InterAct for RPTU

Project Director:

Prof. Mechthild Dreyer, Ph.D., Scientific Director of KSB Landau, mechthild.dreyer[at]rptu.de

Monika Haberer, M.A., Executive Director of ZIDiS Kaiserslautern, monika.haberer[at]rptu.de

Project Staff:

Britta Rudolf, M.Ed., KSB Landau, b.rudolf[at]rptu.de

Miriam Jungheim, KSB Landau, miriam.jungheim[at]rptu.de

Ann-Cathrin Winter, M.A., ZIDiS Kaiserslautern, anncathrin.winter[at]rptu.de

Victoria Margraf, M.A., ZIDiS Kaiserslautern, victoria.margraf@rptu.de

Participating Departments: All departments

Project duration:

July 1, 2023 – December 31, 2027

Project description:

The project has two core objectives:

First, based on existing data and findings, a concept will be developed for the well-founded further development of TUK’s orientation program, “TUKzero.” To this end, the experiences of both university campuses with their support services during the transition from school to work or college and during the introductory phase of studies—including existing course evaluations—will be analyzed.

Building on this and with an eye toward the future needs of both university campuses at RPTU, a concept for a cross-campus “zero semester” will be developed.

Project Leader:

ZfL in Kaiserslautern, Prof. Dr. Roland Ulber, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Division of Bioprocess Engineering, ulber[at]mv.uni-kl.de

ZLB in Landau: Prof. Dr. Alexander Kauertz, Institute for Science Education – Physics Didactics kauertz[at]uni-landau.de

Participating Departments: in Kaiserslautern: Prof. Dr. Roland Ulber (ZfL), Prof. Dr. Stefan Ruzika (Mathematics), Dr. Joachim Götze (RHRK); in Landau: Prof. Dr. Alexander Kauertz (ZLB), Dr. Patrick Löffler (ZLB)

Project duration:

May 1, 2023 – April 30, 2026

Project description:

The WebStuPlan project aims to support the transformation of teacher education programs using the software developed and to identify course structures and scheduling conflicts for various cross-campus concepts that will be developed by the different departments in the coming years, thereby providing a basis for discussion regarding the feasibility of teacher education degree programs at the new university and enabling the joint further development of these degree programs. WebStuPlan enables the feasibility of these programs to be presented, reviewed, and optimized—a process that is relevant for accreditation and may also prove relevant beyond teacher education in the future.

Project Team:

Project Leader:

Prof. Dr. Mechthild Dreyer, Center of Excellence for Studies and Careers (Scientific Director)
Email: mechthild.dreyer[at]rptu.de - Phone: 03641 280 33250

Dr. Max Sprenger, Center for Sports, Health, and Wellbeing (Director)
Email: max.sprenger[at]rptu.de – Phone: 0631 205 4441

Project Staff:

Diana Neben, Center for Sports, Health, and Wellbeing (Staff Member)
Email: diana.neben[at]rptu.de – Phone: 0631 205 3444

Ines Obenauer, Center of Excellence for Studies and Careers (Research Associate) – Email: ines.obenauer[at]rptu.de – Phone: 06341 280 33239

Participating Departments:

KSB and ZSGW as central institutions

Project Duration

May 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025

Project description:

The Health Certificate is an existing program offered by ZSGW. Its goal is to provide students with practical skills—in conjunction with the acquisition of health-related knowledge—to enable them to make decisions that support a healthy lifestyle, develop long-term health-promoting habits, and share their knowledge and experience as advocates. The Health Certificate program, spanning two semesters, comprises five modules in the areas of physical health, mental health, and social health.

The goal of this project is to first further develop the content and structure of the ZSGW Health Certificate in collaboration with the KSB and then, on this basis, offer it across all campuses. The program is to be transitioned into a clear certificate structure. The scope and structure of the current program will be retained.

The program is to be transitioned into a clear certificate structure. For each course, the competency-based orientation of its learning objectives will be clearly stated, and the students’ workload will be expressed in ECTS credits. This will give students the opportunity, on the one hand, to have previously completed coursework recognized toward the certificate and, on the other hand, to have coursework completed as part of the certificate recognized in other academic contexts.

Project Team:

Project Leaders: Michaela Maier, Olga Zagovora, Paul Lukowicz, Jürgen Maier

Collaborators: Katharina Zweig, Joachim Thees

Project Staff: Martin Lange (through August 2024), Felipe Martins

Participating Departments:

Department of Psychology (Landau)

Department of Computer Science (Kaiserslautern)

Department of Cultural and Social Sciences (Landau)

Project duration:

May 1, 2024 – December 31, 2026

Project Description:

The digitalization of society generates new digital trace data (e.g., on social networks) every day on a scale, with a level of detail, and at a speed previously unknown to the social and behavioral sciences. The insights that can be derived from this data depend on its proper collection, processing, preparation, and analysis. This is the focus of the research field Computational Social Science (CSS). It focuses on big data, machine learning, and cloud computing, analyzing these using multifaceted, computer-aided methods to address key questions in the social and behavioral sciences. The CSSM project aims to systematically integrate CSS methods into social and behavioral science teaching and graduate education at both campuses of RPTU. In line with a “Teach the Teacher” approach, opportunities for the professional development of early-career researchers are also being created to introduce CSS methods across the breadth of teaching and research and to establish a new area of focus with international visibility at RPTU.
The course offerings will initially be piloted primarily in the form of a cross-campus certificate program for master’s students and doctoral candidates and, in the medium term, integrated into the master’s programs in the social and behavioral sciences as well as into graduate education. Master’s students may also participate as part of their elective coursework or through the Studium Generale. Over the next two years, the program will include a total of 4 workshops, 2 Campus KL learning modules (online participation available), and self-study phases (with a tutor) on the topics of Python, Web 2.0 technologies, web data collection, NLP for social scientists, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

Project Participants:

Center for Education and Research in Extracurricular Learning Environments (ZentrAL)

Prof. Dr. Björn Risch
Marie Schehl
Makbule Engelhardt
Susanne Eisel

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Daniel Görges
Dr.-Ing. Christian De Schryver
Manuel Schalk

Department of Computer Science

Prof. Dr. Leo van Waveren

Equality, Diversity, and Family

Adjunct Prof. Dr. Francesca Vidal

Project Duration: May 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026

Project Description:

Despite favorable job market prospects, women remain underrepresented in STEM disciplines at RPTU. In the winter semester of 2023–24, women accounted for 28% of first-semester students in Computer Science and approximately 18% in electrical and information engineering.

