New directions in programming education
Whether data science methods in movement science, well thought-out concepts for critical thinking and argumentation, or digital teaching and learning processes: Inspiring ideas were sought on how digital university teaching can be innovatively designed and further developed. With the fellowships, the Stifterverband and the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg want to stimulate a lasting discussion that is both subject-related and cross-disciplinary. 14 tandems from Baden-Württemberg universities that have further developed exemplary teaching concepts and support services for digital university teaching are supported by the state.
One of the 14 tandem fellowships goes to Prof. Anne Koziolek (KIT) and Prof. Steffen Becker (University of Stuttgart). With a funding volume of up to 50,000€, the two teachers want to break new ground in university teaching with their project Transfer of an Innovative Programming Education with Mini Programming Worlds TipMin: Programming education can take place in different ways. In addition to traditional bottom-up approaches, there are alternatives such as "Object-First", which focus on structuring large software systems from the very beginning, as in object orientation. At the University of Stuttgart, such an approach has been successfully used for several semesters in a digitized bachelor lecture, which is combined by means of gamification of mini-worlds such as the hamster simulator. In addition, innovative ideas for automated digital review of exercise tasks are being implemented. At KIT, there is a comparable introductory lecture on programming, which builds on traditional concepts.
"With the Fellowship Program for Digital University Teaching, we support universities in securing and further developing their digital teaching concepts. Forward-looking support structures that go beyond the pandemic perspective also contribute to this," said Petra Olschowski, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Science. "The state government's goal is to prepare students for the demands of digital communication and collaboration in the working world and to enable them to actively participate in society. To achieve this, we in the Ministry of Science are focusing on cooperative, structure-building projects geared toward sustainability as part of our state strategy 'Digital Teaching@BW 2025' - the fellowship program is one part of this."
"During the distance teaching in the Corona pandemic, smart digital offerings proved their worth and changed university teaching sustainably," says Volker Meyer-Guckel, Secretary General of the Stifterverband. "We need to preserve these innovations. Digitization will continue to influence the way universities impart knowledge in the future. However, it requires powerful and well thought-out concepts to be a truly meaningful complement to face-to-face teaching. The fellowships will provide incentives to further develop the best formats and thus act as a source of ideas in the higher education landscape."
Visit: https://www.stifterverband.org/bwdigifellows for more information on the Fellowship program.