Goethe in progress 2022 – Lehre & Studium
A space for good teaching
What constitutes good teaching? This question was on many people’s lips during the ad hoc switch to virtual teaching that occurred during the pandemic. While universities have long since returned to face-to-face teaching, they continue to consciously experiment with new forms of learning and teaching. What role do digital concepts play in these considerations? What new, international courses have been added at Goethe University Frankfurt? How motivating are contacts to the practical world and how important is it to support students who are calling their studies into question? An overview featuring innovative digital projects and new courses of study, researchers who have been honored for their excellent teaching, and examples of how Goethe University Frankfurt supported its students upon their return to campus.
Studying in dialog
Goethe University Frankfurt is supporting 16 projects that promote teaching and studying – including the “Successful Study in Dialog” and “Get in Touch & Re:Start your Campus Life!” projects – as part of the new federal funding line “Successful Teaching and Learning – Diversity and Internationalism in Studies”.
Digital flow
How can university teaching benefit from digitalization? Goethe University Frankfurt’s “Digital Teaching and Learning Lab” implements innovative development projects in study programs. The i-TaLES project, for instance, trains future teachers in the development of digital learning games.
This way forward
New master's programs at Goethe University Frankfurt offer training in comparative democracy, social ethics as well as global finance and economics. In addition, a new bachelor's program provides academic training for midwives.
Spot on
The annual 1822 University Prize shines a spotlight on particularly dedicated and innovative teachers.
Group singing turned out to be a popular forum for social encounters during the pandemic (Photo: University Sports Center)
Bringing the campus back to life, together
Many students found the post-pandemic return to campus difficult. The state-funded “Get in Touch & Re:Start Your Campus Life!” program at Goethe University Frankfurt offered help and guidance.
The anonymously collected feedback from course participants leaves no doubt about the program’s success: “It was a good week to figure out where I stand and what exactly were the problems I had difficulty grasping before. It was great to work on this with other people,” one participant said. “You learn a lot about yourself and where your issues lie,” was the feedback given by another one of the 120 students who this year joined the two one-week online courses “Design Your life – Die Kunst sich neu zu er:finden” [Design Your Life – The Art of Reinventing Yourself]. By applying design thinking, the course offered by Goethe University’s Psychotherapeutic Counseling Service, taught students how to creatively address problems and challenges – in other words, to experience thinking as a practical activity. “You work haptically, visualize, build prototypes,” explains course instructor Gerhard Hellmeister, a trained psychologist and therapist and an employee of the Psychotherapeutic Counseling Service. He and his team developed the online course during the pandemic, when social distancing and other restrictions triggered fears and depression in some people. “What we want to convey to students in the course is how to overcome the fear of failure,” Hellmeister explains, adding that fear prevents exciting life plans. It is much more important, he says, to make small changes – and take small steps.
What we want to convey to students in the course is how to overcome the fear of failure
Hellmeister points to an American study, according to which college students today will pursue an average of four different occupations in their lifetime. Linear life scripts are no longer an option, and young people have to learn how to handle disruptions, transitions and new beginnings in life. The coronavirus pandemic added the experience of living through a fundamental crisis to this general feeling of insecurity. In addition to the unemployed, students were among the occupational groups most affected by the contact restrictions, as several studies conducted in Germany show. Many felt lonely and listless – a trend also observed at the University's Psychotherapeutic Counseling Service: counselors increasingly encountered depressive moods and anxiety disorders in their conversations, international students reported a greater need for counseling, and students who had previously sought counseling began seeking support once again. Following the first measures to ease the lockdown, it became clear that students who had started their studies during one of the lockdown phases had difficulty making social contacts on campus. The lack of peer groups became particularly noticeable.
Goethe University Frankfurt responded to this situation with the project “Get in Touch & Re:Start your Campus Life!” – supported by the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts’ “QuiS_Plus” funding program, which seeks to reduce the coronavirus pandemic’s negative psychological and social consequences among students and will run until mid-2023. Numerous university institutions, departments and initiatives have joined forces to this end and taken proactive steps, including the Psychotherapeutic Counselling Service, the University Sports Center, the student councils, student initiatives and university groups, the Collegium Musicum university orchestra, the Chaincourt Theatre group, the International Student Forum, the AStA student union and many more.
(Photo: University Sports Center)
To meet the growing acute need for counseling, the Psychotherapeutic Counseling Service temporarily increased its staff levels. The intensive online course “Design your life”, for example, offered students tools to develop new perspectives and actively shape their own student life.
The “Get in Touch” initiatives focused on making the return to campus and university life as easy as possible. The University Sports Center offered creative and service-oriented activities contributing to the physical and mental health of all students and staff, which were by no means limited only to those with an affinity for sports. Almost 10,000 students got to enjoy the mobile “Goethe Play” recreation box transported by cargo bike: the box traveled between Westend, Riedberg and Bockenheim campuses, bringing the returning students sets featuring Viking chess, frisbee, or spikeball for use between lectures and seminars. At the Summerchallenge, held on the sports fields of Ginnheim Campus, these game sets were replaced by multisport tournaments and sports such as beach volleyball, mini ultimate frisbee and soccer.
