Challenge

Corona-related digital semesters have inhibited direct communication and collaboration among students. However, collaboration skills and technical skills are still important core competencies. What concepts can be used to support/sponsor the acquisition of these skills in technical courses despite limited interaction with each other, and how can these concepts be transferred back to face-to-face courses?

Solution

Based on the idea of "Pair Programming", which is well known and established in computer science, an online environment for real-time collaboration is provided. Students are given the opportunity to work simultaneously and jointly on the solution of a technical (programming) task, requiring only access to a web browser. The platform is not developed from scratch, but builds on existing software solutions.

Advantages

By using the online platform, students should, on the one hand, deal more intensively with technical lecture content and develop more self-confidence in creating solutions. On the other hand, the exchange among students should be promoted and a closer cooperation in the creation of solutions should be made possible. The first aspect in particular can be derived directly from the findings of "Pair Programming" and, if necessary, extended to the context of larger groups. By using an online platform, lecturers can also intervene more easily and directly in the solution creation and, for example, provide feedback in the development process.

Details

The use of the online platform will initially be tested in two courses:

(1) Course "Databases" in the third bachelor semester of the Degree programme Business Information Systems with approx. 60-80 students: Here, the focus of the online platform is on the acquisition of knowledge in the database language SQL: In two live sessions, students are to work intensively in small groups of about four 4 students on the implementation of complex database queries.

(2) Course "Data Science" as a compulsory optional module in the fifth bachelor semester of the Degree programme Computer Science with about 40-60 students: Here, students are to learn the foundation courses of Data Science and deepen their knowledge through exercises in groups of three to four students. Each exercise is completed independently in the online environment over one to two weeks.

The use of the online platform is evaluated in both courses within the framework of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through the use of a questionnaire in order to be able to map the students' perspective.

Teaching/learning education or digital media

In both courses the principle of the "inverted classroom" is (partly) applied. Students acquire knowledge independently and can test and deepen their knowledge through the exercises offered. This encourages students to engage more closely with the lecture and exercise content in both face-to-face and purely online teaching education. In addition, a highly collaborative teaching and learning approach is adopted to encourage students to interact with each other, thus reinforcing the acquisition of collaboration skills and technical competencies.

Students use computers for group work. This does not require students to install extensive software, but allows them to access the online platform directly through a web browser.

Recommendation

• Allow sufficient preparation time when using a new online environment (software) in your course.
• Give students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new software and obtain feedback on a regular basis.
• If the new teaching concept is to be evaluated, expect additional effort to plan the research design and record the results, for example.

Involved

• Prof. Dr. Jens Kaufmann, Business Informatics, FB08; Digi-Fellow 2020
• Prof. Dr. Christoph Quix, Information Systems and Data Science, FB03; Digi-Fellow 2020
• Pascal Quindeau, academic staff: project implementation, especially conception and evaluation
• Sayed Hoseini, M.Sc., academic staff: technical installation as well as monitoring of the deployed online environment
• Dr. Sylvia Ruschin, University Didactics: support in the development of the learning and teaching concept with special focus on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
• David Peters, M.A., Head of the Evaluation Coordination Office: advice on the design of a questionnaire and data protection issues

Links / Notes

The introduction to the online platform is part of the IoHubHN project and was funded by the state-wide "Fellowships for Innovation in Digital University Teaching".