Information for Teaching Staff

The FernUniversität is the university of lifelong learning. It offers its students access to education in a variety of ways via its uniquely differentiated blended learning study model. This page contains a wealth of information and services on the subject of teaching that will help you – as lecturers at the FernUniversität – to shape and develop your teaching.

Contents of this page:

 

Our Blended Learning Concept

The blended learning approach used at the FernUniversität combines the strengths of synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning formats and offers a wide range of interaction dynamics between teachers and students.

Course types and blended learning course formats

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Types of blended learning courses

predominantly asynchronous

predominantly synchronous

predominantly low teacher-student interaction

 Type I: Written courses (e.g., printed study material, e-books, Moodle books), other teaching texts, recorded lectures Type II: Classroom or online lectures via live stream

predominantly high teacher-student interaction

 Type III: Asynchronous online seminars, exercises,
colloquia, revision courses and practicals or other formats with a significant proportion of digital teaching and learning elements (e.g., Moodle forums)		 Type IV: Synchronous seminars, exercises, colloquia, revision courses and practicals as either on-site or as online events (e.g. via video conferencing systems), other presence formats

Synchronous courses can take place on-site, online or in a hybrid format and enable real-time interaction between students and teachers. Courses with a high level of interaction, such as seminars, tutorials, colloquia and practicals, allow students to actively participate in the learning process, ask questions and lead discussions.

In asynchronous courses, students can choose from a wide range of methods and material: These include lecture recordings, written courses in printed or digital form, interactive learning modules as well as self-study materials and self-tests. Variants with greater interaction between students and teachers, such as online seminars, can also be designed asynchronously through online discussion forums, individual feedback on learning tasks or group projects. These courses allow students to develop their own learning rhythm and engage individually with the content, allowing them a greater degree of flexibility and adaptation to their personal needs and schedules.

The blended learning concept is also anchored in our teaching strategy.

As different subject cultures also have different didactic approaches, the main departments of the faculties have positions for media didactics. These provide a translation function from the respective subject didactics within the blended learning model.

 

Legal Basis, Semester Times and Dates

We would like to provide you with an overview of the key legal principles, along with your rights and responsibilities as a teacher. How is academic freedom defined? What does my teaching obligation entail? What are the regulations concerning vacation, attendance, and secondary employment? When are the semester dates and other important deadlines?

 

Services for Teachers

The FernUniversität supports you as a teacher in designing and developing your teaching. Our services cover a wide range of offerings, a selection of which we would like to present below. We are committed to working with you to create an environment that encourages innovation in teaching and helps you to develop the full potential of your students. We invite you to explore and use these services.

  • Do you need support in designing your teaching using the blended learning model? The Center for Learning and Innovation (ZLI) can support you, for example with regard to media didactics, examinations or media production.

  • Would you like didactic advice and educational technology services to help with the development of examination formats? The ZLI can provide you with advice and support on the various types of digital examinations, from assessments within the learning environment to electronic exams. Depending on the faculty, a number of different approaches are possible: for example, digitally monitored examinations, written examinations on iPads at the campus locations, or written examinations on students’ own devices.

  • Do you want to enrich your teaching with digital, audiovisual and accessible media? ZLI helps you to create these media and accompanies you from conception to final production and delivery. This ensures that you end up with a customized, high-quality implementation that is precisely tailored to your respective goals and target groups.

  • Would you like to enhance your teaching skills and build up your network of colleagues? The FernUniversität offers you three certificate programs and individual training courses.

  • Have you already discovered the potential of the campus locations for your teaching? As regional branches of the FernUniversität, the campus locations offer a valuable network and serve as hubs for teaching, student support, academic advising, and examinations. Our campuses offer students ideal conditions for optimum learning. Encounters with lecturers and fellow students are valuable experiences and a good motivation for successfully mastering the challenge of distance learning.

    In addition to courses in online or hybrid formats, the services offered by the campus locations also include introductory courses via video stream or examinations that are offered in various formats to meet the different requirements of the faculties (e.g., e-exams/iPad).

    The locations have the technical, spatial and local infrastructure to make these services possible.

    Another important task of the campus locations is knowledge exchange with the realms of business, research and politics. To this end, they regularly hold collaborative events, conferences, university days and lecture series together with local companies, chambers of commerce, employment agencies, alumni networks and other education providers.

    To support the connection between former FernUniversität students and the campus locations, graduation ceremonies and graduates’ meetings are held regularly at the locations.

    We would like to invite you to use this unique infrastructure for your teaching – the campus locations will be happy to advise you.