Group singing – a cooperation between the University Sports Center, the Collegium Musicum and Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts – also turned out to be a popular forum for social encounters, bringing together singing aficionados under the big trees on Westend Campus who took advantage of both the fresh air and the health benefits associated with singing. The colorful cultural program of “Get in Touch” also included the Re.Vue exhibition on the Institute of Art History and the soon-to-be-abandoned Bockenheim Campus, curated by institute students themselves. Student initiatives and university groups were encouraged to launch their own activities, including with financial support. As a result, the extensive program included several other free initiatives, such as excursions, parties and movie nights. Also included in the offers were an intercultural mentoring program, workshops on improvisational theater, dance lessons, cooking courses and museum tours – put together by student initiatives such as Goethe Greens Office, MakeLab, the TechAcademy and several student councils (e.g. social sciences, ethnology, sports, computer science, math chemistry, teaching, and many more). All told, the common work on the “Get in Touch” campaign brought different Goethe University actors and institutions together as one social unit with the same goal in mind: to make the re:start on a vibrant campus as easy and as vivid as possible through a wide range of social encounters.
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The “Studienerfolg im Dialog II” [Successful Study in Dialog II] project not only supports students who are unsure about their studies or at risk of dropping out, but also those who are performing very well in their studies. (Photo: Elke Födisch)
- New Projects – ELLVIS
Improving degree programs through targeted support
The “Studienerfolg im Dialog II” project aims to break down barriers and facilitate access to counseling, offering targeted support to students at risk of dropping out as well as appropriate measures to encourage high-performing students. Following a pilot phase, the successful academic counseling campaign spanning all faculties will enter its second round in 2022.
There are many manifold reasons for study delays: Some students have a fear of exams, while others can't find the time to prepare for upcoming exams because of the demands of their job. In addition, non-native speakers often find the scientific language challenging, which can lead to delays in their studies, while others simply underestimated what lies ahead in the field of study they chose following their high school graduation and are struggling with their decision.
As part of the “Studienerfolg im Dialog II” project, students are proactively contacted by their faculty’s academic counselors, based on their individual courses of study, and invited to a voluntary counseling session aimed at identifying the reasons for a delay in studies and jointly work on alternatives. This may involve referring the student to the Psychotherapeutic Counseling Service, which can help with exam anxiety and mental disorders, or it may involve jointly drawing up a study plan to better structure the course of study and set realistic goals. In some cases, subject advisors and students also agree to get together regularly to exchange ideas.
The program is part of Goethe University Frankfurt’s response to nationwide statistics, which show that about a third of bachelor's students change their degree program or leave university without graduating between the third and sixth semester (2020 figures). The academic counseling service’s pilot project received federal state funding from 2016 to 2022. From 2022 to 2025, the project will once again be financed, this time by the state of Hesse’s “Quis” funding program, and as part of the new ELLVIS “Successful Teaching and Learning – Diversity and Internationalism in Studies” program [“Erfolgreich Lehren und Lernen – Vielfalt und Internationales im Studium”]. If it were up to the faculties’ student counselors, the program would become a permanent fixture in Goethe University Frankfurt’s academic counseling services.
“I'm a huge fan,” says Fabienne Peter, an academic counselor in the Faculty of Law, adding that the invitation to join often serves as the decisive “nudge” that can end up making all the difference. “Many students tell us of a lack of courage to approach the counseling service” – even though most have known for some time that something was amiss in their studies. “Thank you for looking after me – that is something we hear often.” Of course, there is only so much a counselor can do, some problems the students need to handle independently. Peter explains: “Many work part-time to make a living, or they have family problems.”
Once events were held in person again in 2022, Peter noticed that students' problems were increasing. Many had lost their jobs and as a result also their apartments, and had moved back in with their parents. Those who started their studies during the pandemic had never been on campus and had trouble getting to know their fellow students. “In many of these cases, all I can do is encourage them to keep their eyes on the prize, not to give up their search for accommodation, and to familiarize themselves with and attend at least one of the social opportunities the university offers beyond the regular curriculum.” Peters' expertise as academic advisor comes into play if initial doubts about the subject or a lack of planning cause studies to falter.
“Studienerfolg im Dialog II” not only helps those harboring doubts about their studies or threatened with dropping out. The project also addresses students who excel in their studies, possibly without being aware of it. These students deviate positively from the standard period of study, for example by successfully passing a fourth-semester intermediate exam after just two semesters of study. Discussions with high-performing students usually focus on drawing their attention to scholarship opportunities and jobs at the university, or providing further advice on the course of studies, including specializations.
