The Teaching Award, worth 4,000 euros, goes this year to Professor Dr Joachim Fensterle, Professor of Biotechnology/Bioengineering at the Faculty of Life Sciences. This year’s Teaching Award was themed ‘Innovation through digitalisation – synchronous and asynchronous digitalisation concepts in higher education’.
Prof. Fensterle impressed the jury with his concept proposal for the ‘Medical Bioengineering’ module, a compulsory elective module in the fourth semester of the English-taught Bachelor’s degree programme in Bioengineering. It was precisely the diverse mix of methods, combined with a strong student-centred approach and the high quality of the resources provided, that tipped the balance in the jury’s decision. Furthermore, the prospective use of individual digital components for future face-to-face teaching was particularly praised. Finally, the jury also viewed positively the fact that the concept is based on the principle of Open Educational Resources (OER), i.e. the provision of licence-free educational materials for other lecturers.
This year’s Teaching Award was organised under the theme ‘Innovation through digitalisation – synchronous and asynchronous digitalisation concepts in higher education’. The jury, comprising student representatives, last year’s Teaching Award winner, the Vice-President for Studies and Teaching, and other experts in higher education pedagogy from within and outside the university, assessed a total of seven submitted concept descriptions. These had been preceded by nominations from student groups, student councils and dean’s offices.
Certificate presentation followed by an interview
At the certificate presentation ceremony – which, due to the pandemic, was held on a small scale and conducted digitally – Prof. Fensterle made it clear: “Particularly this semester, which is all about digital teaching – something I’ve been passionate about even before the coronavirus pandemic – I am delighted to have been awarded the Teaching Prize.” The certificate presentation and a subsequent interview with Prof. Dr Fensterle are captured in the following video: Video opens in a new window (YouTube) 
Online event to present the concept at the Teaching Café on 9 December 2020
To give interested lecturers at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences a better understanding of the concept, Prof. Fensterle will present his idea at a digital Teaching Café on Wednesday 9 December, from 4 pm to 6 pm. Anyone interested is warmly invited to join via the following link:
Meeting link:
https://hsrw.webex.com/hsrw-de/j.php?MTID=ma23559ca997d7d49c3582664da8499ee
Meeting ID: 121 044 6107
Password: Lehrcafe2020
