In December 2017, AU decided – with Pro-rector Berit Eika heading the project – to invest DKK 60 million in educational IT (EDU IT). At Health, this now means dedicated funds to the digitisation of teaching.

2018.03.22 | Sabina Bjerre Hansen

Backed by AU funding, Health is now beginning a major reorganisation of its teaching. A large part of the faculty's teaching staff will come to implement educational IT in their courses in the period 2018-2023. Photo: Lars Kruse.

For Health's teaching staff, directors of studies and degree programme directors, AU’s and the faculty’s work with EDU IT is not news. This has been on the agenda for a long time and in continuation of AU's initiative, DKK 2 million is now being allocated annually to EDU IT at Health during the period 2018-2023.

Why do we need to reorganise the courses? 
The goal is clear: to increase the students' learning outcomes through more involving and student-activating teaching.

"Things are already going well around the faculty, and both the teaching staff and CESU are doing excellent work to reorganise the courses. But now it’s happening! We need to get many more people on board and we can build on the good and inspiring experiences that we already have from the ongoing initiatives," says Vice-dean for Education Charlotte Ringsted.

The goal is to convert around thirty per cent of the courses into digitally supported teaching, and for around 15 per cent of the courses to be altered to e.g. blended learning or online course formats by 2023.

Which courses will be reorganised? 
No decision has yet been made about the specific courses to be redesigned or reorganised.

"We shouldn't dictate from above which lecturers must begin reorganising their teaching. I will discuss the different courses and their potential in relation to EDU IT with Health's Forum for Education. I hope that many lecturers will then find the project so interesting and relevant that they take the initiative to begin themselves," says the vice-dean.

This is where the boards of studies, Health's teaching ambassadors and CESU will come to play an important role. CESU will be coordinating the project, contributing to developing technologies and supporting the teaching staff, among other things by preparing templates for the different types of courses and forms of learning.

CESU will thus play a central role in the faculty's work with EDU IT. And even though EDU IT is already an integrated part of the university's teacher training programme for assistant professors and part of the introductory course for teaching staff in general – called InTeL – CESU also offers different Health-specific courses in the use of EDU IT in teaching.     

How will resources be allocated? 
The DKK two million annually comprises both time use for current employees as well as prioritisation and utilisation of earmarked funding for projects.

The vice-dean for education can allocate funding after application for e.g. hiring student assistants who can support the academic environments' EDU IT initiatives. She prioritises the distribution of funds together with Health's Forum for Education (HUF).

Contact 

Vice-dean for Education Charlotte Ringsted
Aarhus University, Health
Email: charlotte.ringsted@au.dk
Mobile: (+45) 9350 8222

Manager for the pre-graduate area Liza Strandgaard
Aarhus University, Health - Centre for Health Sciences Education (CESU)
Email: lis@cesu.au.dk
Mobile: (+45) 2033 4777

Find out more about the university's EDU IT initiative in the article Aarhus University invests in digital development of teaching activities.

In the articles Goodbye to crowded lectures at Master's degree level, Health appoints educational ambassadors and Video adds a new dimension to the teaching you can see examples of how Health is working to develop the teaching at the faculty.  

Facts about EDU IT at Health

The faculty management team has also defined the following specific goals for EDU IT at Health:

The overall goal of utilising EDU IT in teaching at Health is to increase the students' learning outcomes, more specifically by contributing to the following goals which can be particularly supported by EDU IT:

• Activating and inclusive forms of instruction
• Discussion and collaboration between students and between students and teaching staff
• Feedback from lecturers to students and between the students
• Monitoring of the academic progression in the degree programme
• Student learning in and from authentic arenas such as e.g. exercises and practical situations
• Student learning in and from independent assignments and projects during the degree programme
• The students' and teaching staffs' digital competences