The EmpowerMINT@RPTU project addresses this very gap and pursues two goals: First, it aims to provide targeted support to female STEM students at RPTU in their science communication and enable them to acquire discipline-independent key competencies relevant to their studies and careers. Second, they will be trained to become ambassadors for their disciplines by giving them the opportunity to inspire high school girls to pursue STEM studies. Through this “dual” objective (supporting female students and high school girls), the project aims not only to contribute to gender equality but also, in the long term, to increase the proportion of women in STEM degree programs at RPTU.

To implement the program, a cross-campus and innovative curriculum is being developed, within which participants will, by the end of each semester, be able to as representatives of their respective disciplines, independently design extracurricular STEM learning programs in small groups and offer them to high school girls in the region at RPTU extracurricular learning sites.

Project Leader:

• Prof. Dr. Mirco Bundschuh (Head of the Functional Aquatic Ecotoxicology Research Group, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences) mirco.bundschuh@rptu.de
• Prof. Dr. Roland Ulber (Head of the Bioprocess Engineering Research Group, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering) roland.ulber@mv.rptu.de

Participating Departments:

• Mechanical and Process Engineering
• Chemistry
• Natural and Environmental Sciences
• Civil Engineering
• Business Studies and Economics
• Physics

Project Duration: May1 , 2025 – September 30, 2026

Project Description:

The SustainAbility – Interdisciplinary Thinking and Action project addresses the growing importance of sustainability, climate adaptation, and resource conservation. The goal is to develop an interdisciplinary teaching format that brings together students and research staff from diverse academic backgrounds.

During the funding period, the following measures are to be implemented:

• Incorporation of an interdisciplinary module into the general list of elective courses for the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering, Civil Engineering, Natural and Environmental Sciences, Physics, and Chemistry.

• Conducting at least six interdisciplinary events (academic lectures, panel discussions, seminars).

• Organization of three field trips and one cross-campus final field trip to explore practical examples and potential applications in industry.

• Promotion of interdisciplinary exchange through hybrid courses offered across campuses at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau.

• Long-term integration of the developed teaching formats into existing degree programs, as well as ongoing evaluation and refinement in collaboration with students.

The project contributes to the strategic development of the curriculum at RPTU by strengthening connections between different departments and campuses and preparing students for sustainable, interdisciplinary solutions.

Project Director: Prof. Dr. Artur Widera, Department of Physics, Kaiserslautern (widera[at]rptu.de)

Project Team Members: Prof. Dr. Alexander Kauertz (a.kauertz@rptu.de), Assistant Professor Dr. Engin Kardas (engin.kardas@rptu.de), Prof. Dr. Andreas Lorke (a.lorke@rptu.de)

Participating Departments: Department of Physics, Kaiserslautern Campus, and Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences (NUW), Landau Campus

Project duration:

April 1, 2027, through September 30, 2027

Project description: As part of the reorganization of departmental structures at RPTU, the physics-related research groups at the Kaiserslautern and Landau campuses are being merged into a joint Department of Physics. The project will leverage this structural merger to jointly advance both academic programs and teaching under the overarching theme of “Interdisciplinarity and Didactics.” To this end, synergies between the existing degree programs and expertise in environmental physics and physics education will be identified, and concrete strategies for a more interdisciplinary and pedagogically sound design of the degree programs will be developed. Students are actively involved in this process from the very beginning. A key milestone is a cross-campus “lunch-to-lunch” retreat involving faculty, students, and academic administrators. The resulting measures and recommendations will then be permanently integrated into program development and the structures of the new department.

Project Director: Prof . Dr. Annette Bieniusa

Project Staff: Mahmoud Hamido

Participating Departments: Department of Computer Science

Project Duration:

November 1, 2026, to September 30, 2027

Project Description: The AICE project aims to integrate the competent use of generative AI (GAI) as a key modern skill into the RPTU’s examination formats. The focus is on developing a framework that actively promotes and fairly assesses students’ “AI literacy.” In a pilot project within the Department of Computer Science, innovative exam formats, instructional guidelines, and a supporting technical infrastructure will be developed. Particular attention will be paid to ensuring that all students have equal access to the tools and that legal standards are upheld. The goal is to make competencies such as critical thinking and creativity—in combination with AI tools—specifically measurable. In the long term, the insights gained are intended to serve as a model for a modern, AI-supported examination culture on both campuses.

Project Leaders: Prof. Dr. Martin Entling (martin.entling[at]rptu.de), Prof. Dr. Thorsten Stöck

Project Staff: Sven Katzenmeier, Manon Edo

Participating Departments: Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences (Landau), Department of Biology (Kaiserslautern)

Project Duration:

June 1, 2023–April 30, 2026

Project Description: An annual cross-campus course in ecology is to be heldat the Alpine Biology Center in Cadagno (Ticino), with half of the students coming from Landau and half from Kaiserslautern. Instruction will be provided by faculty from both RPTU campuses to integrate high-mountain terrestrial and aquatic ecology and offer insights into research at the other campus. During the funding period, the course will be developed and held twice. The course is intended to continue after the funding period ends.

Project Team:

Project Coordination: Dr. Katharina Voß

Local Contacts:

Landau Campus: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Reese, Dr. Katja Pook

Kaiserslautern Campus: Prof. Dr. Wilko Manz and Ms. Christina Seber

Participating Departments: Landau: Natural and Environmental Sciences, Psychology; Kaiserslautern: Civil Engineering, Business Studies and Economics, Spatial and Environmental Planning

Funding period:

July 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023

Project Description:

Society faces the challenge that exceeding planetary boundaries threatens the stability of ecosystems and, consequently, the foundations of life for humanity and other species. The underlying environmental problems (e.g., climate change, environmental pollution) require an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach involving various fields, as they can only be assessed and resolved through the complex interplay of environmental science and societal (psychological, media-related, economic, political) knowledge. Accordingly, recent IPCC reports have increasingly emphasized the need for interdisciplinary research, specifically the development of collaborative solutions to address environmental challenges. Building on the outstanding experience gained from the interdisciplinary bachelor’s program “Human and Environment—Psychology,” offered by the two departments of Natural Sciences and Environmental Sciences and Psychology, Communication, and Economics, a consecutive interdisciplinary master’s program is now being introduced: the Master of Science in “Environmental Challenges and Human Responses” (ECHR). By pooling expertise at both campuses, the goal is to create a degree program through which the new university visibly promotes engagement with environmental and societal challenges, opens up unique educational opportunities for prospective students, and trains the next generation of scholars in the increasingly important field of interdisciplinary collaboration. During the funding phase, the pedagogical and technical implementation will be developed, the modules will be integrated into a coherent program concept, and the degree program documentation will be drafted with the goal of guiding the degree program through the accreditation process. The approved funds will be used to establish a coordination office in Landau, hire student assistants at both locations, cover travel expenses, and organize project meetings.

