Teaching online: How does it work?

Due to the current situation, it is necessary to rethink the ways in which we teach and learn. Many aspects of our lives on campus have shifted to digital spaces. 

However, there are many options available to help us maintain our standard of education and creatively engage students in distance learning. We at the ESC are here to help you with the challenge of online teaching, so that you can access all the tools you need to master it.

The course of study and the preparation of students for the exams will be converted to alternative, virtual forms of teaching that do not require attendance.
In the current situation, we at the Education Support Center (ESC) would like to provide you with various information and support services that you can use to conduct your courses not as classroom events but as online events. 
You have the option of implementing your teaching synchronously or asynchronously. What does this mean?

  • In synchronous teaching, teaching and learning take place simultaneously. This means in a live stream or in a live chat.
  • In asynchronous teaching, teaching and learning take place at different times. This is done, for example, by providing learning material, posting and, if necessary, correcting learning tasks, and providing support, for example through forums.
  • A mixture of synchronous and asynchronous teaching can also take place.
  • In the medium term, we recommend a predominantly asynchronous teaching strategy, supplemented by a few synchronous elements if necessary.

Regardless of which scenario you use in teaching, please keep in mind: presence teaching cannot be transferred 1:1 to screen teaching. Above all, virtual university teaching is demanding. It is more strenuous for both teachers and students, important non-verbal communication is reduced or eliminated altogether, the handling of the technology requires more attention and new skills. In the current situation, it will not always be possible to fully meet these demands. Do not worry. Be patient, creative and open for new things. We will support you and your students technically and didactically to make your online teaching as suitable as possible.
 

Tools for online teaching

The learning platform Moodle is the central e-learning instrument of the DHBW Mosbach and offers numerous ways to use the Internet profitably for teaching. These include, among others:

  • password-protected access to teaching and learning material at any time and from any place
  • a quick distribution of scripts and other teaching materials such as lecture notes
  • simple ways to organize courses (e.g. e-mail distribution lists, online submissions, grouping, ...)
  • Numerous tools to support asynchronous learning such as voting, tests with electronic evaluation, forums, wikis, peer reviews, flashcards, ....

For the learning platform you need a Moodle account. Please request this  account at it-service@mosbach.dhbw.de.
Do you need a moodle course for your lecture? Request Course Room here
Check out the Moodle Documentation for up-tp-date resources. If you need more information on how to manage courses, you can find these here.

For easy-access guidance on first steps with Moodle, check out our Quickguide.

Need help? Contact moodle@mosbach.dhbw.de

In order to support the students in the independent development of the lecture contents, you can record your lectures and make them available as video stream. The DHBW Mosbach uses a media server on which the videos are integrated and then linked to your course room on the learning platform Moodle.

You can use for example PowerPoint or the free software OBS Studio for your recordings. 

  • This video can help you get started on lecture recording using PowerPoint.
  • Use this Quickstart Guide to set up lecture recording with OBS Studio.

Please note that your recordings must be in a common video format (e.g. .mp4 or .mov) in order to be integrated. You may need to export your materials (e.g., PowerPoint slides with sound).
We will be happy to advise you at lehren@mosbach.dhbw.de.
 


Please urgently note the following note on streaming and recording of lectures: 
With regard to the streaming of courses, from a data protection point of view, no student consent is required for 1:1 streaming, even if they can be seen or heard. A recording of a course, however, where students can be seen, is always prohibited. These may not be carried out. This applies to recordings made by both teachers and students.

At the DHBW Mosbach you can use the BigBlueButton system to hold online lectures:

  • The web conference system BigBlueButton is the leading system of the DHBW Mosbach. BigBlueButton is operated on a DHBW-owned server and is integrated into Moodle. To use it, use your regular Moodle account and integrate the activity "BigBlueButton" into your course room. 

Check out the following guides on how to use BigBlueButton:

  • Additionally we offer the services of the German Research Network (DFN) such as Adobe Connect or the service DFNConf via the Pexip platform through a general framework agreement with DFN. If you need access, please contact lehren@mosbach.dhbw.de.
  • Zoom: We currently do not support this service on the part of the ESC. We recommend the use of BigBlueButton. Existing ZOOM licenses are active until March 2023. Please change to BigBlueButton as soon as possible and use our training and consulting services. We are happy to support you.

Other web conference systems are not supported by the ESC. Please follow the instructions of the DHBW Chancellor: Teachers of the DHBW are instructed to use only web conference systems provided by the DHBW for this purpose.


Do you need access to any of the above-mentioned systems supported by ESC? We recommend using your DHBW e-mail address for all these systems. If you require access as an external lecturer, please contact the IT-Service (it-service@mosbach.dhbw.de).
Access to the above mentioned systems can be obtained via lehren@mosbach.dhbw.de


Please note: All these services have their advantages and disadvantages. Due to the high demand (from all universities and companies) for these services, you can always expect server problems on the part of the providers and network problems on the part of the users. Always post your documents in Moodle and use the forums in Moodle for asynchronous support of your students. On the part of the ESC we generally recommend the use of asynchronous tools for your online teaching and the economical use of web conference systems. 


Please urgently note the following on streaming and recording of lectures: 
With regard to the streaming of courses, from a data protection point of view, no student consent is required for 1:1 streaming, even if they can be seen or heard. A recording of a course, however, where students can be seen, is always prohibited. These may not be carried out. This applies to recordings made by both teachers and students.

Trainings

Currently we do not offer regular training courses in English language. However, we would be happy to arrange individual consultations on the use of our software systems for teaching at the DHBW Mosbach with you. Please contact us at lehren@mosbach.dhbw.de to arrange an appointment.

Documents to download