Mainz University of Applied Sciences is supporting educators who break new ground by implementing innovative teaching projects. 22 instructors or teams of instructors applied for funding from the Innovation Fund for the Design of Innovative Teaching. The diversity of the concepts and ideas submitted was overwhelmingly convincing. Jury members Professor Alexa Hartig, Professor Dr. Heiko Merle, Professor Dr. Jens Reinhardt and the representative from Media and Teaching, Alessandra Reß, along with students Max Kohlmann, Paul Wannenmacher and Christoph Freudenstein, evaluated the applications for funding under the chairmanship of the Vice President for Studies and Teaching, Professor Kerstin Molter. Seven applications were selected after two intensive jury meetings. The projects will be funded with a total of €48,000.00 and will be presented to all interested parties in an event at LUX in the summer semester of 2022.
An overview of the seven projects being funded:
Tinyhouse real-life lab, by students with students
School of Design / Professor Gerhard Kalhöfer with Daniela Zang and Sina Hartmann
The elective, which includes an implementation component, is an innovative teaching and learning project that gives students the opportunity to compare a spatial design concept with the actual built environment in an interdisciplinary exchange. This provides students with new fields of experience and activity and an immediate expansion of skills in the areas of construction, the use of modular building materials as the basis of a sustainable material cycle, cost-effectiveness, social responsibility and the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams.
How do we want to study in the future?
Innovative teaching and learning concepts – by students for students
School of Design / Professor Holger Rekter / Instructor Beate Hartwig
In light of the pandemic-related disruptive innovations in teaching at Mainz University of Applied Sciences, the submitters aim to develop “a framework for the development of innovative and sustainable forms of learning and teaching”.
The high degree of participation of students deserves special mention; they are not only research objects, they are also researchers, idea generators and co-creating designers of the education of the future at the university. Throughout the teaching project, the scientific-methodological competence of each participant in the class is cemented, along with a basis for well-grounded ongoing development of teaching, of all teaching staff, and of learning at Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
StARK – Starkregen: Akteur*innen, Risikomanagement und Konzepte (rough translation: Pouring down: stakeholders, risk management and concepts)
School of Engineering / Professor Dr. Inka Kaufmann Alves
In addition to the innovative use of digital tools and the interdisciplinary approach of Mainz University of Applied Sciences and the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf Green University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the cities of Mainz and Straubing, this project promotes sustainability awareness with regard to adaptation to climate change. Students from different degree programs are sensitized to flood control aspects. The teaching project is particularly convincing in terms of its didactic concept and the sustainability it aims to achieve. In the project, digital module components are to be technically developed in such a way that they can be used flexibly in different modules and degree programs.
Digital mechanical models in the context of demonstrative hybrid teaching
School of Engineering / Professor Dr. Martin Neujahr
This proposal is particularly convincing with regard to the funding criteria specified in the call for proposals for innovative teaching and learning forms with a high level of digital elements and the visible sustainability of the project. Organizational and decision-making skills are fostered by linking physical and digital mechanical models. The incorporation into a sound didactic framework, the link to school education, and the activation of learners in the learning process are worth highlighting here.
Exploration of VR environments in teaching (with integration of AR)
School of Business / Professor Dr. Anett Mehler Bicher / Professor Dr. Bernhard Ostheimer / Professor Dr. Dirk Weitzel
Although they have long been in use in the entertainment industry, the possibilities of AR and VR are only slowly gaining acceptance in teaching. This project aims to address this point by investigating the possibilities of using AR and VR in areas including economics, and by actively implementing and evaluating them. This puts us on an innovative path for future teaching, while simultaneously strengthening the organizational and decision-making skills and the use of the latest technologies on the part of lecturers and students.
Creating Share Value / Innovation for a better world
School of Business / Professor Dr. Claudia Hensel
The submitted teaching project is designed to promote cooperation between students at Mainz University of Applied Sciences and its partner universities Kyambogo University, Mbarara University and INES University. The aim is to sensitize students to global problems and to prepare and accompany innovative projects. During the evaluation, the jury particularly emphasized the networking of several partner universities and the bilateral exchange of expertise and experience between teachers and students. Mainz University of Applied Sciences welcomes and is pleased to support forms of teaching and learning that address global problems in an interdisciplinary manner through practical project work and promote the social, professional and intercultural skills of all participants.
Series of web-based trainings on possible applications of artificial intelligence in marketing
School of Business / Prof. Dr. Bernhard Ostheimer
The proposed teaching project is convincing in its approach to embedding the creation and use of web-based training sessions in blended learning scenarios. Students are actively involved in the creation of the web-based training sessions. In addition to the specialized academic content, the students also acquire the expertise to independently conceptualize, implement and use content for digital teaching.
The planned web-based and publicly accessible provision of the results on a platform resulting from a joint project of the applicant with Justus Liebig University of Giessen emphasizes the long-term and sustainable use of the results achieved by the students.