Project Leaders:

Prof. Leo van Waveren (KL), Prof. Dr. Alexander Kauertz (LD)

Project Team Members:

M.Ed. Pia Schäfer (KL), Dr.-Ing. Silke Feifel (LD)

Student staff: Elias Traub (KL), Julia Euen (LD)

Contact

feedback-interact(at)projects.rptu.de

Participating Departments

Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (project management in the FD-Tech working group, collaborating chairs providing exhibits)

Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (collaborating chairs providing exhibits)

Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences (project management within the Physics Education and Technology Teaching Working Group)

Project Duration:

April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2025

Project Description

M. Ed. Pia Schäfer (Working Group on Technology Education, KL) and Dr.-Ing. Silke Feifel are developing a series of workshops as part of a cross-campus project to raise students’ awareness of the importance of feedback in the learning process. The project is funded as part of the university’s internal funding program for cross-campus teaching (InterAct).

In the workshops, following a theoretical introduction, participants will discuss and reflect on the similarities and differences in providing feedback to heterogeneous learning groups. The workshop’s target audience is interdisciplinary, thereby addressing students from both campuses equally:

- Teacher education students in STEM subjects for various school levels (elementary, secondary I, and secondary II/BBS)

- Prospective engineers from the departments of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering

On the one hand, the workshop on feedback will be integrated into the in-person courses of the participating research groups. On the other hand, a synchronous online lecture with interactive elements will be offered, open to all RPTU members. In addition to these offerings, a self-study course is being developed on OLAT, where interested individuals can independently familiarize themselves with the topic of feedback in general, as well as with feedback in (technical) experiments and other contexts, such as in personnel management.

Links to Materials/Information

For interested students, the information—organized by location—is available on the following websites:

Kaiserslautern: https://fd-tech.informatik.uni-kl.de/forschung/feedback-in-experimenten

Landau: https://nuw.rptu.de/ags/phytec/techniklehre/projekte/feedback-workshop

Project Team:

Prof. Dr. Thomas Lachmann (Kaiserslautern campus, lachmann[at]rhrk.uni-kl.de)
Prof. Dr. Julia Karbach (Landau campus, karbach[at]uni-landau.de)
Dr. Ann-Kathrin Beck (Kaiserslautern campus, Ann-Kathrin.Beck[at]sowi.uni-kl.de)

Participating Departments: Department of Social Sciences & Department of Psychology

Project duration:

October 1, 2023–September 30, 2024

Project Description:

The project “Interactive Teaching in Cognitive Psychology across Campuses” coordinates collaboration in the field of cognitive psychology instruction between the Kaiserslautern (KL) and Landau (LD) campuses. The combination of location-specific expertise offers numerous advantages for students at both campuses and enables a broader education. For example, through close collaboration, students gain access to additional research methods or course content. The project also supports intercultural exchange among students and, by offering the opportunity to take courses at the other campus, promotes intercultural competencies and improved language skills. Specifically, as part of this project, students from Landau are able to take courses taught in English in Kaiserslautern, while students from Kaiserslautern can simultaneously take courses in Landau. This gives students greater flexibility in choosing their courses and allows them to tailor their selection to their individual interests. The recognition of academic credit following successful participation was established in advance in a cooperation agreement to ensure a capacity-neutral exchange. Research assistants play an important role in implementing the project by informing students at both campuses about the collaboration and the opportunities it offers, thereby supporting communication between the campuses.

Accordingly, the primary goal for the current funding phase is the further development, testing, and subsequent evaluation of this concept in order to offer students—through the deeper integration of teaching structures—an expanded range of courses, more comprehensive educational opportunities, and space for intercultural exchange.

Project Team:

in Landau:

Prof. Dr. Sandra Nitz (Project Leader), sandra.nitz[at]rptu.de

Dr. Anne Thielsch, anne.thielsch@rptu.de Felicitas

Orthlauf-Blooß (student assistant)

in Kaiserslautern:

Prof. Dr. Nicole Frankenberg-Dinkel (Project Director), nicole.frankenberg@rptu.de

PD Dr. Susanne Zehner, s.zehner@rptu.de

Nina Bäuerle (student assistant)

Participating Departments:

Biology Education Research Group, Department of Natural Sciences and Humanities (NUW), Landau

Molecular Ecology, Department of Natural Sciences, Landau

Department of Microbiology, Department of Biology, Kaiserslautern

Project Duration:

July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024

Project Description:

In MIKROBE, based on microbiological and educational research, microbiological experiments suitable for classroom use are jointly developed and evaluated by researchers and students, and implemented as core experiments for teacher education students at both locations as part of the microbiology modules. In this way, we are implementing research-oriented teaching that equally takes into account the development of application-oriented skills and the students’ future professional fields. The focus is not only on hands-on microbiology experiments but also on the creation of interactive videos in which viewers can influence how the experiment is conducted. This is particularly important for topics that cannot be practically implemented in a school setting. Experiment guides, interactive videos, and accompanying materials are being developed as part of this project and will be made available as Open Educational Resources (OER). The experiments and materials developed are intended to be implemented long-term as part of the microbiology lab practicals at both locations.

​​​​Project Management:

Landau: Alexander Kauertz, a.kauertz[at]rptu.de
Kaiserslautern: Artur Widera, widera[at]physik.uni-kl.de

Project Participants:

Landau: Jochen Scheid, scheid.j[at]rptu.de

Kaiserslautern: Leo van Waveren, waveren[at]cs.uni-kl.de

Participating Departments:

Landau: Institute for Science Education

Kaiserslautern: Individual Quantum Systems, Department of Physics, Science Education in Technology

Project duration:

through March 2025

Project description:

In early February, the project participants were accepted by the Stifterverband into the “Curriculum Labs” initiative to explore the limits and possibilities of integrating quantum technology into teacher education. The “Quantum Skills@RPTU” project aims to support the initial implementation of the concepts developed there even during the project’s active phase and seeks to generate cross-campus and interdisciplinary material to expand thematically related courses in the participating departments (e.g., for an interdisciplinary master’s program in the BMBF project “QuanTUK,” as well as the physics teacher education programs at both locations). In terms of content, the program is aligned with national and international roadmaps for quantum technology (primarily quantum computing, quantum simulations, quantum sensing, or quantum communication), the content is grounded in current research priorities and the necessary equipment and infrastructure are available at the Kaiserslautern campus (including a quantum kit, experiments on quantum correlations, and single-photon interference). At the same time, this approach allows recommendations for action to be reviewed early on to ensure they are suitable for both RPTU campuses, enabling timely steering measures to be derived. The pedagogical goal is to develop and thoughtfully implement appropriate learning pathways based on instructional materials, which are grounded in the available equipment, infrastructure, and degree program concepts and emphasize the optimized and cognitively stimulating use of representations. This makes RPTU the first location where the curriculum developed by the Stifterverband is being widely implemented in teaching.

