In the first session, participants formed inter-institutional small groups to discuss the techniques of meta-cognitive self-reflection and reading diaries, led by Dr. Steffi Hobuß and Dr. Sara Tomczuk of Leuphana.

From 13-15. June 2019, 29 teachers engaged in intensive exchange about student-centered, co-creative teaching and learning in higher education. Entitled “Student-centered Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: A training event in classroom techniques for teachers,” it was the third of CREATES four training events. Twelve Leuphana teachers welcomed fourteen teachers from other CREATES partner institutions, and three from its associate partner universities in the US to the buzzing campus –Leuphana’s graduation ceremony was occurring simultaneously.

I very much enjoyed the event, and felt extremely inspired afterwards. I got so many good ideas for my courses for winter and will definitely implement some of the ideas which were presented in the event. 

-one participant from a CREATES partner institution
Nathan Clendenin of Leuphana presents discussion points during the e-portfolio session, which he co-led with Dr. Judith Gurr of Leuphana and Dr. Rosa Andújar of King’s College London.

On the Thursday afternoon, Dr. Volker Balli and Dr. Steffi Hobuß welcomed participants with an introduction to both CREATES and to the development team working on the toolkit for student-centered classroom techniques. Over the next three days, in interactive, topical sessions, both CREATES representatives and other teachers shared their experiences of and ideas about research-based learning, problem-based learning, metacognitive self-reflection, and e-portfolios.

While each session contained a detailed presentation of a particular technique, usually focusing on the learning objectives and competences it supports, all sessions also incorporated some variation of break-out or small-group discussions. This structure allowed teachers share past successes and struggles and also to workshop ideas for courses and class activities. For example, in Friday’s session on e-portfolios, different small groups focused on portfolios for assessment, reflection, and the student experience of portfolios. Two Leuphana students joined the discussion to relate their experiences. In another small group, participants from King’s College London demonstrated how e-portfolio software allowed students to build interactive pages linking images, sources, and original texts on a particular research topic. Thus, the event was not a one-way exchange. Members of CREATES development team recorded ideas and feedback shared by the participants for possible inclusion in the toolkit on student-centered classroom techniques.

In a session on the research-learning nexus, Dr. Simon Büchner of University College Freiburg asked participants to brainstorm research activities in their fields.

A final CREATES training event for advising staff is planned to take place at University College Maastricht from 14-16. November.