Excellent teaching at the UW/H: Lecturers find answers to the climate crisis and focus on innovative teaching formats

Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) aims to make a significant contribution to socially, ecologically and economically changing society through teaching and research, thereby supporting the transformation towards a fairer and more sustainable world. At the same time, its didactic concepts and interactive learning settings promote the personal development of students and a dialogue on an equal footing with lecturers. Three lecturers have now been recognised for their innovative and sustainable teaching concepts.

How do older, chronically ill people get through heatwaves well?

The prospective teaching award "Education for Sustainable Development" goes to the team led by Junior Professor Dr Daniela Schmitz. Her teaching concept deals with the effects of climate change on the health of vulnerable groups. The focus is on the question of how people with chronic limitations can better survive future hot summers. "We are experiencing more and more periods of heat due to climate change. That's why we want to work with our students to develop a concept for heat monitoring so that students can learn how people with chronic limitations can get through the upcoming hot summers," said Daniela Schmitz.

How can climate-friendly development succeed in the global South?

The second prize, also a teaching award for "Education for Sustainable Development", was awarded to economist Jun.-Prof. Dr Magdalene Silberberger from the Faculty of Management, Economics and Society for her teaching concept in the field of development cooperation. Together with her students, she wants to show how development and climate financing are interlinked with the general development of the global South. "The big problem is that the different dimensions of development are not being considered together and sometimes completely contradictory goals are being pursued. For example, we still have more fossil-fuelled development projects than renewable energy projects," says Silberberger. In the seminar, students are asked to get to the bottom of these facts and bring all these dimensions together. To make the topic more tangible, researchers from the regions of the global South will be invited to UW/H.

"It is important to me to encourage the courage of my students"

The third teaching prize is awarded by UW/H students - this year to Dr Andreas Vahlenkamp from the Department of Dentistry. He is recognised as an inspiring, cooperative, trustworthy and didactically skilled lecturer and senior physician and receives the "Award for Innovative and Outstanding Teaching". "I feel incredibly honoured and encouraged in the way I feel and understand teaching. It is important to me to encourage my students to realise their own talents. When they come from preclinical education to the clinical part, they can't be fully trained dentists, but they should believe in their abilities and dare to try things they haven't done before. That is my didactic credo," emphasises Dr Vahlenkamp. The prerequisite for this is to recognise students as individuals and to treat them with trust and as equals.

The teaching awards were presented as part of Education Day at the UW/H. The "Prize for Innovative and Outstanding Teaching" is endowed with 2,500 euros. The two winners of the "Witten Education for Sustainable Development" prize each receive 1,250 euros.