Project Leader:

Dr. Christine Sögding, Landau—Campus Spokesperson, Organic and Ecological Chemistry Group, Landau Campus, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences soegding.c[at]rptu.de

Assistant Professor Dr. Johann-Nikolaus Seibert, Kaiserslautern – Campus Spokesperson, Chemistry Education, Department of Chemistry, Kaiserslautern Campus johann.seibert[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Sabine Becker, Kaiserslautern, area of study Inorganic Chemistry, department of Chemistry, Kaiserslautern Campus sabine.becker[at]chem.rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Georg Manolikakes, Kaiserslautern, area of study Organic Chemistry, department of Chemistry, Kaiserslautern Campus manolikakes[at]chemie.uni-kl.de

Acting Prof. Dr. Katherine Muñoz, Landau, Organic and Environmental Chemistry Group, Landau Campus, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences k.munoz[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Björn Risch, Landau, Chemistry Education Research Group, Landau Campus, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences b.risch[at]rptu.de

Project Spokesperson in Kaiserslautern:

Assistant Professor Dr. Johann-Nikolaus Seibert

Project Spokesperson in Landau:

Dr. Christine Sögding

Student assistants:

From Kaiserslautern: Mr. Vroomen, Ms. Künemund, Mr. Koch

From Landau: Ms. Herget, Ms. Straub, Mr. Dittbrenner

Both chemistry student councils at the two campuses are involved in project coordination

Participating departments: Department of Chemistry in Kaiserslautern & Department of Environmental Sciences in Landau

Project duration:

October 2023 – September 2025

Project description:

SDIChem is establishing a cross-campus digital infrastructure for hands-on chemistry laboratory training at RPTU. This digital infrastructure is built modularly from the components “video tutorial library” on basic chemical laboratory techniques and “Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN).” By providing this video tutorial library, students—whether majoring or minoring in chemistry—will find it easier to get started with their first lab practicals, which experience has shown to be very challenging. Through the ELN component, students acquire the necessary skills early on to use digital methods in the day-to-day laboratory work of a modern Industry 4.0 environment. The modular structure of SDIChem allows for the integration of both components and their adaptation to the needs of different target groups within practical chemistry education. Students at both campuses will play a key role in the implementation of this project, both in identifying the most important experimental techniques and in designing the tutorials (by students, for students). SDIChem thus serves as a central building block for collaboration and standardization in hands-on chemistry education at RPTU.

Project Team:

Project Participants:

Prof. Dr. Dirk Felzmann, Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Geography Education Research Group, Landau Campus, dirk.felzmann[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Lisa Rosen, Department of Education, Intercultural Education Division, Landau Campus, lisa.rosen[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Mandy Schiefner-Rohs, Department of Social Sciences, Research Group on Pedagogy, Kaiserslautern Campus, mandy.rohs[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Katharina Spraul, Department of Business Studies and Economics, Research Group on Sustainability Management, spraul[at]rptu.de

Dr. Katja Pook, Department of Psychology, k.pook[at]rptu.de

Cynthia Loos, Department of Business Studies and Economics, research group on Sustainability Management, cynthia.loos[at]rptu.de

Project Staff Member:

Cristina Beard, Department of Business Studies and Economics, Sustainability Management Research Group, cristina.beard[at]rptu.de

Student Assistant:

Sara Ismailaj (currently on maternity leave), Department of Education, Intercultural Education Division, Landau Campus, sara.ismailaj[at]edu.rptu.de

Project Duration:

October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2025

Project Description:

Service learning is a teaching and learning format that combines academic knowledge development with civic engagement and integrates it into a comprehensive reflective process. Also known as “learning through engagement,” the concept encourages students to apply their skills to take on responsibility in business, society, and academia and to “contribute to solving challenges facing society as a whole” (see the RPTU mission statement). The goal of the “Service Learning @ RPTU” project is therefore to establish a cross-campus network of faculty and students who are (newly) participating in service learning activities.

To achieve this goal, current service-learning activities at both RPTU campuses are being identified and made visible on a digital platform. Here, best and good practices for service learning are collected from experienced faculty, and information is provided on continuing education and professional development opportunities in the field of service learning. Through this, the project participants aim to create greater transparency for faculty and students in Kaiserslautern and Landau, as well as to establish a point of contact for external civil society partners.

In addition, the project will organize (informal) discussion sessions and lecture series on the topic of service learning to provide networking opportunities for faculty members teaching service learning courses and to reach out to and involve other faculty members at RPTU. Active exchange between students at both campuses who are involved in service-learning activities is also promoted through workshops and events designed to reflect on civic engagement. Through these measures, the project is laying the groundwork for structures that offer potential for the further development and sustainable implementation of service learning at RPTU.

Further information:

https://rptu.de/projekte/service-learning

Project Leader:

Dr. Eva Cauet

Dr. Alexander Engl

Prof. Dr. Dirk Felzmann (Project Leader)

Prof. Dr. Sascha Henninger

Prof. Dr. Alexander Kauertz

Prof. Dr. Sandra Nitz

Prof. Dr. Björn Risch

Project staff: Daniel Neuhaus

Student Assistant: Natalia Hess -

Contact: felzmann@uni-landau.de

Participating Departments: Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences (Landau) and Department of Spatial and Environmental Planning (Kaiserslautern)

Project Duration:

April 1, 2023 – September 30, 2023

Project description:

The cross-campus certificate program “Systemic Thinking” combines disciplinary expertise in the analysis and modeling of systems in the natural and engineering sciences with expertise in educational pedagogy and psychology for teaching and communicating systemic knowledge. In this way, the strengths of both campuses are integrated into a joint certificate program in “Systemic Thinking.” The certificate program will be offered for the first time in the winter semester of 2022–23 to teacher education students from all departments at both campuses and will span two semesters.

