Centre for University Didactics and Quality Development in Teaching and Learning
As a central scientific institution, ZHQ sees itself as a professional point of contact for the science of teaching and learning at higher education institutions. We promote a culture of continuous learning through teaching/learning-related spaces for innovation, exchange, networking and knowledge transfer.
How Does ZHQ Contribute to the Development of Teaching?
Teaching Expertise
Teaching is a skill that can be learnt: it is particularly important to us to support teaching staff when they first start teaching. Consequently, FH Aachen, in collaboration with other universities, offers newly appointed professors a basic course in university didactics as well as coaching. This allows them to develop their teaching concepts individually and based on the current state of research in teaching and learning from the very beginning.
In football, a professional never stops training either: We also support teaching staff in developing their skills at a later stage, for example with regard to the use of teaching and learning methods or how to support students in better understanding very difficult content. We incorporate ideas from educational research into our various formats, make the accumulated experiences from teaching visible and promote the exchange of ideas on this at FH Aachen.
- Work Areas in ILIAS: "Teaching and Study Design" | Successful Start to Teaching (Newly Appointed Staff)
Digitalisation
New tools, new questions: the use of media in teaching has always been standard at FH Aachen. In order to utilise the constantly evolving possibilities of digital university teaching, ZHQ employs consultants who support the teaching staff in the use of media and in the application of our learning management system ILIAS. We also support the creation and use of freely accessible teaching and learning materials ("Open Educational Resources") as well as networking in the Bildungsland NRW (educational region of NRW). Furthermore, we are involved in the "Digital University NRW" with the implementation of a further training programme for teachers for the digitl age..
- Work Area in ILIAS: Digitalisation in Studies and Teaching
Internationalisierung
Neue Perspektiven, neue Verbindungen: Das Team für Internationalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit in der Lehre (INteam) unterstützt Lehrende dabei, internationale Elemente in ihre Lehrveranstaltungen einzubringen und diese im Rahmen der Systemakkreditierung sichtbar zu machen. Gemeinsam werden bedarfsgerechte Lösungen entwickelt – von englischsprachigen Modulen über internationale Kooperationen bis hin zu interkulturellen Lehrformaten. Ziel ist es, Studierenden globale Kompetenzen zu vermitteln und Internationalisierung als festen Bestandteil der Lehre und der Qualitätsentwicklung zu verankern.
Nachhaltigkeit
Verantwortung gestalten: Das INteam begleitet Lehrende darin, Nachhaltigkeit systematisch in die Lehre zu integrieren und im Prozess der Systemakkreditierung abzubilden. In einem mehrstufigen Beratungsprozess werden passgenaue Konzepte entwickelt, die sich an den Items des Self-Assessment-Fragebogens orientieren. Lehrende erhalten gezielte Materialien und werden mit Partner:innen aus Hochschule, Berufspraxis und Zivilgesellschaft vernetzt – für eine Lehre, die nachhaltiges Denken und Handeln fördert und institutionell verankert.
Evaluation
Only those who scrutinise themselves can improve: Another core topic is the moderation and support of feedback processes for quality development in order to shape teaching together. To this end, we develop questionnaires for the systematic evaluation of courses and lectures, degree programmes and faculties. This is always done with reference to educational research on the one hand and in close dialogue with our teaching staff on the other. We evaluate surveys of students, graduates and teaching staff, summarise these and other data sources and prepare the important information for the faculties(programme evaluation video). In addition, we also conduct more open formats such as interviews to gain student perspectives on courses and lectures and make these available to lecturers. Finally, we coordinate external surveys in order to reduce the number of surveys for students.
- Work area in ILIAS: Evaluation & Research
Curriculum Development
Teaching as a team effort: In addition to the individual course, the degree programmes as a whole should also be examined on the basis of the following questions, among others: What are the objectives of a degree programme? How do the individual modules in a degree programme interact to achieve this? In collaboration with teaching staff, we work on these issues as well as on sharpening and further developing degree programmes in so-called curriculum workshops.
- Workspace in ILIAS: Curriculum Development
Research
University didactics is the science of teaching and learning at universities. The ZHQ supports teaching staff in researching their teaching, carries out its own research projects and participates in the academic discourse on studying and teaching with conference contributions and publications.
Rules and Guidelines for Teaching
In Germany, freedom of teaching prevails, but legal requirements must still be taken into account and the university's own regulations and strategies must be developed. The ZHQ participates in the design of structures and strategies for studying and teaching from a higher education didactics perspective - be it in the process of system accreditation or in the revision of internal university regulations such as the framework examination regulations.
What Are the Offers for Students?
Suggestions and Complaints Office
Sometimes there are also problems: The Suggestions and Complaints Office (StAB) is also located at ZHQ: Students can report problems or suggestions here, for which possible solutions are then sought together with the relevant contacts, especially in the faculties. With StAB, FH Aachen has introduced a complaints system that supports the liaison officers in the faculties, especially when cross-faculty issues arise.
