With COVID-19, classes move online – boosting digital teaching

To slow the spread of the Coronavirus, face-to-face courses at the university must be moved to virtual teaching and online learning formats wherever feasible during the 2020 summer semester. This is probably one of the most drastic measures taken by Bielefeld University during the pandemic to protect against infection. A number of other measures to safeguard against infection, such as extensive home office regulations, are also implemented to meet the requirements of the Federal Infection Protection Act and the Corona Protection Ordinance of the Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia.

Laptop in der Universitätsbibliothek

Digital and interactive

The ad-hoc ‘online semester’ poses considerable challenges for both students and instructors. Despite the difficult circumstances, most of the courses planned for the 2020 summer semester are actually held. Students and instructors rise to the challenge and respond flexibly to the new situation, as further evinced by surveys initiated during the semester.

Empty central university hall during the digital semester.

Fall 2021 sees a gradual return to in-person operations – under strict rules at first. As pleased as all members of the campus community are about the return to the status quo, the state of digital teaching did make a significant leap forward during the pandemic, and some aspects of online teaching are surely here to stay.

 

Looking back, Professor Lütje-Klose, Vice-rector for Education and Teaching, remarked in the fall of 2021: ‘Bielefeld is – and will remain – a brick and mortar university that will also take advantage of the increasing opportunities presented by digitalization.’