Project Director:

Lisa Neumann, M.A., Research Assistant, Institute for Special Education (LD), Tel.: +49 6341 280 31207 l.neumann[at]rptu.de

Dr. Christian Toth, Research Associate, LfbA, research group on education (KL), Tel.: +49 631 205 4469 Christian.toth[at]rptu.de

Project staff:

Iuliia Herold, M.A., Research Assistant, Education Research Group (KL), i.herold[at]rptu.de

Student Assistants:

Emily Koch, B.A., Education research group (KL), ekoch[at]rptu.de

Simon Schlickeisen, B.Ed., Institute for Special Education (LD) schl3680[at]uni-landau.de

Participating Departments:

RPTU Kaiserslautern: Department of Social Sciences, Research Group on Education

RPTU Landau: Department of Educational Sciences, Institute for Special Education

Project Duration:

June 1, 2023, through May 31, 2024

Project description:

The goal is to integrate the content of the “Educational Science” degree program in Kaiserslautern (KL) and the “Teacher Education for Special Education Schools (FS)” degree program in Landau (LD), specifically the seminars “Media Education for Teacher Education” (KL) and “Digital Media in Special Education” (LD), in order to synergistically combine the students’ complementary skills.

We are thus addressing the fact that the topic of inclusion is only a peripheral issue in the teacher education program in Kaiserslautern, just as digital media is in Landau. Teacher education students from Kaiserslautern will learn media literacy and how to critically reflect on media-mediated forms of action. The teacher education students (FS) from Landau will acquire skills in inclusion-oriented teaching in the context of using digital media. By linking the two seminars, students will combine their respective skills and, in mixed project groups, examine selected digital tools from an inclusion-oriented and media-critical perspective. During this phase, students from the two locations will collaborate digitally. The project results will be jointly presented in Landau at a project day open to the public, similar to a “media market.”

Preliminary work has already been done at both RPTU locations through existing seminar concepts on the respective topics. Now, students can put the theory into practice by working with the tools. The implementation phase will be evaluated, and the results will be used to ensure the long-term sustainability of the collaboration.

Project Team:

Prof. Dr. Björn Risch, b.risch[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Leo van Waveren, leo.vanwaveren[at]cs.rptu.de

Participating Departments:

Center for Education and Research in Extracurricular Learning Environments (ZentrAL), Department of Computer Science, and the RPTU’s extracurricular learning environments

Project Duration:

April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2026

Project description:

Out-of-school learning settings offer prospective teachers the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have acquired in subject-specific and subject-didactic areas.

In the “ViRaL – Networking Among RPTU Out-of-School Learning Sites” project, RPTU out-of-school learning sites collaborate across locations for this purpose. The goal is to enable teacher education students in STEM fields to integrate theory and practice in a research-based manner. To achieve this, students develop and evaluate research-based (digital) learning stations in existing courses for use at the out-of-school learning sites and implement them with students. Concurrently, the developed resources are collected via the OLAT platform and made available to all sites. This allows learning sites that are unable to integrate the materials into their courses to benefit from them as well. As part of the project, a podcast episode is produced at each out-of-school learning site. These are aimed at all students pursuing a teaching degree in STEM subjects for various types of schools and are also intended to help raise awareness of the participating learning sites across disciplinary boundaries. The podcasts focus on out-of-school teaching and learning opportunities, which are presented through interviews. A key emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary, cross-site collaboration and the integration of insights from various academic disciplines. The podcasts not only present the results of current projects but also highlight prospects for future initiatives.

Project Team

Kaiserslautern:

Aaron Hackenberg (Student Project Manager), qualitaet[at]asta.uni-kl.de

Benedikt Knerr (Project Assistant), b.knerr[at]disc.uni-kl.de

Jessica Skowron (Student Project Assistant)

Sarah Jung (Student Project Assistant)

Landau:

Florian Pauli (Student Project Manager), greenoffice[at]uni-landau.de

Birgit Fink (Project Staff Member), birgit.fink[at]rptu.de

Katrin Weitzel (Student Project Assistant)

Participating Departments: This is a student project; the participating groups are the Green Office Landau and the AStA Kaiserslautern

Project Duration:

August 1, 2023 – July 31, 2024

Project description:

The topic of sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant in modern society and has become an integral part of most fields. The need and interest in learning more about sustainability are being expressed more and more, including by students. With this project, we aim to develop a concept for a thoroughly structured certificate program focused precisely on this topic. The ultimate goal is to create an opportunity that students can take advantage of to demonstrably acquire knowledge and qualifications. This project is intended to lay the groundwork for that.

Project Team:

Prof. Dr. Christoph Thyssen, c.thyssen[at]rptu.de;

Assistant Professor Dr. Johann-Nikolaus Seibert, johann.seibert[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Björn Risch, b.risch[at]rptu.de

Participating Departments:

Department of Biology, Department of Chemistry, and Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences

Project duration:

April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2025

Project description:

STEM education is the key to the digital world. Conversely, Digitalization also offers new opportunities for STEM education. To take advantage of these opportunities, digital tools must become an integral part of STEM teacher education in the future. At RPTU in Kaiserslautern, the departments of Biology and Chemistry have already launched the interdisciplinary course “Medien2Go.” As a first step, this successful and forward-looking concept will be transferred to the Landau campus—initially to the M.Ed. in Chemistry degree program. In a second step, students and faculty will further develop the concept in a collaborative learning setting, working across disciplines and campuses. The expansion of the course content addresses the focus on data literacy (DL) in the context of sustainability.

Project Team:

Project Leaders: Pia Schäfer (KL) and Susanne Wißhak (LD)

Contact: LehrTransfer[at]projects.rptu.de

Student Assistants: TBA

Participating Departments:

The project originates from the Department of Computer Science, the Working Group on Technology Education (Kaiserslautern campus), and the Department of Education, Institute for Industrial Education/Human Resources Development (Landau campus).

The planned program is designed to be interdisciplinary and is open to all faculty members at RPTU.

Project duration:

May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2026

Project description:

In accordance with the RPTU’s teaching mission statement, excellent teaching should equip students with the ability to act effectively in their future professional fields. University teaching should not be limited to the mere transmission of knowledge but should support the transfer of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to practical contexts. However, this does not always succeed. The resulting transfer problem has been recognized in vocational continuing education research since the 1980s and has been the subject of intensive study ever since. Various meta-analyses provide findings on the factors that influence transfer and how it can be promoted (Wißhak, 2022). As part of a joint research project by the applicants, these findings were applied to a supply-and-demand model (Lipowsky, 2014; Schäfer, submitted; Vigerske, 2017), which is now to be implemented in higher education teaching.