In 2022, the student counselors from seven Goethe University faculties sent out some 1,400 invitations. Around 60 percent of the students at risk of dropping out responded to the email from their faculty’s student counseling service – and scheduled an appointment. In the case of particularly high-performing students, some 80 percent took advantage of the service’s office hours after having received the invitation. Peter says their feedback provides the university with insights into previously unknown reasons for doubts about continuing one’s studies and/or dropping out of university, enabling it to take appropriate countermeasures. Her faculty has already introduced relevant measures, including a mentoring program at introductory events to help first-year students get started with their studies. Peter is convinced that “targeted support improves a degree.”
Martha Geiger, who coordinates the “Studienerfolg im Dialog II” program, points to another advantage: “The project gives us the opportunity to provide our student and academic counselors in the faculties with comprehensive training in current advisory topics and offer them supervision sessions.” This in turn not only supports their day-to-day work, but also increases the quality of the counseling, even in challenging situations.
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Want to learn more? Read the interview with Alexander Kaib, research associate at Goethe University’s Schreibzentrum writing center: Schreibt die Künstliche Intelligenz künftig meine Texte?
- New Projects – ELLVIS
How to read and write like a pro
How can students learn how to write? Goethe University Frankfurt’s Schreibzentrum writing center asked teachers and lecturers from a range of different disciplines about their experiences. In a series of interviews, they offered insights into how they became professional writers, providing information on techniques, pitfalls, and the joys of learning how to write.
Once at university, you automatically learn how to write and read “academically” – at least that's what many students assume. In actual fact, many feel insecure at the onset of their studies: How do you understand scientific books while reading, and how does a topic take shape while writing? More specifically: How do you start a text, how do you structure it, how do you choose the appropriate language?
Do you really have to know how to write and how to read – that is the question staff at the Schreibzentrum asked Goethe University’s lecturers, i.e. professionals who should have their own opinion on the matter, based on their experiences in ten different fields in the humanities, social and natural sciences. “We were impressed by how openly, honestly and in detail the professors talked about their experiences with the academic reading and writing process,” reports Nora Hoffmann, who heads the Schreibzentrum. They spoke about difficult beginnings and the ability to let go of entire sections and chapters, about tormenting self-doubts and the necessary exchange with others, as well as the exhilarating experience of being able to learn how to write. That, in fact, is the series’ interdisciplinary conclusion: Far from being a stroke of genius, writing is a craft that can be learned through practice, experimentation and techniques.
Using short thematic clips and longer interviews, the various strategies and subject-specific techniques of professional academic writers are described in the interview series “How to read and write like a pro”. The project, carried out by Schreibzentrum staff Daniel Bella and Alexander Kaib, was developed as part of the ELLVIS “Successful Teaching and Learning – Diversity and Internationalism in Studies” program [“Erfolgreich Lehren und Lernen – Vielfalt und Internationales im Studium”]. It is supported by the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts’ 2022-2025 “QuiS_Plus” funding program as part of the state’s future contract to strengthen studies and teaching: Zukunftsvertrag Studium und Lehre stärken
The interviewees
Prof. Marjan van den Akker (medicine), Prof. Roland Borgards (literature), Prof. Julian Garritzmann (political science), Prof. Matthias Jahn (law), Prof. Christof Mandry (theology), Dr. Tino Petzold (human geography), Prof. Barbara Rendtorff (sociology and education), Prof. Johannes Völz (American studies), Prof. Marc Wagner (physics) and Prof. Barbara Wolbring (history).
Goethe University Frankfurt’s Schreibzentrum writing center offers students and teachers a range of workshops.
Adaptive testing resembles the process used in oral exams: the lecturer responds to the examinee's answers and develops further questions from there (Photo: Uwe Dettmar)
Making exams fairer
A team of educational psychologists at Goethe University Frankfurt wants to change the way university exams have been held for the past 50 years and more. Beyond being designed to better measure individual skills, electronic exams are also fairer.
“Criterion-oriented adaptive testing” at universities, abbreviated in German as KAT-HS [“Kriteriumsorientiertes adaptives Lernen”]: the name of the new digital exam concept exudes the charm of a technical instruction manual – were it not for the fact that the terms “criterion-oriented” and “adaptive” are based on concepts that are easily linked to such highly topical and controversial issues like equal opportunities, educational justice and quality education.
What is the aim of the so-called “Adaptive Exams for Goethe University Frankfurt” [“Adaptive Klausuren für die Goethe-Universität, AKGU], developed by the team of educational psychologist Prof. Andreas Frey? In the words of project manager Dr. Aron Fink, the ultimate goal is nothing less than to use e-learning to adapt exams to the individual skills of the examinees, to make them more transparent with regard to a course’s overarching learning objectives, and to enable a statistical comparison with exams from previous years. That means the project also addresses the deficits of conventional testing – and how these can be remedied using digital methods like KAT. The pilot project was developed by Aron Fink, Lara Weiß and Jan Luca Schnatz from the educational psychology unit specialized in counseling, diagnostics and evaluation. It is a subproject of the larger DigiTeLL project, funded by the “Innovation in der Hochschullehre” charitable trust’s “Strengthening Higher Education through Digitization” funding line – and was significantly developed in 2022. The DigiTeLL Digital Teaching and Learning Lab implements innovative development projects in university courses.
