University of Mannheim: Outstanding teaching achievements at the University of Mannheim recognized
Due to the corona pandemic, teaching at universities has been mainly digital for more than a year. This presents not only students but also teachers with special challenges, which they face with innovative teaching approaches and a high level of commitment. As in previous years, a large number of outstanding concepts were submitted for this year’s teaching award from the University of Mannheim. Two lecturers who motivate their students with sophisticated teaching concepts and achieve above-average learning successes particularly stood out: Prof. Dr. Daniel Roggenkamp, holder of the chair for mathematical physics, receives the teaching award in the “Professorship” category. Dr. Caroline Mary,
“This year we are honoring two teaching concepts from very different disciplines. On the one hand, this underlines the outstanding quality of teaching at the University of Mannheim across the board, ”says Rector Prof. Thomas Puhl. “On the other hand, the two award-winning concepts show how well both digital and practice-oriented formats can motivate and inspire students.” It is particularly pleasing to see the creative and multi-layered way in which the various levels of proficiency of the students are met.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Roggenkampholds the chair for mathematical physics at the University of Mannheim. For the award-winning concept, Prof. Roggenkamp has comprehensively revised the basic lecture Linear Algebra I and digitized it into a so-called inverted classroom format. A large number of thematically structured, short explanatory videos, which are integrated into the lecture script and which the students can view at any time, replace the classic lecture. Prof. Roggenkamp uses the regular lecture time as an in-depth discussion and question time. Students can submit questions in advance via a forum or spontaneously. Another new feature is that the supplementary exercises, tutorials and homework are offered in the same week as the lecture material. In this way, the students can deal intensively with a topic in one week. The offer is rounded off by a “Help Desk”, ie extensive consultation hours during which tutors offer help with completing homework. An online test on each topic and a mock exam help students to identify gaps in knowledge at an early stage and to close them with the help of revision courses, for example.
Dr. Caroline Maryhas been Head of Lecturing French in the Linguistics and Media Studies department at the University of Mannheim since 2009. Her concept of “collaborative, performative and intercultural language acquisition – from (virtual) seminar room to traveling exhibition in three acts” aims to support students in acquiring personal and social skills in addition to language acquisition. At the beginning of the seminar, the autonomous and interactive development of knowledge is in the foreground. This happens, for example, through group work and problem-oriented group discussions. The knowledge acquired is then applied. Miss Dr. For this purpose, Mary had her students design an exhibition on the challenges of the digital world in current society. The results were submitted to a competition organized by the Franco-German University. The transfer of knowledge and a look beyond the university horizon takes place in the final seminar phase. The students hold discussions with experts from the field, for example in the context of an online forum of the European Commission on artificial intelligence.