The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) has been honoring outstanding achievements in teaching education with the Teaching Award for 22 years. This year, the university is honoring five lecturers for their innovative teaching concepts: Professor Dr. Moritz Heß from the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and the team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, consisting of Dipl.-Ing. Georg Toszkowski, Dipl.-Ing. Karl-Ludger Schnütgen, Prof. Dr. Matteo Zella and Dipl.-Ing. Rainer Kufferath.
Students and the faculty had nominated individuals and teams for the award. Heß and the team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science officially received the award for their teaching concepts on February 3 at the Senate Award Ceremony on campus in Mönchengladbach. The award winners each received 2500 euros, which they can use to further develop their teaching concepts.
Dr. Moritz Heß, a professor from the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, won the teaching award for the third time in a row. His course "Heterogeneity in old age - challenges for social work" in the fifth semester of the Bachelor's degree program in Social Work is characterized by both a successful integration of teaching education and research as well as the development of cases by the students to accompany the course. Heß sponsors dialog with the students and integrates the practical experience of his students into his courses. The jury praised the concept: "Here, teaching education takes place at eye level with mutual respect". Prof. Dr. Moritz Heß: "Winning the teaching award is a great honor. I am particularly pleased that I was nominated by students and that I was able to arouse interest in the topic of age(ing) in some of them."
In the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the first semester project, in which students build a robotic vehicle for playing soccer in a practical orientation, received the award. Students are introduced to the core competencies of their disciplines in teamwork right from the start. The interdisciplinary collaboration between students from the Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mechatronics degree programmes and the direct link between theory and practice were particularly praised by the jury. "A project like this always needs new resources in order to develop further and remain attractive to students. To increase motivation, the teams compete against each other in a soccer competition at the end of the semester. The prize money we win will be used for the distinction of the best solutions," explains Prof. Dr. Matteo Zella.
Two applications also made it onto the shortlist. Judith Collier from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics was chosen for her course "Business Game - Marketing Start Up". She also uses realistic simulations such as investor pitches.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Quade and Prof. Dr. Thomas Meuser from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science were also recognized for their practical orientation for their course "First Semester Project BDF 106 PRO" in the Digital Forensics degree programme. Students worked on fictitious cases in an interdisciplinary manner and presented the results of their work in a simulated court hearing at Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