The goal is to empower university instructors (particularly early-career researchers and tutors) to design their courses in a way that maximizes transfer. To this end, they are provided with the supply-and-use model for promoting knowledge transfer, which equips instructors with tools (e.g., methods and didactic principles) to apply these transfer-promoting principles to their respective research groups.

The concept addresses the promotion of transfer on two levels: First, participating faculty members acquire knowledge and skills to promote transfer in their courses. Second, the program itself is, of course, designed according to principles that promote transfer, enabling faculty members to successfully apply what they have learned in their university teaching. Among other things, this means that needs are assessed in advance, teaching and learning methods that promote transfer are used, participants work on their own courses and receive feedback on them, and their learning processes are supported over an extended period of time (Wißhak, 2022). In addition, over the course of the workshop, participants develop a checklist tailored to their own needs for designing their courses in a way that promotes transfer.

The cross-campus teaching and learning infrastructure is accommodated by the fact that the blended-learning course is open to participants from both campuses, and the in-person sessions take place once in Landau and once in Kaiserslautern, with each session open to participants from both participating campuses.

Project Team:

Dr. Maria Männig & PD Dr. Bernd Carqué (Landau Campus)

Franziska Wilcken, M.A. (Kaiserslautern Campus)

Prof. Dr. Andreas Böhn (KIT, Karlsruhe)

Student Assistant: Julia Hurtig

Participating Departments: Department of Cultural and Social Sciences, Department of Architecture

Project duration:

May 1, 2024–July 31, 2025

Project description:

Students will be equipped to engage deeply with the Palatinate and critically reflect on the region’s history and culture. This will be achieved through knowledge transfer in the form of readings and discussions, through hands-on work with original sources at various institutions (Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, Landesbibliothekszentrum Speyer), and through an excursion to historical sites and buildings (Trifels). The project work in the second part of the seminar allows students to gain practical experience in the areas of exhibition organization and design, cultural management, and public relations.

This project is a transdisciplinary project seminar whose goal is to explore the history and construction of the “Palatinate” region in the context of the development of the nation-state.

Supported by the departments of art and architectural history at the Landau campus (Department of Art History and Art Education) and the Kaiserslautern campus (Architecture, Theory, and History / ATG), the project involves close interdisciplinary collaboration with the Institute of German Studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore in Kaiserslautern, and the State Library Center in Speyer.

The course, which runs over two semesters, culminates in an exhibition series developed jointly with the students, which will be on view starting in the spring of 2025 at various locations in Kaiserslautern and Landau, and ultimately in Speyer, thereby also generating a broad impact in terms of public outreach. The seminar aims to have a long-term impact by serving as the kickoff for a collaboration between the Landau Institute for Art History and Fine Arts and the Department of Architecture / fatuk on the Kaiserslautern campus, as well as degree programs that focus on related topics and methodologies.

Project Team:
Project Leadership:
Prof. Dr. Karen Joisten (RPTU Kaiserslautern)
Contact: RPTU Kaiserslautern
Department of Philosophy
Erwin-Schrödinger-Straße
Building 57/587
67663 Kaiserslautern
Tel.: +49 (0) 631 205-3822
Email: karen.joisten@rptu.de
www.sowi.uni-kl.de/philosophie

Prof. Dr. Engelbert Niehaus (RPTU Landau)
Contact: RPTU Landau
Mathematical Modeling Group
Fortstraße 7
Building I, Ground Floor, Room 1.28
76829 Landau
Tel.: +49 6341 280-34271
Email: Niehaus@rptu.de
nuw.rptu.de/ags/math-mod/team/prof-dr-engelbert-niehaus

Student Assistants: N. N.

Participating Departments:
RPTU Kaiserslautern: Department of Social Sciences
RPTU Landau: Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences

Project Duration:
May 2024 to April 2025

Project description:
The goal of the project is to design and implement a certificate program titled “Ethics and Digitalization,” which will be carried out in accordance with the UNESCO recommendations on Open Educational Resources (OER).
Through collaboration between the research groups for philosophy at RPTU Kaiserslautern and the Institute of Mathematics at RPTU Landau, this interdisciplinary certificate program addresses a long-standing need in the academic offerings at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau from an interdisciplinary perspective. Enrolled students at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau are provided with a free opportunity to acquire future skills in the context of Digitalization. This program addresses both the societal and social as well as the individual approaches to the opportunities, risks, and challenges of the digital transformation. In this way, students can acquire both a technical and an ethical foundation in Digitalization, integrate this knowledge with their own disciplinary expertise, and develop the orientation, evaluation, and judgment skills that are indispensable for successful coexistence in a democracy. Overall, as a society, we are creating a digital copy of the Earth through digitalization—to the extent that it can be digitally represented using monitoring data. The key question here is: “Are we, as a society, losing essential aspects that define us as human beings in the process?”

Registration & Participation

Target audience: enrolled students from all areas of study at RPTU (free of charge)

Number of participants: maximum of 30 people

Start: April 22, 2025 (start of the lecture period)

Registration: by April 16, 2025, via email to Dr. Nicole Thiemer: n.thiemer@rptu.de

After successful registration, participants will receive access to the digital course platforms and further information about the program.

Project Team:

Project Leader:

Dr. Janin Aadam (Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences: Institute of German Studies, Landau) - j.aadam[at]rptu.de

PD Dr. Walter Kühn (Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences: Institute of German Studies, Landau) - walter.kuehn[at]rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Leo van Waveren (Working Group on Technology Education, Kaiserslautern) - leo.vanwaveren[at]cs.rptu.de

Project Staff:

Dr. Michael Bahn, Dr. Marco Cavallaro, Assistant Professor Sophie Fellenz, Prof. Dr. Barbara Geist, Prof. Dr. Bert Niehaus, Dr. Andreas Osterroth, Elisabeth Subirana Slotos, Prof. Dr. Stefan Ruzika, Dr. Manuel Theophil

Student Research Assistant:

Elisabeth Subirana Slotos (Department of Cultural and Social Sciences: German Studies, Landau) - cud73nim[at]rptu.de

Participating Departments:

Currently, colleagues from the following fields are represented: Technology Education, Machine Learning, Optimization, Mathematical Modeling, Philosophy, Literary Studies, Language Education, Philosophy, and Political Education.

