NEOLAiA partners meet to further develop innovative university teaching
Bielefeld University was the European meeting place for innovative university teaching on 18 and 19 March. 25 international colleagues from the NEOLAiA European University Alliance came together for their “WP2 General Meeting”, a central working meeting.
The WP2 work package, which met in Bielefeld this time, focuses on the further development of teaching and learning. Specifically, it deals with innovative teaching formats, digital learning opportunities, student and teaching staff mobility and new certificate models.
One focus of the meeting was on so-called “micro-credentials” and “digital badges”. Micro-credentials are compact, certified learning units – i.e. small, clearly defined qualifications that students can acquire flexibly. Digital badges complement these by making acquired competences visible and comparable across Europe. In future, they could play an important role in documenting individual educational pathways more transparently – even across national borders.
The participants also discussed the expansion of a pedagogical hub, a joint platform for innovative teaching concepts and for networking teaching staff within the Alliance.
The Summer Schools and Focus Academies formats were also on the agenda. These formats aim to bring together students from different partner universities and strengthen European perspectives in teaching. Discussions covered teaching content, checklists and common quality standards for these formats.
The meeting was deliberately designed to be interactive. In so-called “world café” formats, the participants discussed at round tables what has worked well in the cooperation to date, where there are obstacles and what support is needed in the future. Workshops were dedicated to the question of how the success of the projects can be measured – for example with the help of indicators, surveys and impact analyses.
During the meeting, the group also had time to get to know the Bielefeld campus and take part in a beer brewing seminar organised by the microbiologists at Bielefeld University.
