Source: DH.NRW
The cooperation community “Digitale Hochschule NRW“, short: DH.NRW, consists of 42 universities and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at advancing digitization in higher education teaching in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a strategic response to the growing importance of digital technologies and their potential for innovative teaching and learning formats. RWTH Aachen University and FH Aachen are also part of it.
In the following blog post, we will introduce you to DH.NRW in more detail and explain what its tasks are.
Aims
DH.NRW aims to support universities in North Rhine-Westphalia in implementing and integrating digital teaching and learning formats. It promotes collaboration and the exchange of knowledge in order to integrate digital technologies into the teaching and learning process. This is done by initiating joint projects and initiatives in which the usefulness and effectiveness of digital approaches, such as comic research, sustainable learning or game-based learning, are tested in collaboration. The insights and solutions gained are available to all members for shared use.
An overview of the projects for digital learning formats that will be funded starting this year can be found on the NRW press releases website. By providing this support, DH.NRW is helping to improve the quality of university teaching and promote student learning success.
The Four Fields of Action
In its tasks, DH.NRW sees four important fields of action for universities and acts in these: Study & Teaching, Research/Arts, Administration and Digital Infrastructure.
DH.NRW acts as a central point of contact for the universities and not only provides them with technical support, but also promotes the exchange of best practices and experiences between the universities. This is done, for example, by setting up committees responsible for making decisions on the implementation of collaborations and funding lines. In addition, DH.NRW also organizes numerous conferences, workshops as well as community meetings where representatives of the universities can meet in person and share their knowledge. This targeted collaboration and exchange of experience enables the dynamic development of digital teaching in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Topics
DH.NRW is dedicated to a variety of topics relevant to digital university teaching and the innovative use of digital technologies. These include research data management (FDM) and high-performance computing (HPC). In addition, the topics of information security, data protection, and openness (open access to the results of scientific research) are also of central importance.
Idea Submission
Members of a DH.NRW member university are given the opportunity to submit their own ideas. By submitting an idea, contributors and like-minded people can easily be found for that project. By doing so, members can take part in the discourse of the DH.NRW. An overview of all participating universities can be found on the DH.NRW website.
For further information, take a look at the DH.NRW website. There you can also find a downloadable position paper that summarizes the vision, mission and themes of DH.NRW.
In the next part of this two-part blog series on DH.NRW, we will present the specific projects in which the IT Center is involved as part of DH.NRW.
Responsible for the content of this article are Stéphanie Bauens and Jelena Ćulum.
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