Process picks up speed!
The Digital Higher Education Project is moving into its next phase.
The initiative on digital higher education is gaining momentum and moving into the next phase!
What has been achieved, and what’s next?
It seems like only yesterday that the joint project “Digital Higher Education in Saxony” (DHS) was launched at the end of 2019 —a collaboration between Saxony’s universities, the Saxony Center for Higher Education Pedagogy (HDS), and the e-Learning Working Group (AKeL) of the Saxony State Rectors’ Conference (funded by the Saxon State Ministry of Science, Culture, and Tourism). The project focuses on implementing measures from the state-wide digitization strategy for higher education teaching to promote the transformation of study and teaching in the context of digitization, in accordance with the strategies of the participating partner universities. Coordinated by the HDS, the HSZG subproject of the joint initiative is based at the Centre for Knowledge Transfer and Education under the direction of the Vice President for Education and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Sophia Keil.
With the goal of developing and implementing innovations in the field of teaching and learning with digital media in Saxony, the consortium operates along three lines of action, within which a wide range of measures have already been successfully carried out:
Digital Fellowship Program
Through the Digital Fellowship Program, faculty and students at all state universities and universities of applied sciences in Saxony received financial support to further develop their teaching practices in the context of digitalization. This has resulted in a multitude of innovations and cross-institutional collaborations that continue to provide valuable impetus for knowledge transfer even beyond the project’s duration; details can be found here.
Examples include the successful fellows from HSZG:
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. J. Meinert - Fellowship project “LernSMART” – E-assessments to promote self-directed learning processes in engineering
- Prof. Dr. M. Zschocke - Fellowship project “Working Across Borders” – A multicultural digital project
- Dr. Ing. Sebastian Herrmann - Fellowship project Thermopr@ctice for OPAL - Further development of the e-learning system in engineering
- Certified Translator M. Heidig - Fellowship Project: OnlineLanguagePlacement
An overview of all fellows, as well as interviews with them, can be found on the E-Learning Working Group’s website.
Digital Change Agents
As part of the Digital Change Agents multiplier program, stakeholders working at the intersections of teaching organization (e.g., degree programme and module coordinators) had the opportunity to expand their skills in the areas of change management and process consulting with a focus on higher education teaching in the context of digitalization, in order to have a lasting impact on the transformation process at the academic organizational level. At the HSZG, the following individuals were trained as Digital Change Agents:
- Dr. S. Heidig – Focus topic: “Initiating a low-threshold exchange format for faculty members”
- M.Sc. S. Riedel – Focus topic: “Designing a digital continuing education campus”
- M.A. S. Benad – Focus topic: “Digital transformation of internal faculty communication processes”
- Diplom-Kommunikationspsychologe E. Schuster – Focus Area: “Designing a module for developing and promoting students’ digital competencies”
An overview of all Digital Change Agents in the Saxon network and their focus areas is available on the Saxony University Didactics website.
Digital Workspaces
In open workshop formats, known as Digital Workspaces, stakeholders involved in teaching at Saxony’s state universities and universities of applied sciences can work on the design and development of digitally supported teaching and learning scenarios. By drawing on a wide range of expertise and engaging in peer exchange, they have the opportunity to develop individual skills and directly implement a concretely planned project in the field of digital higher education. This creates immediate added value for the instructors themselves and for the universities as a whole (details on the format). Current focal points are workspaces on the following topics:“Self-assessments for learning support (e-assessment)” and“Shaping the future of teaching—with future skills (digital competencies and AI).”
For more information on the Digital Workspaces (topics, dates, and much more), please visit the project’s OPAL course:
As part of the project, a wide range of measures were supported to develop strategies for the digitization of education and teaching, as well as to promote the transfer of good teaching practices; these efforts also contributed to the HSZG’s Action Plan, which was adopted as part of the digitization initiative. Further details can be found on the project’s website:
On behalf of the University Executive Board, the Vice President for Education and International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Sophia Keil, extends her gratitude to the fellows from the faculties and administrative units for the successful implementation of the fellowship projects and congratulates all Digital Chance Agents on the successful completion of their continuing education. Special thanks go to everyone who supported the Digital Higher Education project and who, through their participation in the offerings supported by the project, took advantage of the opportunity to engage and share knowledge in order to advance the digitization of higher education. In this way, an alliance of various experts has been created—one that would have been virtually impossible to achieve without such a network.
We are therefore pleased to announce that the project has been extended by one year, through December 31, 2024. You are still warmly invited to participate in the opportunities provided.
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