Digitization is all-encompassing, it also fundamentally changes higher education. International education experts discussed how it can be shaped in the sense of innovative teaching, what opportunities, but also what risks it offers, in front of around 100 academic guests on the campus of Jacobs University. The two-day symposium "B³ - Bildung Beyond Boundaries" also developed the outlines of an international challenge to promote radical ideas in higher education. Supported by the Jacobs Foundation, particularly progressive ideas are honored and supported with a total sum of 650,000 Euros.
Exciting lectures and a stimulating exchange of ideas characterized the first day of the symposium. In his welcome address, Prof. Dr. Michael Hülsmann, President of Jacobs University, said that one of the aims of the symposium was to contribute to a concept of future-oriented higher education. "Are we, as an academic institution, shaping our educational approach with the help of digitization? Or is it digitization that shapes the way we teach?" asked Hülsmann.
The participants exchanged ideas in various discussion rounds. The students do not want a digital education that focuses on the efficiency of technology, emphasized Siân Bayne, Professor of Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. "They want a digital education that puts the relationship between students and teachers at the heart of our actions.”
Hendrik Drachsler, Professor of Computer Science with a focus on Educational Technologies at the German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) and at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, presented the "Myskills" project: a test developed by the Federal Agency of Employment and the Bertelsmann Foundation to identify professional competencies - as an example of the growing influence on technology-based assessment of skills. Speakers at the conference included renowned scientists from the United States, the Netherlands and Scotland, as well as professors from Jacobs University, namely Ulrich Kühnen, Professor of Psychology, and Christian Stamov Roßnagel, Professor of Organizational Psychology.
The second day was about the concretization of the planned "Radical Ideas in Higher Education” challenge. Together with Jacobs University, the Jacobs Foundation is looking for innovative ideas from international applicants of all disciplines. The challenge, funded with a total of 650,000 Euros (750,000 CHF), is scientifically supported by Jacobs University. The content and details of the challenge were developed by the participating experts on the second day of B³ and will soon be published internationally.
