In this series, university members will be talking about the changes they have experienced in the workplace, or on their study program and how they have been helping during the Corona pandemic. These statements will be organized into several topics and new topics will be published regulary.
For the topic "Digital teaching", Prof. Alexander Brem, Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science, speaks about his experiences during the Corona pandemic:
"I was appointed as professor, and director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science (ENI) on January 1, 2020. Dealing with a pandemic shortly after beginning work at the institute was a big challenge - for example, there was no alternative but to hold my inaugural lecture online. Apart from a few personal meetings right at the beginning, most of my activities over the last two years have inevitably taken place in the virtual world.
The goal of our courses is not only to sensitize students to the topic of entrepreneurship and to teach them how to think and act like entrepreneurs, but also to actively support entrepreneurs. Many of our teaching formats are therefore interdisciplinary, interactive and they need an intensive and personal exchange from students. For that reason, I was initially very skeptical about whether we would be able to teach topics like entrepreneurship and innovation if personal, onsite meetings were no longer possible. Like many of my colleagues, I was surprised how well our online formats worked. Students not only got together online, but also developed and implemented business ideas. I would also like to take this opportunity to compliment my team, which was always there for the students and actively supported them.
The Corona pandemic has fundamentally and permanently changed many aspects of our teaching - but it has also brought new opportunities and opened doors. For example, online teaching offers new opportunities for tackling the topic of entrepreneurship education, for example with projects such as "Makers of Tomorrow" - a Germany-wide online course on entrepreneurship, in which we were also involved. Although we have received a lot of positive feedback for our online courses, we are very pleased that we are now able to meet and support our students in person once more.
Although we were very successful in keeping in touch with students, it's been even more difficult to get to know colleagues and administrative staff online - I'm looking forward to catching up on some networking now. One positive aspect is that we appreciate personal meetings much more since the pandemic. Another positive aspect is that it is no longer necessary to travel to every meeting, event, or conference. As is so often the case, it is possible to have the best of both worlds, i.e. a combination of online and offline."
Contact
Melanie Minderjahn
Career Service - Inner Development, Public Relations