HNU Vice President Kormann gives keynote speech at Bavarian Innovation Forum Digital Teaching in Munich

Across Germany, universities established alternatives to tried-and-tested forms of examination for five semesters because of the Corona pandemic and responded to this unforeseen challenge with numerous innovative digital solutions. At Neu-Ulm University, professors also developed novel teaching and examination formats, some of which were awarded the prize for outstanding digital teaching in 2020 and 2021.

At the Innovation Forum Digital Examination 2022+ on June 24, 2022, the participants discussed their experiences of the past Corona semesters and ventured an outlook on future forms of examination. After the welcome by Prof. Dr. Klaus Kreulich, Vice President for Teaching at Munich University of Applied Sciences, HNU Vice President Prof. Dr. Julia Kormann spoke as one of three keynote speakers on "Methodological Opportunities in Examination."

Methodological opportunities: competency goals, learning progression and empowerment.

Being tested does not end with graduation, but also shapes professional life. While for many students during their studies exams are primarily about the grade, in professional life the focus of feedback is on the further development of employees - because learning also does not end with studies, but shapes (professional) life. Prof. Kormann therefore first advocated shifting the focus from the examination as an assessment of the state of knowledge to examination as feedback on the state of knowledge and as an opportunity to identify further development potential.

Prof. Kormann then presented three methodological opportunities in testing in the course of her keynote: 1. (mentally) expand competency goals, 2. assess learning progress, and 3. empower students. She argued for aligning teaching and the competencies taught in the program with the overarching educational goal - in the case of HNU, this would be the competency to shape the future. This characteristic is valuable for graduates not only in their professional lives, but also for their impact on the economy and society. Suitable assessment criteria can be used to include not only what has been taught and learned, but also what has not been taught but learned, for example, from mistakes, in the assessment of learning progress. The decisive factor here is the empowerment of students for self-directed learning through feedback on the potential for further development.