Teaching and Education Day on November 16, 2022: We Need to Talk!

EUF's 3rd Teaching and Education Day has an unusual agenda. The university recently agreed on its new structural and development plan (STEP RISE), which formulates its institutional development and goals for the coming years. Many of these goals directly affect studying and teaching, and we need to talk about that. At the same time, the upcoming re-accreditation of our teacher education program is just around the corner. That's why this year's Teaching and Education Day should be a starting point for dialogue about core development projects in teaching and studies.

In four kick-off forums, we have the opportunity to discuss these developmental goals and projects, some of which are still abstract. We'll also discuss (subject-specific) perspectives and needs as raw input for the design and implementation process. The forums are also intended to help us more precisely define the developmental topics and goals --for example, in the form of an agreement on a common agenda for development (to the extent possible). Such an agreement could then be reworked within the framework of the degree program conferences, and could subsequently flow into the re-accreditation process.

Four complex topics cannot be dealt with conclusively in a single day. The idea is to take up the results of the kick-off forums again and again as STEP advances in its implementation, and to regularly offer the opportunity for further dialogue.

10:00 - 12:00 | Takes place in parallel to Forum 2

EUF has high quality standards for teaching.  Research-oriented, internationally-focused curricula and teaching methods form the basis for all of our teaching design.

STEP RISE formulates the expectation that, in the years to come, EUF will develop a teaching profile on the basis of this self-conception. But what are the (specific) conditions required to succeed in teaching well? Which measures would have the strongest impact on which phase of study, and in which subject? How can the teaching profile take subject-specific factors into account? And what form can the corresponding centralized and decentralized quality assurance measures make?

10:00 - 12:00 | Take place in parallel to Forum 1

One often hears of the fundamental influence of digitalization and the digital age on school and university educational processes. Nevertheless, the concrete significance of this process for teacher education at EUF is still an open discussion - one that is far from over.

A technical and instrumental understanding of digitalization focused on school and university students' technical skills has prevailed in many places. On the other hand, teacher education has more urgent tasks at hand: namely, to analyze how digitalization affects educational processes and impacts on education in the digital age (and not vice-versa), both socially and in other ways, and to accordingly develop - and change, if necessary - our understanding of the teaching profession and its professionalization, as well as the curricula.

In this kick-off forum, we look at various current perspectives on teacher education in the digital age and take them as a starting point for an advisory input on the form and content of further discussion and of any possible curricular adjustments. Examples of such perspectives include the strategic positioning of EUF and its teacher education programs, the project "Future Schools in the Digital Age," KMK recommendations, and subject recommendations of the IQSH.

The forum will also discuss how we can ensure the transfer between the subjects represented in the project "Future Schools in the Digital Age" and other subjects, and consider how the recommendations for action set forth in the KMK report on digitization in the education system[1] have implications for teacher education and training.

[1] https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/KMK/SWK/2022/SWK-2022-Gutachten_Digitalisierung_Zusammenfassung.pdf

13:00 - 15:00 | Takes place in parallel to Forum 4

With STEP RISE, EUF has set itself the goal of ensuring that its degree programs will promote "European competences." Introducing the European Pathway (EP), initially in teacher training programs, is one measure that can help us achieve this. At present, the EP is planned as a kind of modular system that will bring together various existing and yet-to-be-created offers (compulsory modules, lecture series, language courses, seminars, Europe weeks). Further teaching offers that promote internationalization will also be created. In particular, teacher education will be internationalized.

But what exactly does it mean to internationalize teaching? To which "European competences" are we referring? What insights do we draw from ongoing projects, for example the QLB projects on Internationalization@Home? Which potential EP building blocks already exist, which are in the planning stage? How can partner universities be integrated into the EP, for example via virtual offerings?

The aim of this forum is to deepen our exchange on the (subject-specific and didactic) implications and possibilities of internationalizing our teaching, and to link the EP to concrete ideas and projects.

13:00 - 15:00 | parallel to Forum 3

STEP RISE has announced that EUF will develop its teacher education program in accordance with the "PLUS" model. Special focus will be placed on further developing practical phases and research-based learning, as well as even more consideration for digitalization, internationality, and issues that cut across society as a whole. What developmental perspectives do degree program components (subject specializations) themselves have, and what developmental needs do they present - especially when it comes to defining and locating cross-cutting issues, research-based learning, and internationality? How can a meaningful and sustainable curricular integration of the topic of "education in digitalization" succeed? Which cross-cutting themes can be taken into account where and how?