It is not only the current students who profit from great, contemporary teaching. Outstanding teaching is also the mark of a university that appeals to the students of tomorrow. The University of Bremen knows its strengths and has once more awarded the Berninghausen Prize for Excellence in Teaching in its jubilee year.

“Participative Teaching”: Working Together on Software Design

Dr. Juliane Jarke and Irina Zakharova from the Faculty of Mathematics / Computer Science won over the jury with their concept for joint teaching and learning. In the “Participative Teaching” category, they were honored for the module “Participative Methods of Software Design.” The class was carried out digitally with team-teaching in the summer semester 2021. Students had full writing and access rights to the utilized platform. Additionally, each small group had their own board for preparation, organization, and communication. Previous class participants’ experiences were incorporated. The jury was impressed that dealing with specialist literature played a role in the final grade, as this is often something that does not receive enough consideration in computer sciences. The lecturers also met up directly with groups outside of video conferences in order to talk through their work. The students spoke their praise for the fact that the class was designed well in terms of content and didactics.

Practical Orientation: Development of Start-Up Ideas as Special Teaching Form

Dr. Jan Harima from the Faculty of Business Studies & Economics was nominated for the students’ prize by his students for the class “Project IEM2 Start-Up Management.” In this class, small teams made up of students developed their own business ideas and got them to a point where they were nearly market ready with the help of research-based learning cycles. The students were impressed that they had contact to potential customers. Moreover, they were able to implement qualitative and quantitative research methods and carried out methodologically proven experiments.

The jury was won over by the circumstance that Harima was able to develop an extraordinary class with his project and thus enable a special form of teaching. He was successful in combining a practically oriented task with students’ personal points of interest, piquing great commitment, and at the same time allowing for the task to be completed in interdisciplinary teams. A successful class: Practically oriented work that piques the personal interest of students and motivates them to contribute within interdisciplinary teams.

“Outstandingly High Dedication in Teaching”

The professor of psychology Nina Heinrichs from the Faculty of Human and Health Sciences also received a prize from her students. She was honored for the class: “General Process Theory: Processes, Methods, and Techniques of Psychotherapeutic Treatment.” The lecture addressed the most significant clinical psychological intervention processes with examples of categorized psychotherapeutic methods and techniques.
The students praised the class content as being high quality, structured, prepared in a scientifically contemporary manner, as well as having a high relation to practical work. The appreciative interaction with students and her outstandingly high dedication in teaching, motivation, and support were emphasized. Her critically reflected class promotes and teaches the ability to be aware of multiple perspectives and reflect on oneself. This praise won over the jury.

A total of 125 suggestions were submitted. A committee made up of teaching staff, university staff, and students perused the submissions and put forward the winners.

About the Berninghausen Prize

Every year, the University of Bremen and the “unifreunde” friends of the University of Bremen and Jacobs University award the Berninghausen Prize. The prize, which was established by the family Berninghausen in 1991, honors special achievements in university teaching. Endowed with 6,000 euros, the prize can be awarded in several categories. All members of the university can nominate members of the teaching faculty for the prize, whereby in the category “student prize”, only the students are allowed to do so.

Further Information:

Berninghausen Prize: /en/preis-fuer-gute-lehre
www.uni-bremen.de/en/

Contact:

Christina Selzer
Administrative Unit of University Communication and Marketing
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-60158
Email: christina.selzeruni-bremen.de