In describing one of the shortcomings of conventional examination procedures, the team points out that it is often unclear whether an assignment is in fact related to any given course of study’s learning objectives. If you correctly answer 50 percent of an exam’s questions, thereby passing it, does this subset of questions really cover all the criteria necessary to make qualified statements about having achieved a competency-based learning objective? Does the exam test detailed knowledge, or does it address a higher-level thematic context, as prescribed by the course modules?
Beyond that, Fink says, conventional one-size-fits-all exams also cannot be adapted to an examinee’s competency level. By contrast, adaptive testing more closely resembles the procedure in oral exams, in which the lecturer responds to the examinee's answers and uses these to develop further questions. Adaptive exams determine a student's individual level of competence after each answer to a question; the ensuing tasks build up on this – resulting in a procedure that also makes the predictability of exam questions – and thus also cheating – much more difficult.
Adaptive tests that accommodate an individual student’s performance level are superior to conventional tests in another way, too: they are able to differentiate much more precisely at the margins – i.e. at the very low and above-average range of competencies – while traditional tests measure most accurately in the statistical mid-range.
Another shortcoming of traditional exams is that they are not usually statistically linked to tests from previous semesters, the AKGU team states. Examinees that deliver the same performance could still be graded differently in different semesters, since their grading is also based on their cohort’s performance rather than criteria that allow conclusions to be drawn about the achievement of competence-oriented teaching goals.
In the United States and other English-speaking countries, adaptive testing procedures have long since been used, including in medical education. Interest in the model, whose accuracy and fairness in examinations seems convincing, is slowly growing in Germany, too. Given that “the research areas of psychometrics and educational measurement have developed rapidly in recent years, from a technical perspective, digital examinations can now be carried out much more easily in this country, too,” says Prof. Frey's team. However, a few hurdles remain before adaptive testing can be widely implemented at universities. In addition to fundamental reservations vis-à-vis adaptive testing systems, these also include requirements on the university’s infrastructure. Together with the University Computing Center and studiumdigitale, Fink and his colleagues have already introduced a scalable system, which they have also been able to apply: The AKGU team conducted two exams in PC pools during regular classes, one with around 100 students as test subjects and another aimed at testing scalability, which included 1,000 students in teacher training.
The DigiTeLL funding for the KAT-HS software, which is written in the free statistics software R, has also resulted in new task formats, including answers to statistical calculations in programming languages that aspiring psychologists must learn. The next steps towards a university-wide introduction of adaptive testing have already been laid out: The working group is currently busy integrating the KAT-HS software into the central learning platform Moodle, which will make it easier for teachers to access adaptive testing procedures. Project manager Fink says work is also being done “to integrate language models into our program, so that one day free texts can also be evaluated automatically.”
The exam concept presented here is both low-threshold and scientifically sound, includes open software, and can be implemented immediately on a broad scale. If the team has its way, KAT-HS will be quickly “hijacked” by a cross-university network, i.e. used and further developed – from the university for the university, so to speak.
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Further information available at:
Which elements do I use in my learning game? With i-TaLES, students can learn simple programming. (Photo: Pia Barth)
- New Projects – DigiTeLL
Learning within a digital flow
The i-TaLES project trains future teachers in the development of digital learning games, teaching them the basics of programming and how to use digital formats pedagogically.
“Teaching with tablets makes you dumber” – these and similar headlines reflect the controversial discussion about digitalization in schools. Does digitalization in the classroom pose a danger to children’s intellectual development? Or are digital teaching elements in fact useful – and, if so, how and when? For professional reasons, computer science educationalists Prof. Andreas Dengel and David Fernes are open to trialing new digital forms of learning. One critical point both agree on: teachers often lack the necessary skills to meet the digital challenges they face in schools. That is something the two computer scientists want to change with the project “Immersive Teaching and Learning in Educational Settings” (i-TaLES), which teaches Goethe University students that aspire to become teachers how to program educational learning games themselves at a basic level. To this end, i-TaLES is funded as a subproject (partnership) of Goethe University’s “Digital Teaching and Learning Lab” (DigiTeLL) project, which in turn is part of the “Innovation in der Hochschullehre” charitable trust’s “Strengthening Higher Education through Digitization” funding line. The prospective teachers showed great interest in i-TaLES, and the spots available in the 2022 summer semester pilot seminar were quickly filled.