Project Duration:

May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2026

Project Description:

At the latest with the release of ChatGPT Version 3 in November 2022, the educational landscape was forced, at very short notice, to comprehensively reexamine and justify its stance on the topic of artificial intelligence. To examine the impacts of this disruptive change from multiple perspectives, the seminar series is designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between the two RPTU campuses. During the summer semester of 2024 and the winter semester of 2024–2025, faculty members from both campuses will open regularly scheduled courses focused on AI to students on selected dates. A closing conference with lectures and poster presentations is planned for April 2025 at Villa Denis.

The lecture series has been approved as an elective-required course in Educational Sciences. Students can earn one credit for attendance and one credit for participating in the closing conference, which includes preparing and presenting a poster.

Further information is available in the OLAT course “Thinking Ahead – Interdisciplinary Discourse on the Relationship Between the Sciences and AI.”

Project Team

Project Leaders: Prof. Dr. Anja Wildemann & Prof. Dr. Mandy Schiefner-Rohs

Project Staff: Daniel Vesper, Christian Scherner

Student assistants: TBD

BParticipating Departments

Department of Education, Department of Social Sciences

Project duration

May 2024 to April 2026

Project Description

EduTech_study is a cross-campus instructional development project aimed at designing and optimizing digital learning formats. Building on the existing instructional structure of iVoxikon (https://linkt.ree/ivoxikon), a flexible self-study program is being created that enables users to independently develop digital, subject-specific, didactic, and pedagogical skills. This is crucial for meeting the ever-changing demands of the 21st century and fulfilling the needs of appropriate media literacy education.

As part of EduTech_study, the teaching and learning program is designed so that it can be easily integrated into various university courses. In addition to introducing new media-didactic content, we place particular emphasis on examining “digital tools” from various perspectives, including subject-matter expertise, diagnostic skills, inclusive practices, as well as counseling and communication. Through this approach, the content can be used equally by both students and faculty in Landau and Kaiserslautern.

Thanks to EduSharing, the developed content is visible and accessible not only within the region of RPTU but also beyond. This enables the widespread dissemination and use of the created resources and helps to promote education in a digital world.

Project Team:

Dr. Michael Bahn (Director, Landau; KSW Department; German Studies) – michael.bahn[at]rptu.de

Dr. Stephan Herzog (Director, Kaiserslautern, EIT Division) – stephan.herzog[at]rptu.de

Dr. Christian De Schryver (Project Staff Member, Kaiserslautern, EIT Department) – christian.deschryver[at]rptu.de

Participating Departments:

Landau: Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of German Studies

Kaiserslautern: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Digital Signal Processing Group

Project Duration:

Funding period: August 1, 2024 – July 30, 2025; project duration since October 1, 2023

Project description:

The project not only connects the two locations of Kaiserslautern and Landau but also brings together two very different fields of study to introduce students to the production of radio plays. Fundamentally, the initial goal is to bring teacher education students into contact with Bachelor of Science students from the fields of Electrical and Computer Engineering, information technology, and media and communication technology, in order to synergistically combine the core competencies of these two seemingly contrasting fields. While the students from Kaiserslautern learn to demonstrate their skills in creative projects and gain experience in storytelling and dramaturgy in order to support and advise the respective project leaders, the student teachers must familiarize themselves with the basic functions of recording technology, audio software, and acoustics. At the same time, students are introduced to working with literary texts through a creative process, ensuring that the radio drama adaptation is purpose-driven and can be integrated into future educational use in school settings.

In the medium term, the plan is to institutionalize the project as a certificate program to prepare students in a practice-oriented manner for creative work in both educational and technical contexts. In addition, the program in Kaiserslautern is to be expanded where possible and permanently offered as a module within the Media and Communication Technology degree program. The project funding lays the groundwork for this by helping to bring the necessary technical equipment at both locations to a reasonably comparable level.

Project Team:

Prof. Dr. Pascal Bastian (Landau Campus)

Assistant Professor Dr. Lars Hopstock (Kaiserslautern Campus)

Student Assistants: Pauline Klenner, Eirik Paolo Sten

Participating Departments:

Department of Architecture, Department of Education

Project duration:

Oct. 15, 2024, through Oct. 15, 2025

Project description:

The project focuses on a cross-campus course to be offered in the winter semester of 2024/2025. The goal is to advance the participating departments in relation to a highly topical field of discourse and to expand the scope of the curriculum. In the context of the hotly debated issues of transformation in architecture and urban planning, the two most frequently addressed challenges—resource efficiency and climate adaptation—are often approached from a technical and quantitative perspective. This project, however, seeks to explore the consequences of this transformation for urban living environments from a sociological perspective, taking into account the currently much-discussed posthumanist perspective and philosophical-anthropological questions regarding our relationship with nature.

The architecture degree program benefits particularly from this reflection grounded in the humanities and social sciences as a complement to architectural design methods. As the second participating degree program, the Department of Education gains new insights through the application of current theories to the built environment. Both sides thus benefit from becoming familiar with approaches and methods that are new to them, also in the interest of the next generation of scholars. External guests strengthen interuniversity networking.

The course is conducted partly online (weekly sessions). In addition, there are joint day-long field trips to exemplary projects showcasing various manifestations of urban nature—ranging from urban wilderness and intensively designed open spaces to projects that incorporate non-human interests into urban space in the spirit of “cohabitation.”

In a concluding public event, guests will examine the key questions of the seminar—presented by students—from various perspectives. A panel discussion moderated by the seminar leaders will explore individual aspects in greater depth. The documentation to be compiled following the event is intended to serve as a catalyst for a more in-depth examination of current debates regarding the concept of nature and culture-nature hybrids at RPTU.

Project Team

Marie Schehl, Center for Education and Research in Non-School Learning Environments (ZentrAL)
m.schehl@rptu.de

Prof. Dr. Sascha Henninger, Physical Geography & Subject Didactics
sascha.henninger@rptu.de

Project Duration

October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025

Project Description

In the project “MINT-Mach-Pass—a project of the RPTU’s extracurricular learning centers,” 12 of the RPTU’s extracurricular learning centers are collaborating across locations. The goal is to strengthen the network between the learning centers in Landau and Kaiserslautern and to provide teacher education students in STEM subjects with early hands-on experience in a safe environment.

The project builds on the “Children’s University” format in Landau, which has been organizing hands-on activities for children ages 8 to 12 since 2017. In 2023, as part of a pilot project by the Center for Education and Research at Extracurricular Learning Sites, the course offerings were expanded for the first time to include two learning sites in Kaiserslautern—the first joint project between the two campuses.

