AK Curriculum and Didaktics

Learning to teach
The workshop ‘Learning to teach’ is aimed at young university lecturers in peace and conflict research who wish to expand their didactic knowledge and skills.

• Didaktik-Workshop from 27.2.-2.03. 2017 

A description of the contents can be found here. 

• Workshop from 9. bis 12. March 2015 in Bad Urach

A description of the contents can be found hier.

• Workshop from4. till 7. März 2013 in Bad Urach

Summary

The conceptions of teaching and learning to which one feels committed – usually unconsciously – or which one has experienced oneself so far have a decisive influence on the design of a seminar event. These concepts determine the choice of teaching content and strategies. Based on considerations about the goals of teaching and learning and how to realise them as adequately as possible, the participants in the workshop will develop a seminar concept on a relevant topic of peace and conflict research. Three topics will be dealt with in depth:

1) the content design of a seminar,

2) the use of activating learning methods and

3) the creation of a conducive learning atmosphere.

• Workshop-Report by Tatjana Reiber

Learning to teach – didactics workshop for junior lecturers in peace and conflict research

For many, starting out in teaching is like jumping in at the deep end. Although there are an increasing number of higher education didactic qualification programmes, subject-specific training courses are in short supply. The workshop ‘Learning to teach’ organised by the Curriculum Working Group of the Peace and Conflict Research Working Group fills this gap. For four days, from 4 – 7 March 2013, 14 junior lecturers discussed, tested and experienced what good teaching in peace and conflict research can be. The workshop at the Haus auf der Alb in Bad Urach was led by Verena Brenner, Thomas Nielebock and Tatjana Reiber and sponsored by the German Foundation for Peace Research and the Baden-Württemberg State Centre for Political Education.

The workshop programme consisted of four elements: 1) concepts of teaching and learning and understanding roles, 2) content design of seminars, 3) activating methods and 4) learning atmosphere. Reflection and exchange thus took centre stage on the first day of the workshop. When do we learn well? What makes a good university teacher? And what does teaching and learning research say about motivation? Hans-Christoph Bartscherer, who has been driving forward university didactics training at the TU Munich for many years, sensitised participants to these questions. It was also important to him to emphasise the close connection between learning objectives, examinations and learning activities. All three aspects, he argued, must complement and harmonise with each other. The design of examinations in particular is often underestimated, but is of central importance as students base their learning behaviour on them.

The second day focussed on the objectives and design of seminars. Tanja Brühl, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Frankfurt, provided insights into her own teaching experiences in a kind of workshop report. What learning objectives are there, how can they be categorised, why does it make sense to define learning objectives at all, how can priorities be determined? What are learning objectives that are of central importance for peace and conflict research in particular? And above all: how do I arrive at a stringent seminar plan? Possibilities for organising seminars beyond the classic lecture and discussion were also presented. In order to put into practice what they had heard and discussed, the participants worked in small groups to develop seminar concepts on relevant peace and conflict research topics and reflected on their seminar plans with each other.

The use of activating methods was practised on the third day. According to the central credo of the speakers Verena Brenner and Tatjana Reiber, methods are a tool and not an end in themselves: they should initiate student activities that serve to achieve learning objectives. And since learning is a self-directed and active process of knowledge construction and can only be achieved by the learners themselves, activation plays a central role. The participants first experienced a variety of methods and reflected on their function and effect, after which they set about implementing them themselves and practised using the methods in specific situations.

Emotional factors and a good learning atmosphere are of central importance for learning success. The English specialist and university didactics trainer Ira Gawlitzek sensitised the participants to this on the final day. In order to create a good learning atmosphere, key situations are of central importance: these are in particular the first seminar session, but also the final session and generally the entry and exit of individual sessions. In the discussions, a link was made to the first day – the atmosphere that prevails in a seminar also depends to a large extent on communication behaviour and one’s own attitude and understanding of one’s role.