Once a week, program participants and future teachers from all subject areas and school types came together at the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science Education: Although none of them had previous programming experience, they were keen to incorporate digital elements into their teaching in the future, including through educational games. That leaves the questions of what content should be taught, which core curricula learning objectives should be achieved, and what corresponding technical knowledge is required? In their teaching, Dengel and Fernes rely on the work of educational psychologists and educational technologists Punya Mishra and Matthew J Koehler, who developed the Technological Pedagocial and Content Knowledge (TPACK) teaching model under the conditions of digitality. TPACK distinguishes three fields of knowledge: content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. The focus of i-TaLES lies on teaching technological skills and identifying the interfaces to the other two knowledge types, i.e. where new technology overlaps with the pedagogically sound teaching of subject content. The aim is to simultaneously impart not only media-pedagogical skills, but also expertise in applying virtual reality to teaching and in the evaluation of the learning environment. “We argue that this model has a lot to offer to discussions on technology integration at several levels: theoretical, pedagogical and methodological,” says Dengel.
Once the learning objectives and content have been determined, students are introduced to a simple program developed by computer scientists that they can use to successively develop their games. The questions that come into play now are: What story do I tell, and how can the students act and interact in my world of educational games? How gripping is the story, and how strong is the sense of really being in the game and its “flow”? How do I fill the empty space on the screen – with a desert, gardens, houses? Who are my protagonists: animals, people, objects? How do they move? Existing modules offer students a framework to imaginatively design the world of their educational game – and later evaluate it together with their peers or in school classes: What was understood? What was retained? Has general media literacy increased?
Participants from various subjects and school types developed 32 educational games in the first i-TaLES seminars, with topics ranging from “Veil of Ignorance” in religious studies to circuit logic in computer science, a presentation of graffiti artist Banksy and mathematical calculation tasks at a snowy Christmas market, to a journey through time to the world of gladiators. In most cases – the project organizers’ evaluation showed – the subjects’ learning success in terms of content increased measurably. Participants also showed greater pedagogical interest in immersive learning formats, i.e. in playful learning in which students immerse themselves in a situation and learn “on the side”.
Dengel hopes that “all aspiring teachers have the opportunity to learn simple programming.” He believes that as prospective teachers become more literate in digital media, their understanding of the digital world will grow, and with it “a critical view of it” – one that teachers in turn can convey in the classroom. I-TaLES will continue in coming semesters, too. In the future, the computer science education researchers want to look into which educational games have the greatest learning success and why. In addition, Andreas Dengel wants to focus increasingly on university teaching and integrate the feedback received during the playful digital learning directly into the educational games.
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Further information available at:
Immersive Teaching and Learning in Educational Settings: i-TaLES
Protests in Athens against European Union austerity plans (2015) (Photo: Kostas Koutsaftikis/Shutterstock)
Analyzing why politics is in a state of crisis
Under what conditions does democracy work, and why is democracy as a form of government increasingly challenged? How can it be protected? These are the questions addressed by the new master's program in Comparative Democracy, which started in the 2021/22 winter semester. It is internationally oriented, research-based and the first English-language course in the social sciences.
Political scientist Julian Garritzmann says the new Comparative Democracy master's program could not have come at a better time. “There is huge interest; we have received applications from all over the world – all told, there were five applications for each available place. We are a research-focused field with many professorships, postdocs and doctoral students.” In its first year, the comparative politics master's program started with 20 places, but will be expanded soon.
The “Comparative Politics Speaker Series”, organized by Garritzmann, set the thematic stage for the new course, while a collaborative doctoral colloquium held previously also addressed comparative democracy research. The master’s in Comparative Democracy is the first degree program in the social sciences to be taught entirely in English – “making us very attractive to an international clientele,” says Garritzmann, who completed his academic training and qualifications in Zurich, Harvard and Florence, among others. A good knowledge of English is therefore a requirement for enrolling in the international course – especially since the relevant research literature is in English anyway. “Frankfurt is an ideal location for this – nowhere else in Germany can you find such an international audience. In launching this course, we are also contributing to Goethe University’s further internationalization.”
The focus of the new course deliberately ties in with current discussions on the crisis of democracy, the public’s loss of trust in political institutions, and the rise in non-voters and protest voters – just a few of the keywords that form the background for comparative democracy research. “There are numerous fields in which these questions are addressed in comparative political science, including political behavioral research, political economy as well as political institutional research.” Garritzmann points to one of the most important books published on the subject in recent years: “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. “The two authors convincingly argue that in the wake of the crisis, we are witnessing the onset of a gradual destruction of democracy: first of political norms and political culture, then of institutions.”
Comparative politics can provide insights into the conditions under which new participatory models of democracy work – and under which they do not. “Of course, you can think up models of participation. But if the models become so complex that only highly educated academics can participate, they not only become ineffective. They could even lead to more populism.”
Of course, the theoretical foundations are very important, but we also always ask: What does reality look like, does it match the theory?
