Student workload, fit, teaching capacity, modularisation, the cumulative examination system, contact time, consecutive study programmes, the credit point system, transcripts of records, learning outcomes, credit transfer procedures, ECTS, employability and competence transfer: all of these do not merely smell of standardisation, bureaucratisation and economisation. They are instruments of standardisation, bureaucratisation and, above all, the economisation of university teaching and learning.

But there are also opportunities and room for manoeuvre if they are actively used. The Bologna Process places the needs of students more firmly in the foreground. Ultimately, economised university education has to strike a balance between vocational training and academic specialisation. The much-quoted and little-understood concept of competence-centred modular teaching and learning offers the leeway not to lose sight of the Humboldtian ideal of education, while still doing justice to the need for practice-oriented, application-oriented and scientifically justified education.

Development of competences

Against the background of competence-oriented education, it is not easy to formulate teaching and learning objectives in a concise and compelling way. However, the following are perhaps the most important aspects:

Learning clearly defined subject-specific skills and abilities as a basis for goal-oriented action.
Integrating specific didactic methods for knowledge acquisition, based on the assumption that learning is an active, self-directed, constructive, situational and social process.
Teaching analytical and solution-oriented thinking and action in order to develop intuitive and creative problem-solving strategies.
Encouraging autonomous personal development, particularly with regard to personal and social skills and social-communicative competence.

Problems versus solutions

In recent decades, pedagogy and didactics have shifted from the object of learning to the subject of learning. Learners are no longer understood as passive or even merely active recipients, but as active constructors. This process is not frictionless; it is accompanied by crises. Authentic problem orientation therefore plays a crucial role in a successful learning environment. In the best case, teaching focuses on questions that are meaningful to learners and that make them curious and/or concerned.

A clear implementation of this principle in university teaching is problem-based learning.

Learning is student-centred and takes place in small groups.
A tutor monitors and supports the learning process.
Problems form the starting point and stimulus for the learning process; learners use them to acquire knowledge.
Learners acquire the necessary problem-solving skills.
Learners acquire new information through self-directed learning.

The directed transfer of knowledge is now only one aspect of higher education. Instead, students are guided and supported in their active, independent exploration of issues.

Teaching in spatial science and environmental analysis is developed and implemented on this basis. The methodological scope deliberately goes beyond GI software: it combines data analysis, modelling, measurement, simulation and geoinformation methods to understand spatial, environmental and socio-ecological processes. More on this topic can be found in the following literature.

Learning content

The aim of the learning and teaching modules linked here is to provide geographers and other interested parties with access to contemporary methods of spatio-temporal description, analysis and interpretation of the world. The last decade has seen a rapid evolution in which, alongside AI methods and big data, complex physical models and the integration of complex spatio-temporal analysis have increasingly become state of the art. The road ahead is challenging. The course offerings linked on these pages are guided by the following guiding questions:

How can media and geo-information methods and techniques be integrated into geographic education and scientific application in a professionally appropriate way?
How can I acquire sovereign competences in the field of spatio-temporal abstraction and modelling?

The didactic design of the different modules is generally based on constructivist learning theory. In contrast to the schooling of the university system resulting from the Bologna Process, the courses offered here require a high degree of self-organised and self-motivated learning.

In general, no distinction is made between Master’s and Bachelor’s programmes. Both course types are based on a strict orientation towards scientific reproducibility and transparency at the most up-to-date methodological level. As far as possible, the learning of methods and modelling skills in geography is project-based. The learning materials provided here serve as a basis for classroom teaching, blended learning approaches and self-study.

My self-perception as a teacher

My self-image as a science teacher is that of a coach. I cannot climb a mountain or run a marathon for you. You can only do that yourself, and you have to train for it. I can offer my experience and perspective as a coach, advisor and constructive critic. But as a climber, you have to climb yourself. You know that, and you just have to do it.

For this path to become successful for you, you will need to reflect critically on what I bring to it, what you learn in discussions with your colleagues, what you read and what you think you have safely learned. Only then is development possible, and development is the goal of all education. This cannot be said often enough: Education depends to a large extent on what you put into it. If you do not do much more than just show up, you can assume that it is a waste of time for you.

Science is progress built on the work of countless others; it is about standing on the shoulders of giants. If you want to take part, you have to climb up there. So get started: think, reflect and discuss, stumble into dead ends, start again, gather and compare experiences, and develop your own way of working and building knowledge.

References

Ammoneit, Rieke; Reudenbach, Christoph: Ist BNE im Geographieunterricht zukunftsweisend? Plädoyer für eine adaptionsorientierte Klimabildung. In: GW-Unterricht, (2024) 174, S. 43–55, https://doi.org/10.1553/gw-unterricht174s43 - ISSN: 2077-1517; 2414-4169 - ISBN: 978-3-7001-9701-0

Ammoneit, Rieke, Christoph Reudenbach and Carina Peter. “Developing geographic computer modeling competencies in higher education.” Journal of Geography in Higher Education 48 (2023): 345–367. DOI: 10.1080/03098265.2023.2250991. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2023.2250991

Ammoneit, R., Reudenbach, C., & Peter, C. (2021). Selbstorganisation von Trampelpfaden im Raum modellierend erfassen – Eine komplexe Aufgabe für Studierende. In J. Fögele, R. Mehren, A. Oberrauch, & N. Raschke (Hrsg.), Die Geographie in der schulischen Praxis stärken: Abstractband zum HGD-Symposium 2020 in Gießen (S. 11–12). Universität Gießen.

Ammoneit, R., Reudenbach, C., Turek, A., Nauß, T. & Peter, C. (2019). Geographische Modellierkompetenz – Modellierung von Raum konzeptualisieren. In: GW-Unterricht. 156, S. 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1553/gw-unterricht156s19

Schulze, U.; Kanwischer, D. & Reudenbach, C. (2013): Essential competences for GIS learning in higher education: a synthesis of international curricular documents in the GIS&T domain. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 37 (2), 257–275. DOI: 10.1080/03098265.2012.763162. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03098265.2012.763162

Schulze, U.; Kanwischer, D.; Reudenbach, C. (2012): Technikzentrierte Softwareschulung und/oder problemorientierte Denkweise? Theoretische Überlegungen und didaktische Analysen zur geographischen GIS-Ausbildung. In: Hüttermann, A.; Kirchner, P.; Schuler, S.; Drieling, K. (Hrsg.): Räumliche Orientierung. Räumliche Orientierung, Karten und Geoinformation im Unterricht. Braunschweig: Westermann, S. 299–307.

Schulze, U., Kanwischer, D., & Reudenbach, C. (2010). Bologna – Gefahr oder Chance? Ein Praxisbericht aus der geographischen Hochschullehre zum kompetenzorientierten Lernen mit Geoinformation. Das Hochschulwesen, 58(6), 205–212. https://www.hochschulwesen.info/inhalte/hsw-6-2010.pdf