5.7 million for the further development of digital teaching "Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre" funds two TU projects

The new Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre (Innovation in Higher Education Foundation) is funding the “ProDiGI” project of Technische Universität Braunschweig and the “Co³Learn” project jointly applied for with Leibniz University Hannover and Georg-August University Göttingen over a period of three years with a total of 5.7 million euros. Both projects will begin on 1 August 2021 and aim to further develop digital teaching, which had gained greatly in importance during the Corona pandemic.

“I am very pleased that two projects from TU Braunschweig are being funded by the Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre. This will enable us to further develop our digital teaching offers in a sustainable and future-oriented way,” emphasises Professor Knut Baumann, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.

Co³Learn

The joint project, which TU Braunschweig is implementing together with Leibniz University Hannover and Georg-August University Göttingen, aims to develop solutions that enable and expand student collaboration via digital offerings. “Co³Learn” is funded with a total of 3.4 million euros.

“We want to test solutions in the form of digital tools and concepts for cooperation, evaluate them and anchor them in subjects. The aim is to create a toolbox for cooperative and digital teaching and learning,” explains Julius Othmer, one of the three project leaders of Co³Learn and head of the Project House at TU Braunschweig.

“The project enables us to identify innovative collaboration tools together with students and to use them across universities,” adds Cornelis Kater, the project leader from Leibniz University Hannover. It closes important gaps in digital collaboration. “We are testing it in a network at the three participating universities and later want to make it available at all Lower Saxony universities as part of the umbrella initiative Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen,” says Kater.

Dr. Dirk Lanwert, Head of Digital Learning and Teaching at Göttingen University, emphasises that students and teachers should be involved comprehensively and responsibly from the very beginning. Their requirements are the central element for steering the project. “The students as partners in the project have an incredible amount to offer. We are counting on the fact that together we will succeed in fanning the flames of digital collaboration at all universities in Lower Saxony. One highlight is the planned student congress next year,” says Lanwert.

Professor Lysann Zander from the Institute for Educational Sciences at Leibniz University Hannover will accompany the project scientifically. “Beyond the question of whether the digital toolbox developed actually promotes the emergence of cooperation networks between students, we will take a closer look at how students experience working with this toolbox, whether all or only certain students benefit from it, as well as which framework conditions and methods are crucial for teachers to use it meaningfully in teaching,” says Zander.

ProDiGI: Promoting Digital education through Global Interconnection

The extensive experience gained so far in the area of digital teaching at TU Braunschweig is to be made sustainably useful in the project “Promoting Digital education through Global Interconnection” (ProDiGI) – especially in international English-language teaching. It has a funding volume of 2.3 million euros.

A “Digital Incubator” is being established by the Project House of TU Braunschweig, which is intended to promote the development of a future-oriented range of courses as a physical and virtual contact point, source of impetus and distributor. The core is the implementation of projects in the faculties and subjects for the development and expansion of digital international English-language modules and study programmes.

“In addition, we want to create a comprehensive networking and support structure consisting of various networking formats, a think tank for new degree programmes and a qualification offer for teachers,” says project manager Katharina Zickwolf.

Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre

The “Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre” under the umbrella of the Toepfer Stiftung gGmbH has the task of promoting innovation in study and teaching, networking relevant actors and supporting the transfer of science. It was launched by the Federal Government and the Länder in 2019 as part of the “Innovation in Higher Education Teaching” agreement. 150 million euros will be made available annually in perpetuity. In the first funding round, a total of 264 applications were submitted, including 216 individual and 48 collaborative applications. The project selection committee rated 115 individual and 24 joint applications as worthy of funding.