Projects of the ProDiGI Funding Line

Collaborative working in intercultural digital courses: That is the focus of the Digital Hub. The project is carried out by teaching staff from Faculties 2 and 6 and builds on events and modules at the interface between the humanities and natural sciences. It is intended to conceptualise and establish an international course within the framework of the interdisciplinary Master's programme KTW (Culture of the Technical-Scientific World). The aim is to promote intercultural and digital competences in international teaching and learning spaces and to make the university a digital place of learning. The central questions of the project revolve around the use and further development of digital tools to overcome obstacles to participation in international collaborations and the constructive approach to challenges in international digital learning spaces. A special focus will be placed on recognising and using the opportunities and possibilities for innovation offered by this type of learning space. The resulting course is a pioneering project for the further internationalisation of the degree programme and is to be extended to other modules with a particular aptitude for international collaborations (such as adaptation and translation research).

Faculty of Humanities and Education, Institute of Philosophy

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Eckart Voigts, Prof. Dr. Bettina Wahrig

This project will create bilingual digital offerings to complement the lecture series on engineering mathematics. The content will be made available in German and English and will have a modular structure to enable their use in future course subjects or further education programmes. In addition, the online mathematics exercises close the gap between lectures and tutorials and thus provide the students with the opportunity to actively practice what they have learned. The students receive direct, individual feedback when solving the tasks. The project builds on the digital offerings of the successful predecessor projects oHMint-Pilot and MathOA and provides a flexible programme in terms of time and location that meets the needs of each individual student. The bilingual online exercises are intended to become a permanent part of the teaching and learning offerings in mathematics education for engineers. Plans include collaboration with partner universities and transfer to other courses in the field of mathematics.

Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Fakultät, Institute of Analysis and Algebra

Contact: Prof. Dr. Volker Bach

This project is dedicated to the conception of an international and hybrid Master's programme in order to counteract the trend of declining acoustics courses and education at Master's level and to anchor the subject in the curriculum at the TU Braunschweig. The objective is to train capable acoustics engineers for the future world of work. The structure of the Master’s programme was developed by lecturers from various partner institutions and emphasises the use of various digital teaching and learning methods. For example, there will be Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), instructional videos will be used as an asynchronous learning method, and interactive worksheets such as Jupyter Notebooks and an interactive learning platform come into play. The digitalisation of the study programme also enables mobile learning and therefore advances internationalisation. The project is looking into questions such as the requirements for the creation of teaching-learning materials for different formats, the efficient synchronisation and composition of content, and a suitable link between online teaching and face-to-face lessons.

As part of the project, the introductory module "Grundkurs Akustik [Basic Course in Acoustics]“ is being developed, which is intended to introduce students to the basics for the Master's programme and to enable them to enter the subject. The module is designed as a MOOC, which will also be usable as a compact lecture for students in other degree programmes or as part-time further education for working professionals.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Acoustics

Contacts: Dr.-Ing. Tobias Paul Ring, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sabine C. Langer

Machine Learning Challenges not only offer the opportunity to practically apply methods from the field of Data Science and to try out different techniques on a data set, but also promote the students' ability to assess their own skills and to work in a team. The project aims to develop this type of Machine Learning Challenge for the lecture "Health Enabling Technologies A" in medical informatics as a practical supplement to theoretical teaching-learning materials. In order to increase not only digital skills but also intercultural skills, the project is working with three renowned partner universities from India. Students from the different universities will work together in international teams to solve the challenge. Afterwards, the approach will be evaluated with regard to the effect of the learning process through student feedback. Experiences and lessons learned from this project will be recorded to ensure transferability to similar projects.

Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Fakultät, Institute for Medical Informatics

Contact: Prof. Dr. Thomas M. Deserno

Introducing students to the complexity of metabolism - and doing so in a flipped classroom approach: that is the goal of "Metabolism in a box", a newly planned module in the Master's programme in Biology. The project aims to create a learning and working environment that mimics the real world of research by using innovative methods adapted to the needs of the students rather than a traditional lecture: for example, students will be familiarised with establishing international collaborations and the challenges of applying for research funding. Another important component of the project is the work with digital tools and the dialogue with international partners. This includes virtual lectures, lab meetings and virtual exchange events, in which students have the chance to exchange ideas with (young) international researchers from the United States. The course content, including technical terminology, will be planned with the students and delivered only in English, in order to give the students the opportunity to improve their language skills. The project's approach serves as a best-practice example and can be transferred to other research fields.

Faculty of Life Sciences

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Thekla Cordes

This project follows on from the existing MoonRide project and focuses on the digitalisation of practical laboratory experiments in the field of electrochemical storage systems. The practical units will be delivered remotely, and teaching videos and scripts as well as virtual lab tours will be produced in English. While the predecessor project MoonRide cooperated with the University of Rhode Island, MoonLight will expand the existing project in terms of new scientific content by including further international partnerships (e.g. in Japan, Israel or Australia). However, MoonLight is not only intended to supplement existing course content, but is specifically designed to place an even stronger focus on the digitisation of teaching content, with the digitisation of practical laboratory experiments being introduced in particular. In addition, the developed course content is to be supported by a structured feedback process by the participating students, who will work in international and interdisciplinary teams. In this way, MoonLight will also serve as a testing ground for novel approaches to digitalisation with a focus on, and in tandem with, a high level of student participation. The developed approaches should be as independent as possible from the thematic content and later also serve as an example for other events.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Energy and Process Systems Engineering

Contacts: Dr. Nicolas Schlüter, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Daniel Schröder

Building on the outreach app "Quantum-VR" developed by the Institute for the Didactics of Natural Sciences and the Institute for Semiconductor Technology, an English-language application is to be devised at Master's level. The app's escape game, in which players need to complete algorithms and programme quantum gates, is currently designed for the skill level of high school students and interested people without a background in physics. Within the framework of this project, it will be updated to the skill level of Master's students in collaboration with the Faculty of Physics at Leibniz Universität Hannover. A cooperative game element will be integrated so that the game can be played by at least two students together. In the future, it will be possible to join in from different locations, including international locations. In the medium- to long-term, it is planned to make the application internationally usable via the European QTEdu community.

Quantum-VR-Master will thus function as an open learning platform in which students from different international locations can learn advanced concepts of quantum technologies together and experience them in virtual reality.

In the first step, the application will be used at TU Braunschweig and Leibniz Universität Hannover and evaluated with the help of student feedback.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Physics, Institute of Semiconductor Technology

Contact: Prof. Dr. Tobias Voß

In this project, a practice-oriented course is being designed by the Institute of Design Engineering in cooperation with the School of Automotive Studies at Tongji University in China. The content of the course focuses on the teaching of modern methods and tools for the development of complex technical systems and products, which are increasingly used in practice compared to conventional design methodology. Based on the module "Fundamentals of Sustainable Product Development and Engineering Design", a focus will now be placed on internationalisation and digitalisation and the course will be offered at both universities from the winter semester 2023/2024. For this purpose, a web-based digital learning platform is being developed on which students can find learning materials (e.g. digitalised documents of the course, learning videos, online quizzes, etc.) in English. Students from both universities can be virtually integrated into a course via this platform. Through international cooperation, a product is jointly developed within an exercise project and intercultural competences are trained at the same time.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Engineering Design

Contacts: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Vietor, Dr.-Ing. Weijun Lu

In this project, an English-language, interdisciplinary seminar on global and social insecurity is designed for the Bachelor's degree programme in Social Sciences. It is based on the concept of "global learning" and promotes a variety of future skills. These include design skills, collaboration, intercultural communication and digital learning skills. Internationalisation is also strengthened through the involvement of international cooperation partners, especially from the global south. The seminar is organised in cooperation with StAgEz (Studentische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Entwicklungszusammenarbeit e.V.) and with BtE (Bildung trifft Entwicklung), which ensures medium-term and sustainable learning and change processes. Thus, new networks will be created through the seminar. In addition, methods of asynchronous online teaching (self-learning tests, screencasts, games, small homework assignments, wiki) will be further developed and documented, whereby they can also be made available to other teachers as examples.

Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Fakultät, Department Social Sciences

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Dirk Konietzka, Dr. Okka Zimmermann

In this project, ISU and the Sino-German Center for Sustainable Cities of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) at Tongji University Shanghai are developing a joint international teaching/learning format for the field of study architecture, urban design and landscape planning. The core of the International Urban Design Competition Studio (IUDeCS) is a student competition of ideas in urban planning with design locations in Germany and China. Competition is a central component of the professional practice of architects and urban planners worldwide and the competition of this course is thus an expression of living building culture worldwide. A central challenge is the joint work on plans and documents. In practice, software environments are available for this purpose in addition to corresponding processes. IUDeCS is developing a corresponding digital teaching/learning/working environment. In addition to the collaboration environment and its mediation, a digital knowledge platform is also being built that makes best practice examples, methods and strategies accessible to students. In this way, the students in the course of the semester explore internationality, which is taken for granted in everyday professional life, and intercultural competences are further developed.

Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Department Architecture

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Vanessa Miriam Carlow, Dr. Katja Knecht, Chantal Karadag, Olaf Mumm

The project is aimed at further developing the pilot project "Machine Learning in Computational Fluid Dynamics", which started in the winter semester 2021/2022. Within the funding period, the already existing materials can now be expanded and made even more attractive.  In the English-language module, students learn to combine established methods of computational fluid dynamics with machine learning techniques. A number of digital tools are used, which are free open source applications. Lecture manuscripts and exercises are developed as interactive documents, so-called Jupyter Notebooks, in which explanations, theory, programming and visualisation flow together. Feedback from the previous semester has already been taken into account in the planned design and expansion of existing lectures. In order to make the lecture format easier to transfer to other courses, the overall concept is to be published in the Journal of Open Source Education (JOSE). In this way, the content will also be usable internationally and the module will make a strong contribution to the international visibility and positive public image of the TU Braunschweig's teaching.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Fluid Mechanics

Contacts: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rolf Radespiel, Dr.-Ing. Andre Weiner

The project includes an English-language, internationally designed digital seminar within the interdisciplinary qualification of the DLZ (Digital Literacy Certificate). This certificate teaches participants important skills for finding one's way in the digital world. The hybrid seminar "Service Learning: Digital Transformation" planned here by the Chair of Business Informatics is one of three mandatory modules for the DLZ. Now the focus of the certificate will be expanded to include intercultural perspectives on digital transformation (up to now, the existing ICT module was limited to digital transformation in Germany). Thanks to the funded project, this compulsory module for the certificate can now be obtained in either German or English, enabling more students to participate in this seminar. International and interdisciplinary exchange, especially among guest students at the TU Braunschweig, will also be promoted. Currently, the existing ICT module is also a bottleneck for the DLZ because almost twice as many students are interested in participating as there are places available per semester.

Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Fakultät, Institute of Business Information Systems

Contacts: Prof. Dr. Susanne Robra-Bissantz, Dr. Ricarda Schlimbach

This project aims to develop a universal teaching concept based on the techniques of virtual reality, which will be exemplarily integrated for coastal engineering (KIW) but will also enable interdisciplinary application. The newly created English-language teaching content will be made available via an online digital learning tool, based on the established Coastal Engineering Learning Platform. In the digital learning tool, problems and challenges in KIW will be made virtually tangible and relevant hydraulic processes will be visualised interactively. Specifically, it should be possible to script a large part of the content in the VR framework even as a non-programmer. Suitable abstractions must be found and extracted from the planned content. To illustrate the teaching concept, innovative and digital teaching content will be developed that takes up and visualises current and future topics in KIW. The application of the digital learning tool enables barrier-free access to various virtual worlds related to national and international coastal landscapes.

