Learning Café
Digitalising the International Student Journey
Date Friday, Nov 25 Time – RoomSchoeneberg I/II/III
This Learning Café presents the model of a student journey as a starting point to guide the audience through examples from DAAD’s (German Academic Exchange Service) portfolio of funding programmes and projects, illustrating how digital technology is used to provide learner-centred, international education that fosters (digital) skills for the future.
Putting students’, teachers’, and researchers’ needs at the centre, the DAAD provides advice and funding to German higher education institutions to develop innovative solutions for digital teaching and learning in international contexts and to establish digital infrastructures which facilitate international exchange. These approaches show a high scalability and are reusable for other universities since the software used is published under an open-source license.
Outcomes
- Use the potential of digitalisation in the internationalisation of higher education.
- Digitalise practice-oriented university teaching, using the example of virtual labs and avatar-based teaching.
- Benefit from innovative educational technologies in preparing international students for their studies in Germany.
Dagmar Willems
Senior Desk Officer, Section Digitalisation, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany
Dagmar Willems holds the position of Senior Desk Officer at the Section Digitalisation at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Her focus is to gain and disseminate knowledge on internationalisation through digitalisation taking into account the entire learners journey. She has experience in working on international projects in the area of digital innovation and integrating digital competences into the curriculum applying innovation methodologies. Her background is in cultural studies.
Ann-Kristin Matthé
Head of Section Digitalisation for Internationalisation, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Germany
Ann-Kristin Matthé is the Head of Section Digitalisation for Internationalisation, Universities of Applied Sciences at the DAAD Headquarters in Bonn. Since 2019/20 this section manages the DAAD programmes International Mobility and Cooperation through Digitalisation (IMKD), International Programmes Digital (IP Digital) and IVAC (International Virtual Academic Collaboration). Ukraine digital is the newest addition to the programme portfolio. With a background in public policy and international relations she is convinced of the added value inherent in digitalising the international student journey.
Heribert Nacken
Rectorate's Delegate for Blended Learning and Exploratory Teaching Space, Rwth Aachen University
Heribert Nacken studied civil engineering at the RWTH Aachen University and received his doctorate in the same field. Afterwards, he changed to the consulting sector and took over a professorship at the FH Aachen in 1998. In 2001, he returned to his alma mater, where he holds a professorship in engineering hydrology and a UNESCO chair. Since 2012, Nacken has been the rectorate's delegate for blended learning; in this role, he has played a key role in shaping the digitization strategy of RWTH Aachen University.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Pertsch
Professor, Jena University
Thomas Pertsch is a professor of applied physics and one of the directors of the Abbe Center of Photonics (www.acp.uni-jena.de) at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, where he leads the "Nano- and Quantum Optics Group” at the Institute of Applied Physics.
Currently, his research focus is on the generation and interaction of light with nanostructured matter, which includes e.g. metamaterials, photonic crystals and integrated quantum optical devices. In teaching, as the speaker of the Abbe School of Photonics (www.asp.uni-jena.de) and Fellow of the Max Planck School of Photonics, he is committed to the internationalization of research-related photonics education in Germany. He teaches mainly in the field of photonics and computational physics.
Vera Anna Bub
Senior Desk Officer, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Vera Bub is currently working on the project "Digital Campus" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the section for Digitalisation at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Bonn. The Digital Campus is a platform linking existing offers for the information as well as preparation for prospective international students interested in studying in Germany. Vera Bub holds a M.A. degree in English Literatures and Cultures and a B.A. in English Studies and Musicology from the University of Bonn.