Teaching Award: ‘Oskar for Quality in Teaching’

Prof. Dr. Marlen Jurisch

Oskar: Quality in Teaching

Prof. Dr Klaus Kreulich, Vice-President for Innovation and Quality in Education at HM, presented the Oskar Award for Quality in Teaching to Prof. Dr Marlen Jurisch of the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics.

All the information about the award

Prof. Dr. Stefan Linner

Oskar: Quality in Teaching

Prof. Dr Klaus Kreulich, Vice-President for Innovation and Quality in Education at HM, presented the Oskar Award for Quality in Teaching to Prof. Dr Stefan Linner of the Department of Applied Sciences and Mechatronics.

All the information about the tribute

Prof. Dr. Bastian Katz

Oskar: Excellent Teaching

Prof. Dr Klaus Kreulich, Vice-President for Innovation and Quality in Education at HM, presented the ‘Oskar’ Award for Outstanding Teaching to a lecturer nominated by students. He had succeeded in guiding “students into the fascinating world of knowledge” whilst, beyond subject-specific knowledge, also fostering values such as cooperation, tolerance and respect amongst his students. Prof. Dr. Bastian Katz from the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics thanked his students for the nomination and for the trust they had placed in him during face-to-face teaching. For him, this is a format in which “lecturers and learners forgo flexibility” and which he “uses to convey what they cannot learn from a video alone”.

Prof. Dr. Bastian Katz, Department of Computer Science and Mathematics: “I see the challenge and opportunity of digital teaching not in forcing students into a learning process and reducing interaction, but, on the contrary, in making the most of the flexibility it offers. Working through and absorbing content at their own pace, being able to assess their own learning progress, and viewing joint events as ‘quality time’ in which communication takes centre stage.”

The nominees for the 2023 Teaching Oscar

Prof. Dr. Florian Nafz, Dept 05:

As a lecturer, I try to act not only as a source of knowledge and skills for my students, but also as a sort of coach who supports the student team to ensure both collective and individual learning success. In doing so, I select the most appropriate method depending on their abilities and level of learning.

Prof. Dr. Gabriele Fischer, Dept 11:

For me, discursive teaching and learning formats form an important basis for good teaching. They give students the opportunity to express themselves, to test their ideas through debate, and to develop, justify and even revise their positions, thereby strengthening their critical thinking skills

Prof. Dr.-Ing Markus Klein, Dept 03

For me, good teaching goes far beyond simply imparting knowledge and skills. A balance between theory and practice, up-to-date teaching content, the interconnection of teaching content, consideration of students’ individuality, as well as feedback, appreciation and mutual respect should be taken into account as holistically as possible.

Prof. Michael Hiebel, Dept 04

Interesting visual aids and experiments are just one of the many options I make use of every day. In addition, a report or a brief anecdote from my own working life can be very useful for placing learning content in a tangible context.

Prof. Dr. Lukas Schönberger

“Hochschule München gives us the freedom to shape our digital teaching as we see fit. But it’s only thanks to our students that it works so well. When it comes to the coronavirus and the measures in place, they’re doing a fantastic job: they’re helping to make these measures work despite the pressures they face, and are continuing to study successfully.”

Prof. Dr. Lukas Schönberger, Professor of Applied Business Administration and Corporate Management at the Department of Tourism

The tourism industry has been undergoing a transformation for some time, not just since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic has accelerated this digital transformation. What is the best way to respond to this? “It’s working well in teaching,” reports Prof. Dr. Lukas Schönberger. Among other things, his tourism students organised Munich University of Applied Sciences’ virtual presence at this year’s virtual ITB. The students managed Hochschule München’s presence at the trade fair as an independent project, initially partly in person, then entirely online after the fair in Berlin could not go ahead. Schönberger emphasises: “Good teaching, both during and outside the COVID-19 pandemic, is not a one-sided endeavour. Successful virtual teaching only works with and through our committed students.”

One key skill that Schönberger teaches in some of his courses is self-management – both for their studies and for when they later enter the world of work. In live negotiation exercises as part of the ‘Applied Business Management’ module, students practise their communication and negotiation skills as well as their resilience to stress: just as in real working life, they must make decisions in teams based on incomplete information. Depending on the approach taken, the aim is to implement and enforce these decisions through either a cooperative or a confrontational exchange with other teams.

Schönberger’s teaching approach does not entirely disregard the entertainment factor: the lecturers aim to engage students through exciting topics and practical examples. One such topic was the ‘In-person Exams at the Munich Exhibition Centre’ project. The students learnt how to plan and negotiate arrangements for a potential 72,000 in-person exams in the halls of the Munich Exhibition Centre, including hygiene, procedural and safety protocols for the 2020 winter semester – even though these exams never actually took place.