The new MA in Comparative Democracy is designed as an empirical-analytical course of study. “Of course, the theoretical foundations are very important, but we also always ask: What does reality look like, does it match the theory, or does the theory need to be reconsidered in the face of reality?” Empirical research is therefore greatly important to the program, one focus of which is on research designs and methods. Garritzmann's colleague Prof. Claudius Wagemann offers special expertise in qualitative comparative social research, while his colleague Prof. Constantin Ruhe specializes in quantitative and experimental methods. “We have to keep in mind that we are training our students for a research career that can lead to employment at a university, but also at related research institutes. However, they could just as well choose a career at employers' associations, trade unions, and in journalism, for example,” says Garritzmann.
Have empirical skills become more important in political science? “Yes, definitely,” is Garritzmann immediate response. For a long time, his subject was theoretically oriented, which is also related to its origins in administrative science and law. Then came the interdisciplinary “empirical turn” and a stronger focus on empirical research. Today, political science is characterized by a certain pluralism of methods – whereby the method chosen is strongly dependent on the respective research question. As such, while one student analyzing tweets from a political science perspective wrote a program for the quantitative evaluation herself, others work using historical comparisons or experiments to better understand politics.
The new course puts a strong emphasis on practical elements. It includes both a special practical module on research-based learning and also requires an internship that can be completed at political parties, ministries, institutions, or the media. What does the “ideal” student of the new program look like to Garritzmann? Those interested in the new master’s degree usually have already acquired knowledge in the field of comparative political science during their bachelor's degree, although it is also possible to enroll laterally, from sociology for example. “For me, interest is the most important thing. With curiosity, you can learn anything, even the most complicated theoretical and empirical content.”
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(Photo: 1766380496 / shutterstock)
- New Study Programs
Academic training for midwives
Following the lead of Great Britain, Spain and the Netherlands, German universities – including Goethe University Frankfurt – have now started offering academic training for midwives. The dual cooperative study program in midwifery, offered jointly by Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and Goethe University, started in the 2022 summer semester.
To date, Germany has followed its own approach in the training of midwives: While other European countries have long since academized what is perhaps the world’s oldest profession, Germany was still testing the waters in pilot study programs to see whether the field’s academization makes sense. Traditionally, the medical occupations of midwife, nurse, physiotherapist and medical-technical assistant were considered training occupations and taught at non-academic technical schools. However, in 2020, prompted by European directives aimed at making European educational qualifications comparable, midwifery training was comprehensively reformed and modernized. This included introducing the job title “midwife” [Hebamme] as a uniform term for all genders. Germany is slowly catching up – and following a transition period envisaged to end in 2027, midwifery schools will no longer be allowed to provide training.
The training objective: to independently manage births and support families
In Frankfurt, the new cooperative study program is jointly coordinated by two universities – and by two trained midwifery scientists: Friederike Hesse from Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, and Nadja Zander from Goethe University Frankfurt. The eight-semester course concludes with the academic degree Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and state approval to work as a midwife. The curriculum for the first 30 students includes medical and scientific fundamentals as well as basic nursing knowledge. In addition, students are prepared to independently lead births and support families. The economic aspect of the profession is also part of the training. “This is important because even midwives who are employed often still work on a freelance basis, too,” explains Friederike Hesse. As part of their studies, midwifery students also conclude employment contracts with cooperating hospitals, including Frankfurt University Hospital, Bürgerhospital Frankfurt, Klinikum Frankfurt Höchst, Sana Klinikum Offenbach, Klinikum Darmstadt and Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Kliniken Wiesbaden.
It is not only the training for midwives that has changed. The profession itself is also changing, Nadja Zander says, especially in the current era of high mobility, with young couples no longer living close to their families. “Our job is challenging enough – that's in the nature of things, because a birth can't be planned and is always a life-changing event for a family.” Amid ongoing social changes, however, today there is also greater demand for midwives to provide care, giving rise to the question of what exactly the professional self-image of midwives is today. For Nadja Zander, the fact that the academization of training also results in more research being conducted into midwifery science is a benefit for her profession.
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“The entire field is in motion”: questions of health ethics are becoming increasingly complex, and not just in the healthcare system (Photo: nguyen-hiep / unsplash)
- New Study Programs
Ethics in healthcare: More than just words of comfort
Who gets saved first? In healthcare, ethical questions such as this arise not only in disaster situations. In the 2021/22 winter semester, the new Social Ethics dual master's program started at Goethe University Frankfurt and St. Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology. It prepares students from the social sciences, sociology, theology and health sciences for difficult healthcare tasks.
After completing her bachelor's degree in sociology and philosophy, Victoria Dichter was looking for a master's program in sociology. She came across the new dual degree program in “Social Ethics in Healthcare” by chance – and was “impressed by the wide range of references to different healthcare fields. Above all,” she says, “the interdisciplinary approach immediately appealed to me.” In addition, with there being only 16 places available, she could expect to receive intensive support during her studies. The decision for this particular master’s program was thus an easy one.
