Digital Education
Learning and Teaching at the Cutting Edge
New formats, creative ideas, and digital possibilities make learning more accessible for students. Content can be worked flexibly in terms of time and place, making the time spent at FH Salzburg even more productive.
Andreas Bilke has turned learning on its head. The Senior Lecturer at the Department of Creative Technologies provides students with the content of his courses via video clips in advance. Before the young people come to the lecture hall at FH Salzburg, they are already prepared. The students have worked through the basic knowledge themselves with the help of the videos. "This allows us to use the valuable presence time better for questions of understanding and to deepen the content," says Bilke. Traditional teaching is reversed, making learning more efficient.
Inverted Classroom
For about four years, Bilke, who frequently exchanges ideas on innovative teaching at FH Salzburg, has been using the Inverted Classroom concept. A method that is not new but has gained momentum thanks to the possibilities of the digital age. The basics are learned independently with the help of digital learning materials such as videos or online modules, and the time at the university is reserved for questions of understanding, discussions, or practical applications. Students will receive the concept. However, for lecturers, this form of knowledge transfer initially means more work. After all, they must prepare the content accordingly, record videos or podcasts, and compile modules. "Therefore, this method is particularly suitable for basic courses whose content remains the same for a longer period," advises Bilke.
Bildergalerie
- Bildergalerie DLT Studio
DLT Studio for Multimedia Content
To support lecturers and students in taking new paths and creating multimedia content with the latest technology, FH Salzburg recently set up a Didactics and Learning Technologies Studio (DLT Studio). Innovative teaching materials can be made quickly and without prior knowledge at five stations – from a professional studio setting with greenscreen to Learning Glass and podcast or video recording options. "The DLT Studio is a real asset," says Bilke, encouraging colleagues to try new possibilities. Support for innovative teaching and new formats is technical and financial. FH Salzburg promotes projects in eLearning, interdisciplinarity, or innovative teaching through its Future Fund, endowed with 200,000 euros annually and aims to connect multiple study programmes.
Teaching Award for Innovative Knowledge Transfer
"Knowledge transfer is a great art. That's why we invest a lot to create optimal conditions for our lecturers to develop teaching and learning concepts and implement new didactic concepts," says FH Rector and Managing Director Dominik Engel. "Online content increasingly enriches face-to-face teaching, making learning more flexible regarding time and place. This also opens up many opportunities for us at FH Salzburg to reach new target groups with our educational offerings," he adds. The FH Salzburg Teaching Award, first awarded in 2023, brought innovative didactic concepts to the forefront. The award winners are nominated by the students. This is also an incentive to keep rethinking teaching.
Not Reinventing the Wheel
Because well-prepared content – scripts, slide sets, learning videos, or podcasts – is essential for one's students and can also be helpful for schools and other educational institutions, FH Salzburg is also involved in the Open Educational Resources (OER) project. The idea is to make one's materials or concepts available under a free license, thus making them accessible to other lecturers. "Not everyone has to reinvent the wheel. You can upload your own content and use the content of others if you credit the authors," explains Bilke. OER is supported by the “Forum New Media Austria” (fnma), and FH Salzburg is part of this initiative. "This creates even more visibility for innovative teaching, which we stand for at FH Salzburg," Bilke is convinced.