Approaching university didactics with a focus on practical application
At our university, students and lecturers come together with diverse interests, backgrounds, and expectations. To meet the needs of all university members, suitable teaching and learning opportunities are required, along with a didactic approach that considers the people, processes, and tasks at a University of Applied Sciences (UAS).
The PROFfm project on university didactics is dedicated to the systematic development of didactic concepts at Frankfurt UAS, with a specific focus on Universities of Applied Sciences.
At the heart of the project is the question of how lecturers at a UAS can be supported in designing their teaching—particularly with regard to practical relevance, interdisciplinarity, and social responsibility. Our focus lies on the development of didactic methods, teaching concepts, formats for reflection and exchange, as well as the promotion of personal competencies.
Based on the strategic goals of the university and in close collaboration with the academic institution ScoPE (School of Personal Development and Education), a subject-specific university didactics is being developed that is both scientifically grounded and practice-oriented.
From UAS Didactics to Institution-Specific Didactics | August 2025
At the beginning of the project, the plan was to develop an UAS specific didactic approach for Frankfurt UAS. This was based on the assumption that Universities of Applied Sciences are particularly characterized by practice-oriented features, which might require a distinct higher education didactic framework.
However, recent research findings (Lämmlein, Lutz-Vock, Engelmann, 2025) show that a separate UAS didactic approach has not emerged in the discourse on higher education didactics. Instead, an integrative approach to higher education didactics prevails. Against this backdrop, the focus is now on developing a transformative higher education didactic model. In addition, we will provide a competency framework for teaching.
dghd symposium | March 2025
Key competencies and university didactics: building blocks for transformative university teaching
The annual conference of the dghd, organised by ScoPE, brought together university educators, lecturers and doctoral students to present and discuss current research findings on topics such as sustainability, digital skills, democracy education and social responsibility in university teaching. The findings and results will be published in two publications, which will appear in early 2026.
In a participatory co-creation space, a university-specific competence model for teachers was developed that addresses the dimensions of subject-specific, methodological, social and personal competence and links them to the university-wide guidelines of digitalisation, internationality, sustainability and social responsibility. The model is intended to provide teachers with a framework for self-reflection and professionalisation and to contribute to the design of continuing education programmes in university didactics.
ICED Conference in Nairobi | June 2024
In June, Prof. Dr. Stefan Braun, Prof. Dr. Barbara Lämmlein, Prof. Dr. Carola Berneiser, and Hannah Lutz-Vock represented Frankfurt UAS at the ICED Conference at the United States International University–Africa. The theme of the conference was “Advancing Higher Education Ecosystems for Competency Development.”
- "The ecosystem within the ecosystem: the School of Personal Development and Education (ScoPE) as institutionalised crossfaculty think tank and icubator of university innovations" (Prof. Dr. Barbara Lämmlein, Hannah Lutz-Vock)
- "Implementation of a transformative teacher-training program to strengthen the SDG's within the teaching and learning processes" (Prof. Dr. Stefan Braun M.A., Dr. Sabrina Engelmann)
- Piloting a standardised curriculum development process for the design of sustainable and innovative study programs in the context of system accreditation processes using the example of the Social Work degree program at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences" (Prof. Dr. Stefan Braun M.A., Prof. Dr. Carola Berneiser).
Annual Conference of the Society for Key Competencies | November 2023
In November 2023, Prof. Dr. Stefan Braun, Prof. Dr. Barbara Lämmlein, Dr. Sabrina Engelmann, and Hannah Lutz-Vock conducted a workshop on “University Teaching of Tomorrow” at the 20th Annual Conference of the Society for Key Competencies. The conference was held under the theme “Key Competencies in Teaching, Research, and Practice: The Transformation of Learning and Teaching – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow.”
The workshop focused on the question of which competencies university educators need in light of current and future societal challenges. Together with the participants, the team discussed how didactic training and professional development programs must be designed to address the diversity of teaching staff.
The insights gained will contribute to the (further) development of higher education didactic offerings.
Analysis of teaching expertise | 2023
As part of the regular surveys of teachers and students, an analysis of teaching expertise was carried out. The same open-ended question about the teaching methods used was used in each case. The responses collected in free text format were then clustered thematically to reveal patterns and key areas of focus.
Interpretation of the results
The results could indicate a perception phenomenon. Teachers may underestimate their participatory methods and overestimate frontal teaching methods. On the other hand, there could also be such a distortion of perception on the part of the students. This highlights the need for improved self-reflection in teaching practice and targeted university didactic support.
Critical assessment
However, the results must also be viewed critically, as they are not representative of the entire university. On the one hand, a distortion due to social desirability cannot be ruled out; on the other hand, a participation bias must also be taken into account. Accordingly, the results offer rather qualitative insights and indications of perceived focal points without providing a complete picture of the reality of teaching.
Day of Teaching | 29 November 2023
In an inspiring workshop on the Day of Teaching, we took a look into the crystal ball to explore the university of the future. The discussion focused on what future curricula and didactics might look like, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead.
We visually captured the key topics that emerged during the workshop.
- Buren, V.; Lutz-Vock, H. (2025). Kompetenz- und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung von Studierenden in interdisziplinären Lerngruppen. In: Academic Development Conference, St. Pölten, 2025. https://adc.fhstp.ac.at/programm/beitraege/kompetenz-und-persoenlichkeitsentwicklung-von-studierenden-in-interdisziplinaeren-lerngruppen
- Lämmlein, B.; Lutz-Vock, H., Engelmann, S. (2025) Hochschuldidaktik-Zertifikate im deutschen Bildungswesen – ein Vergleich. Working Paper Nr.35 des Fachbereich 3 Wirtschaft und Recht. Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48718/gjwf-hd94
- Lutz-Vock, H., Tursun, K., Engelmann, S. (2023) Verzahnung von zwei Lehrmethoden. In: Tagungsband zur 12. Tagung Inverted Classroom and beyond mit dem Thema „Agile Didaktik für nachhaltige Bildung“, 16.-17.02.2023, Fachhochschule Graubünden, S. 72-89. (Der Link zu den Ergebnissen liegt bereits auf der Homepage)
- Lutz-Vock, H., Szymanski, K. (2023) Meditation als didaktisches Element in der Hochschullehre. In: Weißenböck, J (Hrsg.): Lernen über den Tellerrand hinaus. Good Practices zu Interdisziplinarität, Internationalisierung und Future Skills. Beiträge zum 11. Tag der Lehre, 30.03.2023, St. Pölten, S. 133-143. (Der Link zu den Ergebnissen liegt bereits auf der Homepage)
- Lutz-Vock, H., Engelmann, S., Lämmlein, B. (2022) Gibt es eine spezifische Didaktik für Hochschulen für angewandte Wissenschaften? TURN Conference ´22 03.-04.11.2022, Kiel.
