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Digital teaching offers a wide range of possibilities, but it also comes with certain limitations. Compared to in-person classes, the “traditional” challenges of teaching at universities are often even more pronounced. Encouraging student participation and fostering interaction are not always easy for instructors and students in a digital context. In a distributed setting, there is often a desire for targeted interaction among participants.

On May 27, 2020, at 3:00 p.m., a webinar on the topic of fostering student participation and interaction in digital teaching will be held, to which all interested faculty members are invited. In the webinar, Mr. Stefan Müller, a higher education pedagogue at West Saxon University of Applied Sciences in Zwickau, will outline the limitations and potential of digital teaching with regard to student participation and interaction. Approaches and ideas in the areas of designing digital teaching and learning environments, as well as options for incentives and requirements, will be critically examined for their applicability to participants’ own teaching. The login details have been sent to faculty members via email.

The range of higher education teaching methods and digital tools used by faculty at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences to engage their students during the online phase is extensive. In virtual lectures and webinars, for example, “audience response systems” encourage participation through voting. Electronic tests using the ONYX test suite or Quizlet enable interactive exercises and provide students with feedback on their level of understanding. Virtual bulletin boards and collaborative test editors support communication and collaboration in the digital space.

To provide an overview, the staff members involved developed a comprehensive portfolio of tools, methods, advisory services, and guidelines, which is available on the Centre for eLearning (Zfe) website.