The nominees for the 2021 Teaching Oscar

• Prof. Dr. Michael Amft, Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering: “Be the person you needed when you were younger! A shift in perspective that I constantly practise: I show students that I understand how they think, how they’re feeling and what they’re going through – and, at the same time, I clearly reflect on the impression students have of me in my role as their professor, their supervisor or even their boss. Together, these two things lead to an enormous and very valuable gain in insight.”
• Prof. Dr Jörg Reinhardt, Department of Applied Social Sciences: “In my experience, teaching works best when we’re on an equal footing. As a lecturer, I also see myself as a service provider. That’s why I try to meet students where they are.”
• Prof. Dr. Sabine Rodt, Department of Business Administration: “I try to support and challenge students intuitively, drawing on my specialist knowledge, as well as my teaching, practical and academic experience, and my personal commitment.”
• Prof. Dr. Bastian Katz, Department of Computer Science and Mathematics: “I see the challenge and opportunity of digital teaching not in forcing students into a learning process and reducing interaction, but, on the contrary, in making the most of the flexibility it offers. Working through and absorbing content at their own pace, being able to assess their own learning progress, and viewing joint events as ‘quality time’ in which communication takes centre stage.”

Prof. Dr Guido Stehr

“I am delighted to have won the Teaching Oscar: firstly, because the nomination came from my students, and if anyone is in a position to judge my teaching, it is them. Secondly, because the university management is thereby making it absolutely clear that teaching remains our core business.”

Prof. Dr. Guido Stehr, Professor of Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

“In my introductory courses, I mainly teach first-year students who have to overcome not only subject-specific but also methodological and personal challenges. I guide my students with empathy as they embark on and progress through their studies. My starting point for effective teaching is a friendly and respectful relationship between my students and me as a lecturer. “On this basis, a clearly structured and focused presentation of the subject matter leads to successful learning, as the 2009 Hattie study already highlighted. Electrical and Information Technology is commonly regarded as an abstract and complex field. And indeed, the mechanisms at work in electrical engineering are largely beyond direct perception, meaning that most of it can only be understood rationally. But that is precisely what makes it so appealing: the central aim of my teaching is to equip students with abstraction and systematic thinking as the most important tools of the engineering disciplines. I want to instil in my students confidence in their own problem-solving abilities: just as they have mastered challenging topics during their studies, they will also be able to overcome difficult challenges in their professional practice.”

Prof. Stehr has been teaching the fundamentals of electrical engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at HM since 2015. Prior to this, he spent ten years working in the semiconductor industry in the field of modelling and simulation of digital systems. He studied at the University of Paderborn and the University of Karlsruhe, where he obtained his Diplom degree following a period spent in the USA. He was a research assistant at the Chair of Design Automation led by Prof. Antreich at the Technical University of Munich, where he also completed his PhD.

In this Lightboard video, Prof. Dr. Guido Stehr explains what makes his teaching so special.

Prof. Dr. Peter Dürr

Peter Dürr is a Professor of knowledge and communication management and co-director of the ‘Management of Social Innovation’ degree programme at the Department of Applied Social Sciences.

How is the role of lecturers changing in the age of digitalisation?

This question has been on the mind of Peter Dürr, Professor of Knowledge and Communication Management at Hochschule München, for years. To gain a better understanding of learning processes, he developed a model during his research semester which he describes as an ‘interactive learning pathway’, in which students engage with a subject in various ways. In this way, they continuously alternate between acquiring, analysing and summarising information, and developing and testing ideas for solutions, whilst taking on different roles such as facilitators, researchers, designers or listeners.

Dürr sees these “changes in perspective” as a key driver in understanding and solving social problems. By designing a “classroom of the future” on the Pasing Campus, he and his colleagues have also created a physical space that makes such versatile teaching formats possible in the first place.

In his seminars, this social scientist – who trained as an economist and engineer – engages intensively with the future, with the transdisciplinary aspect being particularly close to his heart. He sees digital technologies as bringing about not only a radical transformation in the processing and dissemination of information at universities, but also, in particular, in the skills profile required of lecturers: They must be “hunters and gatherers”, always on the lookout for ideas on how to improve learning. A media-enriched learning journey therefore continues to require dramaturgs and storytellers who experiment with different approaches and enable people with diverse prior knowledge and learning styles to construct meaning from what is being taught.

"Oskar Award for Quality in Teaching"

Felicitas Loepp, Department of Engineering and Management

Prof. Dr. Stefan Rappenglück, Department of General and Interdisciplinary Studies

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Moosheimer, Department of Supply and Building Services Engineering, Process Engineering for Paper and Packaging, Printing and Media Technology

"Oskar Award for Quality in Teaching"

Thomas Loster, Graduate in Geography, Department of General and Interdisciplinary Studies

Prof. Dr. Christian Münker, Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

Prof. Dr. Markus Wessler, Department of Business Administration

"Oskar Award for Quality in Teaching"

Prof. Dr. Edda Eich-Soellner, Department of Computer Science and Mathematics

Prof. Dr. Gertrud Grünwied, Department of Supply and Building Services Engineering, Process Engineering for Paper and Packaging, Printing and Media Technology

Prof. Dr. Norbert Geng, Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

"HM Teaching Award"

Prof. Dr. Sonja Munz, Department of Tourism

Prof. Dr. Christian Seiler, Department of Civil Engineering

Prof. Dr. Angela Poech, Department of Business Administration

"HM Teaching Award"

Prof. Dr. Christoph Dauberschmidt, Department of Civil Engineering

Prof. Dr. Jörg Middendorf, Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering

Prof. Dr. Caroline Steindorff-Classen, Department of Applied Social Sciences

"HM Teaching Award"

Prof. Dr. Walter Eger, Department of Civil Engineering

Prof. Dr. Jörg Puchan, Department of Engineering and Management

Prof. Dr. Anne Brunner, Department of General and Interdisciplinary Studies