Teaching at the Start

Teaching at the Start is a three-month training program in a blended learning format for new teachers who would like to receive a compact introduction to teaching at Leuphana University and are either currently teaching or planning to teach their own course.

The program tool place for the first time in the winter semester 2022/23 and is comprised of 30 WU (work units; 1 WU corresponds to 45 min).

A new round is planned for summer semester 2024 - the programme will become the foundation stage within a new certificate programme and will be adjusted accordingly (more information coming soon).

In a compact form, the participants of the program will acquire basic knowledge for planning and conducting their own courses, for competence-oriented testing and for feedback and evaluation. Synchronous and asynchronous elements will be combined in a sensible way; they support the use of appropriate learning strategies and ensure time flexibility during participation. A memo box will be created for each focus area, which serves as an aid for one's own teaching and can be individually expanded. Finally, the program will supply participants with their own Moodle course - this crucial foundation will assist participants in their future teaching and contains all important elements for planning and teaching courses.

Planning Teaching

The focus "Planning Teaching" familiarizes participants with basic planning models. Participants will practice formulating teaching objectives in a competence-oriented manner against the background of Constructive Alignment. They will learn the steps that lead from the broad to the precise concept. This also means reflecting on their role as teachers and, among other things, considering communication with students.    

Teaching

In the focus area "Teaching", the participants will learn how to successfully support and accompany student groups with the help of media. In particular, this will include motivating and activating students using select methods, learning materials and tools. The tools available at Leuphana University for collaborative work will be presented and their use and implementation in class will be practiced.

Examination and Assessment

In the core area "Examination and Assessment", participants will learn how to define and assess competencies. Based on the learning objectives of their course and the framework examination regulations of Leuphana University, they will create their own examination criteria. For this purpose, a concrete evaluation grid will be exemplified and discussed.

Using Feedback and Evaluation

In the focus "Using Feedback and Evaluation", participants will learn about feedback as a fundamental component of teaching and learning. They will be able to implement feedback meaningfully as an assessment for learning and an assessment of learning. This will involve providing feedback to students that promotes learning, encouraging peer feedback and self-assessment, and receiving your own feedback. The qualitative feedback tool Shift! will be introduced as an instrument and its use in the course will be explained. Afterwards, all participants will have the opportunity to use Shift! themselves in their teaching and thus discover ways to implement the tool independently . Alternatively, a reflection on a teaching situation in a collegial consultation is possible.

The program is aimed at new teachers at Leuphana University who would like to receive a compact introduction to teaching at Leuphana University and who are currently teaching or concretely planning their own course.

After successful participation, the participants will 

• have dealt with basic aspects of good media-supported teaching,
• have gotten to know planning models, methods and tools to support collaborative work in teaching,
• have understood the principles of goal-oriented teaching and testing, and
• be able to use the possibilities of feedback and evaluation as a design element of teaching.

Asynchronous self-learning units will be made available at the start of the program for an initial engagement with the central topics. These are then supplemented by synchronous digital workshops, in which the knowledge that has been acquired individually is deepened. In addition, an accompanying course room in Moodle is available for continuous exchange via the forums.

A memo box is created for each of the four topics in the course of the program. These serve as summaries of the most important content and can be used as an overview for future teaching and expanded individually.

If participants are not yet acclimated with the basics of Moodle, they can take part in an introductory online training session on October 4 and 11 (10-11:30 am each day). Details about the offer can be found under Current Workshops.

The final part of the program is the creation of a teaching concept in the form of individual Moodle courses, which the participants build with the help of a template and that they can adapt to fit their own ideas. In this way, they develop a comprehensive practical basis for their own teaching.

For all your questions, feedback and concerns, the colleagues of the teaching service are very glad to be at your disposal. They will also advise you on the fit of the program to your needs and level of experience.

You can contact Dr. Judith Gurr and Dr. Sigrun Lehnert via lehre-am-start@leuphana.de.