  • The regular evaluation of teaching is an important means of ensuring consistently high quality. The FernUniversität has many ways to help you obtain feedback from your students. A key aspect of teacher evaluation is the evaluation of modules, courses, and study materials. Did you know that we also evaluate the study system and have a survey pool of students interested in taking part in surveys?

    We have put together some additional information on quality in studies and teaching for you on the overview pages “Quality and Evaluation.”

  • If you would like to make your teaching more international, the International Office will be happy to advise you (e.g., on international teaching projects, internationalization at home) and help you initiate contacts. Do you need support in creating English-language study materials or project proposals? Or would you like to combine your course offerings with a supporting language offer for students? Contact our English Language Service.

 

Exchange and Networking

Network with colleagues from different disciplines to reflect on your teaching experiences, discover new perspectives and design options, exchange views on current topics and trends in university teaching and use this as a basis to help develop your own teaching approaches. We provide various formats for this purpose.

 

Teaching Examples

Lehre-beispiele-tsFoto: Torsten Silz

We would like to tell you about our Showroom at the Center for Learning and Innovation . Take a look at our collection of examples of good teaching provided by your colleagues from different disciplines and contexts. These examples offer an insight into innovative teaching methods and techniques that have already proven themselves in practice. You can use these examples as inspiration for your own teaching. Or perhaps you would even like to share your own experiences and make your own contribution to the showroom.

Teaching Prize

Lehrpreis-lehrende-2024Foto: Tosten Silz

Once a year, the FernUniversität honors outstanding teaching (and the team responsible) with the Teaching Award. The Commission for Quality Improvement in Studies and Teaching, which is made up – to a large extent – of students, decides on the awarding of the prize. The teaching prize is awarded during a public ceremony at the university’s Dies Academicus.

Maybe you would like to apply with one of your modules? All information about this year’s call for proposals.

 

Diversity and Accessibility

Students reading Photo: Torsten Silz

The FernUniversität has always considered the diversity of its students to be of major importance in its teaching. The university values the diversity of its students and their different life and educational backgrounds as well as their professional experience and educational goals and expresses this in its diversity-sensitive and equal-opportunity teaching. The FernUniversität offers its teachers support for this. We invite you to explore and use these resources. Your efforts can make a significant difference in the lives of our students and help promote a more equitable and inclusive society.

Accessibility in Teaching

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One of our key goals is to remove barriers in teaching as far as possible and to provide all students with access to their studies. We understand that this is a challenging task. The ZLI advises and supports you in the planning and implementation of your teaching and teaching materials while maximizing accessibility. You will receive tips, advice and templates for enhancing the accessibility of course material study packs, videos, PowerPoint presentations and other media.

All accessibility-related activities and information of the universities in NRW are bundled in the Competence Center for Digital Accessibility.

Are there specific accessibility barriers in your course that you would like to remove for your students with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses? As a lecturer, you can apply for funding from the Auxiliary Resources Fund (Hilfsmittelfond) (e.g., for technology, equipment, software or Braille text adaptations).

Gender-sensitive teaching

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The FernUniversität is committed to promoting gender-equitable teaching. Even though the use of gender-sensitive language can sometimes be a controversial issue, we would like to give you an understanding of the topic and provide practical recommendations on how you as a teacher can make your own teaching gender-sensitive and check it for gender equality.

 

Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Teaching

  • You can find additional information on the FernUniversität’s strategy documents (in particular the university development plan, the teaching strategy and the strategy papers on digitalization, internationalization, equality and inclusion) on this overview page.

  • The FernUniversität promotes digitalization in higher education and thus also the use of artificial intelligence and trusted learning analytics in studies, teaching and continuing education. The aim is to frame and implement an enabling culture for the open technology use of AI at the FernUniversität. The ZLI has summarized the most important information on AI in teaching on an overview page.

  • The FernUniversität actively promotes forward-looking educational approaches, informed by the guiding principles articulated in the Hagen Manifesto. Our aim is to shape the future of learning in a reflective and sustainable manner. Browse our new website: it contains a blog, podcasts, links, and above all, think along with us – build up your network!

    Visit our New Learning blog

  • ESD is designed to enable people to think and act in a sustainable way. This comprehensive educational concept thus makes a significant contribution to higher education for sustainable development. If you would like to find out more about ESD or are looking for advice on implementing it in your subject, please contact us (bnedigitalnrw.zli). For an introduction to the topic, take a look at our Moodle course.

  • Do you have any questions about using OER? The Center for Learning and Innovation (zli) will be happy to advise and support you. The FernUniversität also cooperates with the NRW state website ORCA.nrw, a free online portal for digitally supported teaching and learning at universities. It offers teachers open educational materials that they can use in their own teaching.

 
Office for Communication & PR | 02.05.2025