“Demographic change and medical-technical progress make the healthcare sector quite dynamic,” says Prof. Christof Mandry, Professor of Social Ethics at Goethe University Frankfurt, in explaining the university’s rationale behind developing the new study program. Mandry is closely monitoring the course’s introduction. “Given that medical, nursing and social institutions are in a perpetual state of transformation, there is a great need for ethical expertise in both companies and institutions active in the healthcare sector.” The required knowledge ranges from medical-ethical case consultation to organizational and leadership-ethical issues, to fair access to medical and nursing services and the socially just distribution of resources.
As a joint program offered by two Frankfurt-based institutions of higher learning, the course also represents a genuine Frankfurt study profile.
The dual study program is designed to prepare social sciences and humanities students for these tasks. The master's program, which starts each winter semester, is aimed at prospective students with a German or international BA degree in theology, social sciences, philosophy, nursing sciences and a range of other humanities and social science subjects. It opens up a new professional field in a social field that is experiencing significant growth. Further underlining the course’s diversity is the fact that the program is offered jointly by two institutions, each with its own particular expertise: Goethe University Frankfurt, whose University Hospital’s clinical chaplaincy is one of several practice partners, and St. Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology. As a joint program offered by two Frankfurt-based institutions of higher learning, the course also represents a genuine Frankfurt study profile.
The cooperation with Goethe University, says Prof. Edeltraud Koller, professor of moral theology at St. Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology, is a stroke of luck for her institution, enabling its students to come into contact with a wide range of topics at different learning locations. This applies not only to the healthcare sector in the narrower sense, but also the field of social work, where employees are also increasingly confronted with ethical and political healthcare issues.
Students gain practical experience from the first semester onwards: 30 percent of the coursework in the four-semester program is completed “on the job” at partner institutions in the medical and nursing fields. “Students learn how a clinical ethics committee works or how medical care is organized for people without insurance,” explains program coordinator Julia Westendorff, responsible for organizing the practical units. “They learn by being there – something that can at times be very challenging.” Short internships and work shadowing prepare students for their practical third semester, which they can spend with Marita Cannivé-Fresacher, for example, a hospital chaplain at Frankfurt University Hospital. “Chaplaincy is much more than just standing at the sickbed and offering words of comfort,” she emphasizes. That's why the chaplaincy’s large team is an advantage. “We can offer many practical experiences – such as excursions to the psychiatric ward, accompanying children with cancer, and discussions about the role of ethics in chaplaincy.”
Mandry emphasizes that while the new program is designed to offer professional qualifications, the profession of social ethicist is only just beginning to emerge. To prepare students for the changes in the healthcare system, their skills profile should include not only social and medical ethical modes of reflection, but also social science analysis methods as well as knowledge of medical care structures. The DigiDual digital tool helps them reflect on their practical internship experiences using key scientific questions and exchange ideas in peer groups in virtual rooms. The program also includes skills training in public relations, conversation techniques, and organizational planning. “The entire field is in motion. It is important that students develop their own interests, develop skills, and build networks,” says Edeltraud Koller.
Helping to shape one's own profession: Victoria Dichter particularly likes this aspect of the program. “I can pursue all my diverse interests during my studies.” The two partner institutions are already working on further expanding their networks with partners in the healthcare sector. This, too, Mandry says, serves the purpose of further defining the profession of social ethicist.
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(Photo: Vietnamese-German University (VGU))
- New Study Programs
First graduate-level German-Vietnamese cooperation
In the 2022/23 winter semester, the Global Finance and Economics master's program started at Vietnamese-German University (VGU). The MA is organized by Goethe University Frankfurt’s Faculty of Economics and Business, Goethe Business School and VGU’s Faculty of Economics and Management.
Goethe University’s Faculty of Economics and Business has had ties with Vietnamese-German University (VGU) since 2011. In addition to student exchanges, the two universities have developed two bachelor degree programs with a focus on Management as well as Finance and Accounting. Introduced in the 2022/23 winter semester, the new master's program in Global Finance and Economics further expands this partnership, underscoring Goethe University Frankfurt’s profile as an internationally networked, cosmopolitan university: professors from the Faculty of Economics and Business teach as “flying faculty” on VGU’s campus. Vietnamese and international teachers from VGU’s Economics and Management Faculty are also involved in teaching, and gradually undergo training. The master's program is one way in which VGU aims to raise its profile in the Vietnamese higher education system and, more broadly, in the ASEAN region.
The program, which is funded by the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, was initiated jointly by Goethe University’s Faculty of Economics and Business, Goethe Business School (GBS) and VGU’s Faculty of Economics and Management. In the first few years, Goethe University’s Economics and Business Faculty will oversee its conceptualization and coordination, with Prof. Michael Binder serving as academic director and project manager, while project management is shared by Goethe Business School and VGU. In the mid-term, however, the master's is to be run as a joint program by VGU and Goethe University Frankfurt, with the Vietnamese partners taking the lead. The only exception to this is quality control, a field which will continue to be jointly managed.
