Innovative ideas for university teaching
Four projects at the University of Jena are being honoured with a fellowship for innovations in digital university teaching.
Students follow a lecture (symbolic image).
- Studies and Teaching
Published: | By: Stephan Laudien
This year, four projects at Friedrich Schiller University are being honoured with a fellowship for innovations in digital university teaching. The projects selected by a panel of experts will enable university lecturers to try out innovative new teaching formats. The Stifterverband and the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture are providing up to 50,000 euros for each of the projects. The projects started in September and will run until the end of next year.
Markus Gellrich and Anika Klafki receive a fellowship for innovation in digital university teaching for their AI "KlausI", which offers personalised, interactive exam training.
Image: Nicole Nerger (Universit?t Jena)Interactive exam training for students
How can law students better prepare for the mandatory state examination? What tools can be used to specifically improve students' case-solving skills? These are the questions facing Prof. Dr Anika Klafki and her team from the Faculty of Law.
Their answer is KlausI. This is an innovative AI that offers personalized, interactive exam training. As Anika Klafki explains, the artificial intelligence suggests topics for exams to students and gives them feedback on their case solution. ?KlausI is designed to give students feedback on the style, content and structure as well as the level of argumentation of their solution?, says Anika Klafki.
Data security is also a top priority. Because the AI tool and the database are operated on university servers, the tool is independent. The system is also future-proof and expandable. Prof. Klafki and her colleague Markus Gellrich have already created an initial basic model, and the tool will be further refined as part of the fellowship. The legal scholars are cooperating closely with the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Jena. As an open source project, ?KlausI? offers great transfer potential for other law faculties and departments with similar exam requirements.
Tim Haubenreisser receives a fellowship for innovation in digital university teaching for a web tool for the interpretation of Latin philosophical texts.
Image: Nicole Nerger (Universit?t Jena)Focus on text comprehension and language skills in Latin
Tim Haubenrei?er's project is called ??bersetzen mit Programmmanleitung. Digitale Dialoge zur Interpretation lateinisch-philosophischer Texte? (?Translating with programme guidance. Digital dialogues for the interpretation of Latin philosophical texts?.) The aim of this web-based tool is to improve students' language skills.
?Interpreting and structurally analysing Latin texts is one of the prerequisites of our subject,?, says Tim Haubenrei?er, who works as a research assistant at the Institute of Philosophy. This means that the new tool does not provide students with a one-to-one translation of Latin texts, but rather supports them in enabling them to produce their own translations.
At the same time, the web tool is intended to show the lecturer where the students have problems with the translation and where there may still be some catching up to do. Used competently, the new system could help reduce students' reluctance to tackle classical texts, says Tim Haubenrei?er. Another advantage is that the system could be adapted relatively easily for other languages.
Dr Denise Schaller (l.) and Grit B?hme have been awarded a fellowship for their project "Video-based experiential spaces for interprofessional education".
Image: Nicole Nerger (Universit?t Jena)University teaching across disciplinary boundaries
Dr Denise Schaller and Grit B?hme have been awarded a further fellowship. Denise Schaller works as a medical specialist in the University Hospital's Department of Neurology, while Grit B?hme is a qualified social pedagogue (M.A. special and integration education) and occupational therapist and works as a lecturer for special tasks at the University of Applied Sciences Jena.
In their project ?Videobasierte Erfahrungsr?ume für interprofessionelle Bildung? (?Video-based experiential spaces for interprofessional education?), they are building a bridge between the study of medicine and occupational therapy. The focus is on working with people with disabilities, both physical and mental. ?We focus on the needs of disabled people, on the question of how they can be enabled to participate?, says Denise Schaller.
This involves, for example, providing support in everyday life and sensitizing future doctors and occupational therapists to the right way to interact with disabled people. During the training, a short film will be produced and the participants are encouraged to reflect on their own actions. Theoretical background knowledge should not be neglected, says Denise Schaller.
Digital lab books are the goal of Kevin Jablonka and Christoph Steinbeck (right)
Image: Nicole Nerger (Universit?t Jena)Simulations and virtual labs complement basic studies
Chemists Prof. Dr Christoph Steinbeck and Dr Kevin Jablonka want to combine simulations, virtual laboratories and machine learning to develop AI-supported learning environments for laboratory practicals in the natural sciences. ?We want to modernize basic practical training in chemistry?, says Prof. Steinbeck. In concrete terms, this means doing away with handwritten lab books in favour of digital recordings.
The advantage is obvious: the results of experiments are recorded digitally, are machine-readable and therefore easily available to other users. At the same time, browser-based virtual labs can combine experiments with simulations, allowing safe and repeatable exploration. The data collected by the students will be analysed using AI-supported tools, which promotes a critical understanding of the possibilities and limits of artificial intelligence.
Christoph Steinbeck says that the planned system is nothing fundamentally new; laboratory information management systems have been standard in industry for years. With the project ?KI-gestützte Lernumgebungen für naturwissenschaftliche Laborpraktika: Integration von Simulationen, virtuellen Laboren und maschinellem Lernen? (?AI-supported learning environments for scientific laboratory practicals: Integration of simulations, virtual laboratories and machine learning?) this standard could be made usable for university teaching.
Background:
The ?Fellowships for Innovations in Digital University Teaching? programme is part of the ?Thuringian Strategy for Digitalization in Higher Education?, which was updated in 2021 and developed by the Ministry of Science together with the institutions of higher education. The Free State of Thuringia is providing more than seven million euros for this in 2025. The fellowship programme is a measure from the ?Digital University Teaching? area. Fellows are given the opportunity to implement their digital teaching concepts, whether this involves funding staff positions or technical equipment. The programme also offers fellows space to exchange ideas and network.