Three professors at The Hochschule Niederrhein will be sponsored with 150,000 euros from January 1, 2020 through the "Innovations in digital university lecturing" program. The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Stifterverband announce the program line annually. Teaching projects that are characterized by innovation, transfer potential and relevance for the further development of university lecturers are sponsored.
Prof. Dr. Anne-Friederike Hübener from the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences at The Hochschule Niederrhein receives an individual fellowship of 50,000 euros for her teaching project. The professor of social medicine teaches a central skill for specialists in social work: the ability to understand deviant behavior, mental disorders and crises from a bio-psycho-social perspective. In the seminars, students work in teams on real-life case videos, document their learning processes audiovisually and evaluate them. In this way, self-reflection is supported by media and the problem-oriented understanding of cases is trained to qualify for the profession.
This year, for the first time, the program also awarded fellowships to teaching educators who cooperate with a lecturer from another subject. Prof. Dr. Ekaterina Nannen from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Prof. Dr. Anne Schwarz-Pfeiffer from the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology have been awarded a tandem fellowship of 100,000 euros for their joint project "Smart Electronic Textiles".
The two professors are designing a Master's module in which students from both faculties will develop smart electronic textiles. The students will develop digital teaching content in a blended reality internship that combines e-learning and classroom teaching. Augmented reality technology is used to work interactively and in interdisciplinary teams, regardless of location. The students' results will be published in video blogs. The course will then be made available to other universities in the EU context.
The professors are three of a total of 42 academics who will receive a fellowship. The maximum funding period is one year.
