OpenBologna A strategic instrument for integrating students in curriculum development [chapter]

Katharina Schuster, Ursula Bach, Anja Richert, Sabina Jeschke
2012 Automation, Communication and Cybernetics in Science and Engineering 2011/2012  
In 2010, the Mercator Foundation and VolkswagenStiftung's initiative Bolognathe Future of Teaching introduced funding for degree programmes and competence centres for a variety of issues in Germany, following the example of UK Subject Centres. In order to tackle the challenges in engineering sciences brought about by the Bologna Process, three large German technical universities (RWTH Aachen University, Ruhr-University Bochum and Technical University Dortmund) launched the Competence and
more » ... Centre for Teaching and Learning in Engineering Sciences (known as TeachING-LearnING. EU). Here, students are involved in the improvement of teaching and learning using the strategic instrument of OpenBologna. It is based on the concept of Open Innovation, developed and used by companies in the business sector to actively integrate customers into new product developments. This paper illustrates the OpenBologna strategy and its potential benefits for curriculum development. The general aims of the Competence and Service Centre TeachING-LearnING.EU and the strategic instrument OpenBologna are presented. A short introduction to Open Innovation describes the foundation on which the new strategy for curriculum development is based. This is followed by some general thoughts about the transfer of Open Innovation to the educational sector and a description of the operational level of OpenBologna. In order to give the reader an impression of the outcome of OpenBologna, the results of the first ideas contest are presented and reflected on in terms of their benefits to curriculum development. The paper concludes with upcoming measures and corresponding research questions.
doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33389-7_35 fatcat:r2nb2m46cvdjrmhzdgnquje7fe