NGU Tests Digital Teaching Methods

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The summer semester at all universities within Baden-Wuerttemberg has been suspended until April 20, 2020 due to the corona pandemic. At almost all university locations, preparations are currently underway to enable students to successfully study using digital formats, if necessary.

Nuertingen-Geislingen University (NGU) is also taking the appropriate precautions. "For us, there have already been increasing signs since last week that it will hardly be possible to hold lectures with the presence of students from April 20th onwards. Politicians are clearly signaling that the risk of infection from the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to be too high even after that date," said HfWU Rector Professor Dr. Andreas Frey. A specially established working group, the so-called "Task Force Digitalization", has already been working since the closure of the lecture halls to offer digital solutions for as many courses as possible.

Professor Dr. Dirk Stendel, who as Vice Rector of Teaching is in charge of the "Task Force", believes the university is on the right track. "We are currently supplying our students with teaching materials so that they can prepare for the actual start of the semester. We are also now in close contact with our students at all levels". Coordinated e-learning test runs will start this week at NGU.

For selected courses across all faculties, different software tools will be used to test the resilience of the networks, compatibility with different end devices as well as user-friendliness. "There is no standard solution", says Stendel, "the individual formats of the approximately 450 courses offered in the summer semester at NGU differ too much. After the test run, as many lectures as possible should also be able to be held via distance learning. If everything works out, we will start the first online lectures at the beginning of April, and the number of these lectures will then be gradually increased".

Until then, the "Task Force" will provide massive support to lecturers and professors, investigate where there are obstacles or problems and respond to student feedback.

"We are not entering uncharted territory here, but we will gain new experiences," says Rector Frey. "We already have online formats and the corresponding know-how in some degree programs in regular operation. But NGU as a whole, as a presence university with all its advantages, cannot simply be virtualized". The start of the new lecture formats will certainly not be smooth. "For this we need the feedback of the students. Whether the technology works, whether all students can participate or what problems there are. Testing also means learning for us". As far as the course of the semester is concerned, Frey is optimistic: "Even if we only start the semester in mid-April, there are still around 14 weeks to complete the summer semester successfully". NGU wants to ensure this with a streamlined lecture schedule, supported by digital courses.