The four-semester program is aimed at graduates in economics, engineering, computer science, mathematics or related fields of study. As part of the new master's degree, Vietnamese students will be offered compulsory courses in asset pricing, corporate finance, macro- and microeconomics, econometrics, data science and programming. With a view to their future careers, they can later specialize in some of these fields. The aim is to provide students with the methodological and technical skills to fill key positions in the Vietnamese financial market, for example, and help shape the country's economic policy framework. In the third semester, the program offers “Practice Topics” courses taught by practitioners from central banks, finance ministries, international organizations and the private financial sector. Complementing the degree are courses on topics like digital leadership, intercultural competence, networking, presentations, professional writing, teamwork and rhetoric.
Those who wish can complete their studies with an experience abroad. In the fourth semester, students can take an “Experience Frankfurt Finance” module, which gives them on-site insights into the work of Frankfurt's financial and central banking institutions, the opportunity to exchange ideas for their master's theses with students from related courses at Goethe University Frankfurt, and personal supervision from professors.
Michael Binder
This year’s 1822 University Prize for Excellence in Teaching was awarded to Dr. Marta Muñoz-Aunión (1st prize, center), Prof. Paul Dierkes (2nd prize, right) and Friedrich Wolf (3rd prize, left) for their outstanding commitment and innovation in teaching. (Photo: Uwe Dettmar)
Student praise for outstanding teaching
Awarded annually, the 1822 Prize puts the spotlight on excellent teaching. In 2022, the prize went to Dr. Marta Muñoz-Aunión (Romance studies), Prof. Paul Dierkes (biologist) and Dr. Friedrich Wolf (educationalist) for their particularly committed and innovative teaching. They were nominated by their students.
Motivational ideas, combined with teaching that is not only particularly committed, practical, innovative and sustainable, but also flexible, including digital and hybrid offerings – these are the criteria honored by Goethe University’s annual 1822 University Prize for Excellence in Teaching. In addition to the right to nominate candidates, students also give the laudatory speeches. From the total of 15 nominations from eight faculties received in 2022, the following three prizewinners were selected: Dr. Marta Muñoz-Aunión, lecturer at the Institute of Romance Languages and Literatures, who received the first prize, endowed with €15,000. Second prize (€10,000) went to Prof. Paul Dierkes, who holds Goethe University’s Opel Zoo endowed professorship in Zoo Biology. Dr. Friedrich Wolf from the Institute of Social Pedagogy and Adult Education was awarded the third prize (€5,000).
Marta Muñoz-Aunión's engaging and motivating teaching led students to nominate her for the third time. At the award ceremony, students highlighted how impressed they are by the innovative formats she offers, including film workshops as well as writing and journalism projects. The second prize winner, Prof. Paul Dierkes, is described in the nomination letter as particularly attentive and open in his teaching. At the award ceremony, it was also emphasized that Dierkes had been using digital teaching methods even before the pandemic. At the same time, his work with Opel Zoo provides students with valuable practical experience and insights. Third prize winner, educational scientist Dr. Friedrich Wolf, was honored for his innovative teaching methods, which he already relied on extensively before the pandemic. Students emphasized that he had given them courage and self-confidence in his courses and succeeded at filling even seemingly uninteresting content with life.
Without high-quality education, there can be no cutting-edge research
“Without high-quality education, there can be no cutting-edge research,” emphasized Prof. Christiane Thompson, Goethe University Vice President Teaching and Studies, on the occasion of the award’s 21st presentation. “The 1822 University Prize is an opportunity to recognize the great importance of teaching and to thank those who take on this task with exceptional joy, creativity and perseverance.” Also present at the award ceremony were Ayse Asar, State Secretary at the Hessian Ministry for Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts, and Dr. Ingo Wiedemeier, Chairman of the Board of Frankfurter Sparkasse, whose foundation awards the prize together with Goethe University Frankfurt.
The students themselves played an important role at the award ceremony: student teacher Janina Müller and philosophy student Valentin Teufel moderated the event, while science slammer Luca Neuperti, who is studying sociology and computer science, gave an entertaining lecture that offered insights into student learning under pandemic conditions. Responsible for the musical backdrop was the Philip Wibbing Trio.
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Awarded for good teaching
Prof. Susanne Gerhardt-Szép,
receives the Ars legendi faculty prize for excellent teaching in university medicine. The Frankfurt private lecturer shares this year's prize, awarded by the Stifterverband and the Medical Faculty Association (MFT) and endowed with €30,000, with Dr. Gunther Hempel (Leipzig).
Julia Sammet,
PhD student at Goethe University Frankfurt’s Institute of Theoretical Physics, receives the 2022 Ars legendi faculty prize for excellent university teaching in mathematics and the natural sciences. The prize is awarded by Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
Physik-Lernzentrum: Ars legendi-Preis für Julia Sammet
Dr. Christin Siegfried,
business education specialist, is the first winner of Goethe University Frankfurt’s new “New Horizon – President's Award”, endowed with €5,000.
Wirtschaftspädagogin erhält ersten „New Horizons – Preis des Präsidenten“ der Goethe-Universität