented support regardless of their location. The teaching and learning concept is based on three didactic elements: (1) blended learning in mirrored seminar rooms (face-to-face teaching is transferred to a digital seminar room), (2) avatar-based teaching and learning in virtual learning worlds (students and lecturers meet as virtual avatars for exchange and collaboration), and (3) digital teamwork in cross-location student groups (using digital tools for web conferencing, project management, collaborative document editing and instant messaging).

The new module to be designed, "Human and Work", consists of two seminars: "Individual Behavior in Teams and Organizations" and "Job and Work Design". In the first seminar, students deal intensively with theoretical-conceptual approaches and empirical studies on the behavior of people in organizations as well as team dynamic processes and their effects on the behavior of team members. Learning objectives of the second seminar are to provide an understanding of alternative organizational models as well as the skills to critically engage with different forms of work design in organizations and to evaluate the opportunities and risks of new digitally-enabled work forms and models. Two key competencies to be taught in the module are the skills for (collaborating) in future digital work environments and for designing these work environments according to needs.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Gisela Gerlach

Faculty 6, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Economics

[Fachbereich 6, Institut Sozialwissenschaften, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft]

The lecture was completely redeveloped in the summer semester 2020 with special attention to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the summer semester 2020, the lecture was held digitally and asynchronously on the Mahara platform. In the summer semester 2021, it was supplemented with synchronous parts (4 casuistry sessions, platform: Zoom). A student college tutor supports the lecture in the winter semester 2021/2022. The teaching goal of the lecture is to impart knowledge about the most common mental disorders of adulthood. The students acquire knowledge about manifestations, classification and characterizing features, the development and course of mental disorders (competence 1) and can apply these appropriately, for example, in the context of clinical diagnostics (competence 2). They are familiar with different models and theories of mental disorders and are able to deal with them critically and to relate them to basic psychology (competence 3).

The goal is to transfer the lecture into in-person teaching without giving up the digital parts, which have been repeatedly rated as excellent. A blended learning flipped classroom approach is envisioned. The course will be split, so that each week up to 80 students will attend in presence, while the other half will work on digital content (Mahara, addresses competence 1) during that time. Flipped classroom methods are used for the presence: e.g. "Think Pair Share", Active Plenary, role plays to deepen the acquired knowledge and to train critical reflection and practical application of diagnostics (competencies 1 and 2). In addition, casuistry takes place (competence 1). Digital tools are also used in presence (e.g. oncoo) and results from these are fed into Mahara. Intelligent tutorial systems are used for regular testing, among other things, so that students with prior knowledge can participate at a high level in Präsenz.

Project management: Prof. Dr. Julia Glombiewski

Department 8 Psychology

[Fachbereich 8 Psychologie]

The Olat course "Parent Counseling in the Teaching Profession - Learning Counseling Digitally" aims to develop the counseling and conversation skills of student teachers. The central learning goals are to promote the skills for (1) theory-based analysis of authentic counseling conversations with experienced teachers and for (2) theory-based reflection on one's own experiences with simulated and recorded teacher-parent conversations, which are provided in the form of digital videos. This is intended to strengthen the link between theory and practice.

The online course follows a weekly structure with assignments for literature study and multiple reflection assignments based on digital videos, which build on each other in terms of content and are worked on successively in asynchronous learning phases on a weekly basis. Individual self-study, collaborative and self-organized processing as well as adaptive feedback are combined. Expert knowledge is linked with cases from school practice.

Project management: Dr. Frank Behr

Department 5, Institute for General Educational Sciences

[Fachbereich 5, Institut für Allgemeine Erziehungswissenschaften]

The project "Teaching Mathematics Independently Authentically Digitally (MathLead)" offers student teachers a hybrid teaching-learning practicum with a focus on individualization through basic concepts as part of their free workload in educational sciences. As coaches, they mentor students with pandemic learning difficulties in individualized support courses. Students explore representational and digital materials in groups of four and develop basic ideas about core mathematical concepts.

In an accompanying seminar, the students will, at first, work out subject didactic and educational science basics on heterogeneity and basic concepts (according to Malle, Kortenkamp, Siller, Roth), interventions (according to Zech), reflection of teacher action (ALACT according to Kortenhagen), as well as media didactics (Pallack, Girnat) in digital self-learning environments. Guided by the instructor, the coaches reflect on their observations and diagnoses of the individual learning states as well as the interventions and individual support materials used after each face-to-face meeting as a team. In the protected and guided framework of the courses, the students slip into the role of the teacher and develop options for action related to individualization, learning management systems, and digitally supported teaching sequences.

The funding through the program "Digital and Hybrid Teaching" enables us to further develop the courses to digital courses supplemented by experimentation boxes for home use. We draw on experience with digitally-focused visits to our student lab with support for individual students during lockdowns.

With the teaching-learning practicum, we are addressing two pressing issues in the pandemic: lack of opportunities for teaching practice in undergraduate courses and individual student learning gaps. In addition, we provide hands-on support for student teachers' digital teaching skills, such as subject-didactically sound design and use of digital learning management systems and instructional elements.

Project management: Dr. Susanne Digel

Department 7, Institute of Mathematics

[Fachbereich 7, Institut für Mathematik]