Welcome to Research - Research-oriented Teaching Concepts

About the Programme

As part of the Excellence Initiative, Heidelberg University pledged to expose its students to current issues in research as early on as possible and give them the opportunity to learn through conducting their own research. With funds from the “Welcome to Research” programme, the state of Baden-Württemberg is now supporting the university to develop and implement a concept of research-oriented teaching.

Teaching staff can request funding for teaching assignments, tutorials and university-level didactic guidance. The results of the teaching projects will be presented in meetings held twice yearly as well as published in a series.

Developing Research-oriented Teaching Concepts

Faculty and students jointly develop and test research-oriented teaching concepts in their subject areas in courses over two semesters. During the first course, they flesh out concepts for research-oriented teaching and learning. The resulting concept is then implemented and evaluated during the following semester. These courses are counted as part of the faculty member’s teaching workload. To compensate for the time they would have otherwise been spent teaching other courses, they can apply for a teaching assignment for each of two consecutive semesters.  Furthermore, faculty may request funding to consult with internal experts in university didactics for support in developing their concepts. Should the implementation of the new teaching concept require the use of tutors, funding can be requested. Students should receive credit for these courses. Modules such as “Comprehensive Competencies” would be ideal in these cases since students acquire skills not only in didactic methods, but of a social and personal nature as well. Other modules could also be considered.

Exchange of Successful Concepts

At the same time, internal exchange within the university on successful concepts of research-oriented teaching are encouraged. A kickoff meeting is held at the start of the semester to communicate expectations about the concepts to be developed, to specify evaluation criteria, and to present initial examples for existing research-oriented teaching and learning concepts. The kickoff also gives participating faculty across all the disciplines an opportunity to get to know one another. At the end of the semester, the teaching and learning concepts developed are presented and discussed in a second meeting. These meetings are open to the entire university. The results will be published in a series.