Building on these experiences, the MINT-Mach-Pass is now being expanded across all locations. The focus is on strengthening the connections between the learning sites and actively involving students in the planning and implementation of the courses. To make the concept of teaching-and-learning labs accessible to all participants, the first step will be to conduct a systematic survey of existing teaching formats related to out-of-school learning sites, based on which best-practice examples will be identified at both locations. The learning sites are to be increasingly utilized as teaching-and-learning labs in STEM teacher education. A continuous, reciprocal exchange takes place through various formats—such as networking meetings, reflection sessions, or mutual classroom observations.

Project Team:

Lead:

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Stoeck, stoeck@rptu.de, 0631-2052502, Department of Ecology

Prof. Dr. Martin Entling, martin.entling@rptu.de, 06341 280-315370, Department of Ecosystem Analysis

Staff:

Dr. Sven Katzenmeier, katzenme@rptu.de, 0631-2052108, Department of Ecology M.Sc.

Lukas Damm, ldamm@rptu.de, 0631-2055037, Department of Ecology

Participating Departments:

Department of Ecology, Division of Biology, KL Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Division of Natural and Environmental Sciences, LD

Project Duration:

March 15, 2025 – May 15, 2026

Project Description:

As part of our efforts to enhance academic programs and teaching, our project is developing a one-week course on ornithology (birds of the Wadden Sea) for 18 students (BA and MA) from the KL and LD campuses. This course will teach modern digital methods for the optical and acoustic observation and identification of birds, and will explore the significance of the Wadden Sea ecosystem (National Park), particularly for migratory birds. Expertise in bioacoustic methods will be provided by the faculty at the LD campus, while expertise in digital optical methods will be provided by the faculty at the KL campus. In addition to the scientific content, the course to be developed here is intended to provide students with guidance on potential Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, as well as on the Master’s programs offered at the other campus. This is intended to strengthen the connection between the campuses and increase demand for the RPTU’s master’s programs (particularly Biology at KL and Environmental Sciences at LD). The project’s innovative nature is primarily reflected in the combination of various modern digital and AI-based technologies, coupled with the experiential learning offered by a very special and globally unique ecosystem as a non-university learning environment. By spending the entire day together as a group in a particularly stimulating and unfamiliar natural landscape, the project aims to foster highly intensive learning as well as very close contact and exchange between students and faculty from both campuses.

Project Team:

Dr. Anna Thomas, Dr. Claudia Reidick, and Jonas Dully, research group on Sports Science (KL); Dr. Michael Zimmer-Müller, Center for Empirical Educational Research (zepf; LD); Jun.Prof. Dr. Susanne Wißhak and Leike Graue, Institute for Business Education/Human Resources Development (LD), Dr. Ralf Naumer, Institute for Sports Science (LD), Prof. Dr. Florian Kiuppis and Dirk Sponholz, Institute for Special Education (LD)

Project duration:

May 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026

Project Description:

Future societal challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social heterogeneity, require schools, universities, and adult education institutions to transform their approaches to teaching and learning. Experiential education methods offer an approach to transforming learning in the spirit of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and shifting the focus toward primary, cooperative learning. Experiential education is understood here as presenting (young) people with physical, psychological, or social challenges through exemplary learning processes in order to foster their personal development and empower them to shape their living environment responsibly. The effectiveness of experiential education programs has been confirmed by extensive research. The focus is primarily on key competencies and effects at the personal level—including communication, cooperation, and leadership in the context of team building and problem-solving, as well as self-reflection, commitment, and self-efficacy. Accordingly, the Certificate in Experiential Education (ZEP) is aimed at students who wish to acquire these competencies and learn how to teach them. Target groups include students in all teacher education programs, as well as students of education and sports sciences, and students at the DISC, particularly those in the adult education and human resources development degree programs.

If you are interested in participating in the certificate program, please contact anna.thomas[at]rptu.de and michael.zimmermueller[at]rptu.de

Further information: https://rptu.de/projekte/zertifikat-erlebnispaedagogik

Project Team:

Prof. Ralf Becker (Institute of Philosophy)
, Prof. Georg von Freymann (Department of Physics)

Project Period:

Funding start date: May 1, 2025
Project duration through September 30, 2026

Project Description:

In an age when “alternative facts” are gaining acceptance in politics and society, an examination of the concept of truth is more necessary than ever. In this interdisciplinary seminar, we aim to offer interested students (as well as staff and faculty) the opportunity to explore the concept of truth from philosophical and scientific perspectives and to determine whether and how a shared understanding might be possible.

Through interdisciplinary dialogue, as well as dialogue with the broader society outside the university, we repeatedly observe that certain terms are assigned very different meanings or are understood and used in different ways. Philosophy and physics both claim to develop an understanding of the world; both disciplines are grounded in logic, which enables them to argue coherently.

We would like to explore this in a cross-disciplinary manner with the seminar participants using selected texts and examples from both fields, followed by discussion. Since such a discussion is best conducted through in-person interaction, the seminar will be held in person, both in Landau and in Kaiserslautern.

The seminar will take the form of a block course with three sessions per semester, in which, following a series of presentations (max. 4 per session), ample time will be set aside for discussion and exchange. The sessions will alternate between Landau and Kaiserslautern and are intentionally designed to conclude in a convivial atmosphere to allow ample space for discussion.

If the seminar proves successful, the series will continue and may be expanded to include additional subjects. Exciting additions could come from the fields of theology and psychology—and, of course, mathematics.

Project Director: Prof . Dr. Annette Bieniusa

Project Staff: Philipp Lersch

Participating Departments/Units: Department of Computer Science, Computer Science Service Center, ZIDiS, Landau E-Learning Unit (ELE)

Project Duration:

September 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025

Project Description: The “TREK” transfer project aims to establish a university-wide digital examination environment for the competency-based assessment of programming and digital skills at RPTU. Since traditional paper-based exams do not adequately reflect the practical application of software development, the project relies on executable exam formats and automated grading procedures. Through didactic evaluation and technical implementation, modern infrastructures will be created that enable scaling to several hundred participants. The project includes a systematic needs analysis at the Kaiserslautern and Landau campuses, as well as the development of specific guidelines and a central point of contact for faculty. A particular focus is on testing mobile exam environments to flexibly overcome spatial and technical limitations. Through iterative pilot phases and collaboration between the campuses, the goal is to harmonize processes to avoid redundancies. Ultimately, the introduction of these digital formats is intended to lead to a more efficient and valid assessment of digital competencies.