Designing the Curriculum of the Future

This week, approximately 160 teachers and researchers in higher education from the entire German-speaking area came together at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences for the 13th Day of Teaching and Learning. This year’s higher education didactics conference was dedicated to the motto “Innovative Lehrveranstaltungsformate. Das Curriculum der Zukunft gestalten!“ (Innovative course formats. Designing the curriculum of the future)

New technologies, societal transformation, and changing labour market needs also require the highest possible degree of flexibility and constant further development from higher education institutions. It is a central tasks of education facilities to design future-proof curricula.

For the Day of Teaching and Learning 2024, the St. Pölten UAS dedicated two days to this topic and presented best practices examples of innovative course formats.

International Exchange

“Higher education institutions have to develop innovative course formats that teach the students the necessary skills and competencies for a fast-changing working world. The Day of Teaching and Learning was once more an opportunity for international exchange on success stories, challenges, and obstacles in the design and development of future-proof curricula”, says Josef Weißenböck, Section Head Higher Education Didactics at the St. Pölten UAS and the person with primary responsibility for planning and organising the event.

Diverse Formats: Presentations, Round Tables, Workshops

The keynotes of the conference were held by Marco Kalz (Heidelberg University of Education) on the topic of “Transfer and problem-solving as alternative futures for teaching in higher education” and Isabell Grundschober (University for Continuing Education Krems) on “Learner-centred education: Empty buzzword or game changer for the future of higher education?”

The participants discussed the term “future skills” from various perspectives, thereby focusing on the questions of whether we – or rather, the students – do not already need these competencies now and whether key competencies can be taught through the transfer of practice. Student-centredness was suggested as the solution to bridging the gap between teaching and learning.

The different formats including presentations, a round table, a vernissage, and several hands-on workshops made for a varied programme. The participants of the conference had the opportunity to choose between four different tracks: future-proof curriculum development, innovative teaching/learning formats, key competencies for the future, and teaching competencies of the future.

Facilitating Individual Courses of Study

St. Pölten UAS staff members presented current offers such as the I Living Lab within the framework of the European University Alliance E³UDRES² which provides teachers and students with an opportunity to collaborate in new ways in international teams and to come up with solutions to real-world challenges.

In addition, Christina Tanzer from the Service and Competence Centre for Teaching/Learning Development and Educational Offers (LEARN) at the St. Pölten UAS introduced the various compulsory electives subsumed under the heading “Window of Opportunity”.

“A central strategy of our curriculum development is the implementation of educational offers across the boundaries of disciplines. Interdisciplinary teaching and learning formats and internationalisation concepts open up cross-border perspectives. Moreover, certain latitudes in the curricula allow for individual courses of study, thereby following the idea of learning beyond the limits of vocational training”, explains Lisa David, Head of LEARN, the Service and Competence Centre for Teaching/Learning Development and Educational Offers at the St. Pölten UAS.

About the Day of Teaching and Learning

The Day of Teaching and Learning is an annual conference on higher education didactics held at the St. Pölten UAS and, at the same time, the biggest in-house further training event on innovative teaching, learning, and examinations.

• Further information on the Day of Teaching and Learning
• Contributions to the conference
• Full-length opening keynote (will soon be available)