New Transfer Fellowship Project for Digital Higher Education

The “LernSMART” learning program, successfully established at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering as part of a so-called Digital Fellowship project (a project aimed at digitizing higher education), focuses on e-assessments (in this context: electronic test questions) to promote self-directed learning processes in engineering, with a focus on the structured analysis and solution of more complex problems. LernSMART includes supplementary e-learning resources designed to support students in analyzing more complex problems and developing solution strategies based on that analysis. Central pillars of the program are problem analyses that cannot be solved through numerical calculations. Instead, students are encouraged to engage in preliminary reflection, which serves as the basis for classifying problems and deriving solution approaches. This format helps support self-directed learning, promote digital competencies, and ensure academic success.

Through the new inter-university tandem project “LernSMART 2.0” between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Technical Thermodynamics, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Meinert) and Dresden University of Technology (Institute for Structural Engineering, Dr.-Ing. Frank Schladitz), the teaching practices of both tandem partners will be systematically further developed, innovative methods utilizing digital tools will be tested and implemented, and knowledge transfer will be promoted. The focus is on the digitally supported implementation of new forms of teaching and learning in undergraduate engineering education, with the aim of systematically leveraging the pedagogical potential of digitalization to enhance the quality of education and student success, as well as to serve as a model for other instructors.

The project proposal for this Transfer Fellowship project convinced the jury—comprising representatives from the HDS, the E-Learning Working Group, and experts from outside Saxony—during an exchange of ideas on February 6, 2024, and will be funded as part of the 5th round of the so-called “Digital Fellowships” (project duration: April 1 to November 30, 2024). “We are grateful for this recognition of our work to date and equally for the support in knowledge transfer provided by the Digital Higher Education project, ” says Professor Meinert. Through the Transfer Fellowship project, proven formats will be adapted for use at other universities and departments, and the transfer of experience will be systematically documented for other interested parties. In this project, the transfer takes place across faculties and universities, from a module on technical thermodynamics (1st semester) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences to a module on reinforced concrete construction (5th and 6th semesters) at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Dresden University of Technology.