| Erfurt School of Education, Faculty of Education, Lernwerkstatt, Education, School, and Behaviour, Research, Teaching

Dr Kinga Szücs receives Fellowship for Innovations in Digital Lecturing

For the 7th time, the "Stifterverband" and the Thuringian Ministry of Science have now honoured teachers for the introduction of innovative digital teaching projects at their universities. As part of the "Fellowships for Innovations in Digital Lecturing" programme, the state is providing support of up to 50,000 euros each. One of the award-winning concepts is "CAS-supported proof processes (CuBe) – new approaches in maths teacher training" by Dr Kinga Szücs, research assistant in the Department of Mathematics Didactics at the University of Erfurt.

From the development of an online game for a statistics course to offers that make digital inclusion and exclusion a personal experience, or chatbots for dealing with lecture content for student teachers – there are numerous ideas in Thuringia on how digital lecturing can be innovatively designed and optimised. As part of the "Fellowships for Innovations in Digital University Teaching" programme, a total of nine concepts have now been awarded prizes by a jury consisting of lecturers in the subject areas and university didactics as well as students.

"The award-winning projects impressively demonstrate how digital teaching at Thuringian universities not only conveys content, but also creates innovative learning environments that meet the needs of today's students. It is no longer just about transferring traditional teaching methods to the digital space, but about developing new, interactive and inclusive approaches that push the boundaries of traditional teaching. These initiatives are making a significant contribution to making Thuringia fit for the future as a centre of science and positioning our universities as pioneers of digital transformation," explained Thuringia's Science Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee.

"Digitalisation and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) permeate all areas of social life and require skills that have not yet been sufficiently promoted at universities and educational institutions," says Volker Meyer-Guckel, Secretary General of the "Stifterverband". "As part of the fellowships, we support and strengthen highly committed teachers and their projects so that students can confidently and confidently apply the necessary skills and actively shape social change. The Stifterverband also supports this process with its Future Mission Education initiative. Together with its partners, it supports universities in rapidly integrating the new skills requirements resulting from the transformation in the economy and society into their education programmes in order to quickly train more people with the necessary skills."

The "Fellowships for Innovations in Digital Lecturing" programme

... is part of the "Thuringian Strategy for Digitalisation in Higher Education", which was updated in 2021 and developed by the Ministry of Science together with the universities. The Free State of Thuringia is providing around seven million euros for its implementation in 2024. The digital strategy for universities comprises a total of seven fields of action: digital university lecturing, digital qualification of teacher training, digitalised research processes, open access, knowledge transfer, digitalisation in university administration and digital infrastructure. The fellowship programme is a measure from the area of digital lecturing. Fellows are given the opportunity to implement their digital teaching concepts, regardless of whether this involves funding staff positions or technical equipment. The programme also offers the fellows space to exchange ideas and network.