Faculty for Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources

Contacts: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nils Goseberg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Eisemann, Dr.-Ing. David Schürenkamp

In cooperation with the IMEPAC University in Brazil, this project is developing a digital English-language course for students in structural engineering. Contentwise, the project deals with structural design and components in the area of reinforced concrete materials and construction technology. Since there are no English-language courses in the field of solid construction yet, this project represents an important step towards internationalisation. During the course, there will be lectures on the globalisation of the construction industry and the prospects of the related academic field. The students will be involved in finding and developing topics for these lectures. In addition, students will work on smaller projects in international teams, which will promote intercultural exchange and networking. These are valuable impulses for the students, as international experience is a prerequisite in the job market at many large construction companies.

Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Building Materials, Concrete Construction and Fire Safety

Contact: Dr.-Ing. Thamara Tofeti Lima

This course simulates the typical workflow for the subject area of process, apparatus and plant design in the process industry and is based on an already created novel environment for Take Home Exercises and Exams (THEE). In the sense of constructive alignment, the form of examination is matched to the chosen form of exercise during the course. The digital and English-language implementation of the course reflects the typical working form for process, apparatus and plant design in the process industry. In order to organise cooperation concepts that reflect the globalised work environment and cross-team cooperation, an exchange with international partner universities will be initiated. Through the technical conditions created in cooperation with providers of commercial simulation software, the content already created can be optimised for this goal. Within the framework of the project, a wide range of materials, which are exchanged with the help of international cooperation partners and developed in exercise sessions, will be integrated into the THEE environment.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering

Contacts: Prof. Stephan Scholl, Lukas Rohwer, Franziska Lais, Rolf Staud

To strengthen the mobility focus of the TU Braunschweig, an English-language module on the electrification of vehicles is being developed with game-based learning approaches as part of this project. (Industrial) Engineers from different subjects will thus be enabled to actively promote the energy transition and gain an insight into the international and digital working world of the mobility sector. The students are taught basic content on wiring systems through video lectures within the framework of the flipped classroom principle. Building on this, the students work out questions in small groups in the form of a quiz show, which they then present to fellow students in the role of a quiz master and discuss in the form of a friendly competition. In this way, future skills such as collaboration and creativity are strengthened. The experience gained in this project is intended to be transferable to other modules.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Physics, Institute for Electromagnetic Compatibility

Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Terörde

As the aim of the AIrBase project and in cooperation with Linköping University Sweden, the course "Development of Commercial Aircraft" (EvV I & II) of the Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Construction (IFL) will be revised and henceforth include a new holistic teaching and learning approach. The newly designed course will combine the digitization of selected teaching activities and teaching materials and a human-centric design through group work with an AI-based individualization of course content, pace, time, and intensity. This will enable a high-quality and flexible way of teaching. In addition, it promotes professionalization as well as early familiarization with the English terminology in this subject, enhances the development of soft skills, and serves as an introduction to the new-work concepts and digital environments that students will face later in their careers. AIrBase draws on tools such as digital learning platforms, instant communication, and AI-based tools to implement this intended teaching and learning concept.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering | Institute of Aircraft Design and Lightweight Construction

Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ingo Staack

The starting point of this teaching project is the observation that there is a shortage of systematic engagement in teaching with the intersection of architecture and climate, in particular the climate emergency. This suggests a need for revising and especially updating the current curriculum and for a collaborative platform that integrates climate-related design principles, sustainable practices, and the social and ethical dimensions of architecture. It is precisely this gap that is addressed here via a digital module, which is newly developed by the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture and the City at TU Braunschweig together with partners from NTUA Athens, ETSAM Madrid, Academy of Architecture Amsterdam, Politecnico di Torino and University of Tampere. The focus is on practical learning, interdisciplinary approaches and critical thinking to enable students to challenge existing norms.

Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences | Institute for History and Theory of Architecture and the City

Contact: Prof.in Dr. Tatjana Schneider, Christina Serifi

This teaching project plans a redesign of the course "Molecular Modeling and Simulation of Biological and Pharmaceutical Systems" of the Master's programs in Bio- and Chemical Engineering as well as Pharmaceutical Process Engineering. One aim is to internationalize the course by improving its accessibility through teaching it in English and by initiating and implementing a collaboration with partner institutions from the USA, Brazil and Tanzania. An additional focus is on strengthening students' ability to work independently on currently relevant scientific issues via carrying out simulation projects in working groups. In doing so, students do not only acquire fundamental, practical experience, they also gain expanded knowledge about the implementation of molecular simulation methods. The planned Flipped Classroom design enables time and location-independent self-study by providing digital teaching materials. Furthermore, it teaches students how to work independently as well as strengthens their competencies in handling digital learning media and in intercultural communication and collaboration.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering | Institute of Thermodynamics

Contact: Priv.-Doz. Dr.-Ing. Gabriele Raabe

This project aims to redesign and modernize teaching at the Institute for High Voltage Technology and Energy Systems. To this end, the project aims at digitizing the elenia laboratories and to implement them in a video game engine by using the advantages of gamification. This enables students from several disciplines to learn and practice the teaching content embedded in the game, independent of time and location, without having to install additional software or expose themselves to the electrical or chemical hazards of a laboratory. This innovative teaching concept of a realistic simulation of the laboratory therefore enables, on the one hand, the theory-practice interspersing of the teaching content and, on the other hand, promotes the digital skills of students. In addition, the digitalization of this teaching format facilitates networking with universities on an international level.

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Physics | elenia Institute for High Voltage Technology

Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Kurrat, Maik Kahn

This teaching project is an ongoing development of the project work in the study program "Sustainable Engineering of Products and Processes". In this course, teams are formed to tackle specific problems together with students from partner universities abroad. This approach not only promotes intercultural competence, but also opens up new perspectives for comprehensive approaches to solutions and strengthens digital skills. Throughout the process, new technologies such as AI tools are used and the results are critically evaluated against the literature. The project aims to extend project work and collaborative work into the international context. Students will have the opportunity to collaborate digitally with fellow students at partner universities abroad. Specific sustainability problems, especially those stemming from the current research of the participating institutes, will be formulated as tasks. The teams will then develop solutions by drawing on existing literature and using AI tools.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering | Institute of Particle Technology, Department of Nanomaterials

Contact: Prof. Dr. Georg Garnweitner

The core of this teaching project is the internationalization of the already existing "Mixed Reality Learning Environments" seminar. The goal is to design and implement international teaching in virtual spaces, enabling location-independent collaborative teaching and learning. To achieve this, a hybrid, English-language duplicate of the "Mixed Reality Learning Environments" seminar is being developed, which enables participation both in presence and in virtual presence (e.g. by means of realistic avatars). Participation is easily possible from common devices such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks, but can also be done through, for example, Hololens2 mixed reality glasses and various VR goggles. This makes it easier for students to enter the world of Mixed Reality by providing sound background knowledge and practical experience of this constantly evolving technology. In terms of content, MARIE covers the advantages and disadvantages of Mixed Reality as well as differences to adjacent technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and results in a project work that deals with the use of Mixed Reality in this field of expertise.

Faculty of Humanities and Education | Institute for Didactics of Science, Dept. of Physics and Didactics of Physics

Contact: Prof. Dr. Oliver Bodensiek, Prof. Dr. Rainer Müller, René Kockord

In this project a method manual for the use of visualizations of complex processes by numerical results in teaching is developed. Its origin was the "Teaching Concept for Future Virtual Reality (TC-VR)" project, and the insight that visualizations contribute significantly to the students' understanding of complex processes. The used methods will initially be applied in coastal engineering, but could also be used across disciplines. Specifically, processes are visualized exemplarily for Spiekeroog and integrated into an existing virtual reality application. The outcome facilitates access to the teaching content and increases motivation and learning success. The now created manual, which is written in English, is intended to further promote international use and help teachers from various disciplines to communicate complex processes more effectively and consequently serve as a pioneering project for the didactic preparation of complex processes in university teaching.

Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences

Contact: Dr.-Ing. David Schürenkamp; Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Eisemann