Study made easy.
In the Institute for Higher Education Didactics department, we develop offers that support and facilitate studying.
On the one hand, this results in very solution-oriented offers such as support in STEM subjects, the protected learning platform of the Digital Campus or the Ruhr Master School, which enables cross-university Master's studies at three universities.
In addition, we offer teachers space for innovation by supporting the promotion and further development of quality in teaching. Our Digital Mentoring team is even developing innovative, AI-based methods for the teaching and learning support of the future.
Take a look around - and get in touch if you have any questions!
Our offers
MINT2BE
Designed for anyone who finds math a stumbling block in their studies - and is ready to get it out of the way: MINT2BE bundles the central math help services at Fachhochschule Dortmund. It helps anyone who wants to brush up on their math skills or test their previous knowledge. And, of course, anyone who needs exercises and would like direct feedback - individually or in a team.
Our services support students in the critical subject of mathematics and promote individual academic success. Specifically, we offer:
- The Math HelpDesk as an open learning space where our tutors answer individual questions and help with exercises.
- Mathematical topic specials in workshops lasting several hours for intensive exam preparation - developed independently by our tutors.
- An open math consultation hour in which we offer tailor-made offers to close gaps.
- The extended preliminary course as an additional offer for students, in which we refresh the basic mathematics in addition to the preliminary courses.
- Self-study courses to refresh or deepen various topics.
- Literature lists for all those who need more food for thought.
Further information for students can be found on the intranet(Opens in a new tab) .
Physics HelpDesk
Designed to provide personal support for all questions relating to physics in the first two semesters: our Physics HelpDesk is staffed by subject tutors from higher semesters. They help all first and second semester students who have questions about physics - with specific problems with the content of a lecture or exercise as well as with calculating old exams in preparation for their own exam.
Our services support students in physics and promote individual academic success. Specifically, we offer students
- A weekly consultation hour with our student tutors both on site and online - just drop by or click in.
- TopicSpecials before the exams to review the theory on certain topics and then deepen your knowledge in exercises.
- Exam specials, in which old exams from the respective lecturers are worked through together.
Further information for students can be found on the intranet(Opens in a new tab) .
Digital Campus in ILIAS
Arrive, get to know each other, exchange ideas - under this motto, the digital campus in ILIAS offers plenty of room for interaction. It is designed as a teaching, learning and exchange platform for first-year students from all faculties, designed by students for students - and cannot be viewed by teaching staff and university employees.
A protected framework for direct exchange among students, for the central provision of information and for the forums of student councils and student advisors ("Stuben"). Here you can find:
- Faculty-specific forums and groups for exchange on each faculty. In particular, new students and those moving up have the opportunity to ask questions about the organization of their studies, find study partners and exchange ideas with students from other semesters.
- Interdepartmental areas for offers from the central service facilities of Fachhochschule Dortmund. The AStA (General Students' Committee) is also present here and offers a job and accommodation exchange in addition to booking study rooms at the university.
- Access to the various ILIAS functions, e.g. to share documents, exchange learning materials or work together on texts in real time. External platforms such as Sciebo or Wiki can also be integrated.
- A booking pool for tutors from the faculties, who can offer their office hours or learning groups here.
- A search function that can be used to filter out thematically suitable threads from the masses.
Further information for students can be found in ILIAS(Opens in a new tab) .
Ruhr Master School (RMS)
Designed for Master's students who want more: The Ruhr Master School (RMS) enables students to individualize their own Master's degree thanks to a cooperation between Fachhochschule Dortmund, Bochum University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Westfälische Hochschule for the joint opening and recognition of compulsory elective modules.
Here, Master's students enrolled in one of the participating study programs can take additional interdisciplinary and international courses from all three universities and thus individualize their study profile according to their personal interests, abilities and professional ideas.
Our focus is on interdisciplinarity and internationalization - two essential success factors for starting a career. Specifically, we offer students
- A cross-university elective catalog that opens up the WP offerings of the participating Master's programs at the three universities to each other.
- An international RMS Summer School, which is dedicated to a sustainability topic for two weeks each year.
- The RMS Block Week, which offers compact WP modules at the three universities in the middle of the semester.
- Intercultural training in preparation for a stay abroad or working in international teams.
- The RMS Cerfificate of International Competences, which certifies the international and intercultural skills acquired in the Master's program.
At the same time, lecturers who want to develop innovative teaching formats, break new ground or implement interdisciplinary courses will find support in designing and implementing their ideas. Please contact us for:
- Support in the conception, organization and implementation of innovative teaching formats - e.g. as a block week module or as an inter-university compulsory elective module.
- Approaching interested students at other RMS universities, e.g. to find participants for modules on niche topics or doctoral students.
- Support in the development of didactic concepts for digital teaching and the training of your teaching assistants as e-assistants.
Further information can be found on our website(Opens in a new tab) .
Digital mentoring
What if an interactive virtual tool could advise and support our students individually? What if an AI-based algorithm could help to reflect on individual learning success, predict examination or study success and identify suitable advice and support services?
This is precisely the approach of the Digital Mentoring project: From 2021 to 2024, we, the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences, Bochum University of Applied Sciences(Opens in a new tab) and the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences(Opens in a new tab) , are researching in this project how the potential of digitalization can be used for teaching and learning support. How individual teaching and learning processes can be recorded, processed and reflected upon in order to offer individual support in studying and teaching.
At the moment, this involves a lot of development work, especially in the areas of IT and data protection. And a lot of cooperation within the university, especially with lecturers in the field of mathematics and the existing advisory and support services.
Our goal is nothing less than the next generation of teaching and learning support. To provide our students with tailored support and promote their individual academic success - and to enable our teaching staff to improve (digital) teaching and make it easier to take into account the heterogeneity of the student body.
So: roll up your sleeves and keep coding!