Digital Day in Giessen: Discover the future of digital teaching!

Digital Day in Giessen: Discover the future of digital teaching!

On June 27, 2025, the Justus Liebig University of Gießen (JLU) will take part in the nationwide Digital Day, which has the motto "Digital Democracy. Have a say. Help shape. Participate." stands. This day aims to highlight the opportunities of digitalization and create space for discussions about digital topics. Information about this initiative port can be found on the university website, such as uni-giessen.de reported.

The JLU organizes an extensive program that is aimed at teachers, employees and interested students. On the digital day itself there will be ten online lectures as well as discussion formats and two face-to-face events from 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. The events are offered via the BigBlueButton platform and are accessible without prior registration.

Diverse topics in focus

A particular focus is on the topics of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital teaching. On June 28, 2025, Giessen's church square will become a digital experience area where visitors can try out digital applications and talk to experts from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The JLU stand will also be represented here, where Prof. Dr. Eberhard Kurz and Wintana Habte provide information about the “use of data in urban areas”.
The Office for Digitalization organizes the various offers and initiates the exchange about digital teaching and learning methods at the university, supplemented by the event “Digital Teaching in Dialogue”, moderated by Maja Bärenfanger. This provides insight into digital teaching-learning scenarios from various disciplines, with teachers presenting their experiences and innovative approaches.

• Tina Jung (FB 03) über interaktive Lernmethoden in der Lehramtsausbildung;
• Kathrin Büttner (FB 10) behandelt Statistik in der Tiermedizin;
• Elmar Schlüter und Fabian Röseler (FB 03) zeigen die Nutzung von Podcasts zur Weitergabe studentischer Praxiserfahrungen;
• Dominik Kainz (FB 05) präsentiert die Erstellung eines Online-Zertifikatskurses für Deutsch als Zweitsprache;
• Birte Pfeiffer-Morhenn und Antonia Giebel (FB 10) stellen interaktive Lernangebote im Clinical Skills Lab vor.

The focus here is on exchanging and sharing best practices in order to enrich and further develop digital teaching at the university.

The role of digitalization in education

Digitalization in the education system is increasingly recognized as important, but there are challenges that need to be overcome. Julia Knopf, Professor of Didactics and Digitality, points out that digital tools and artificial intelligence should not serve as a burden, but rather as support for teachers. She emphasizes that clear political support and the involvement of all educational actors are necessary in order to make digitalization meaningful. The focus should be on continuous evaluation of the measures and the necessary personnel support.
Media competence is viewed as a key competence, which is, however, not yet sufficiently reflected in regular school lessons. At the same time, Knopf emphasizes the importance of AI in relieving teachers of administrative tasks and creating individual support opportunities.

The challenges in teacher training require a rethink in society, as the current training offerings often do not address the dynamics of digital changes. The demand for flexible, location- and time-independent training methods is all the more important if sustainable change in the educational landscape is to be achieved. These aspects are taken into account in the offerings on Digital Day digitaltag.eu and zdfheute.de point out.