Higher Education Supported by New Technologies at the Technical University of Dresden—Problems and Initiatives

This article summarizes the technical efforts and scientific experience that have been recognized as essential for the introduction of multimedia technologies for innovative teaching and learning at the Technical University of Dresden. Beginning with conventional standards, the most important media types are discussed. Important criteria for the development of multimedia tools are investigated. Finally, the first results of a pilot project of teleteaching are reported. This article emphasizes that new didactic and psychological studies are of the same level of importance for learning success as is technological development. Therefore, the strategy envisaged does not aim at developing the virtual university in its purest form but at the enrichment of the contemporary university by innovative elements that preserve the living contact between teachers and students.     

Extended analyses: finding deep structure in standard high school mathematics

This paper describes an approach for pre-service or in-service mathematics education that teaches sophisticated mathematics using only the tools of high school mathematics. The idea is to start with a standard problem from high school mathematics and let the solution to this problem serve as a platform for asking good mathematical questions and searching for deeper mathematical structure beyond the obvious “answer” to the question. Surprisingly, it turns out that high school mathematics is remarkably open to this sort of analysis, and the results are more interesting mathematically than one might initially think.     

An investigation of the influence of emotional factors on learning in physics instruction

In a study of learning processes in 24 eighth grade physics classrooms in Germany, data were collected in respect to cognitive variables (prior knowledge, learning outcomes, use of learning strategies), cognitive-emotional variables (self-concept, interest), as well as emotional variables (anxiety, boredom, sense of well-being). Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Interest and emotional factors are further differentiated into situation-related and habitual (most likely biographically determined) components. In constructing the teaching unit (basic electricity) a learning oriented knowledge acquisition phase was followed by a more achievement oriented practice phase. Analysis shows that positive emotions are more important in the acquisition phase than in the practice phase. Anxieties play an ambiguous role in the practice phase. Additionally, the results provide indications that joy about learning in particular, and also interest are frequently linked to successful learning processes, and not merely to the nature of the subject matter.     

The University and Its Region: The Case of the University of Turku

Because in recent years the universities of Finland have had to rely more on regional than on national support, the University of Turku, which was created in 1920 to serve a national purpose, had to redirect the scope of its activities to its region. However, this region is the most important economic area of Finland outside the capital area and can thus provide many opportunities for the university. A more targeted central management at the university evaluated the external impact of the institution and decided to focus on the biosciences, cultural interactions and integration, mathematics and mathematical methods, learning and teaching, information and communication technology, materials research, and collaboration in the Baltic Sea zone as areas of regional outreach and collaboration. The latter takes place in many ways. In particular, collaboration in science takes place through the BioCity Turku organization, an umbrella organization for research in cell and molecular biology, the Turku Center for Computer Science, and the Turku Science Park. Thus the University of Turku is helping to unlock the resources of its region, and the region supports its university in a number of ways.     

1. Franz Weinert/Heinz Mandl (Hrsg.): Psychologie der Erwachsenenbildung. Enzyklopädie der Erwachsenenbildung. Serie I. Pädagogische Psychologie. Band 4

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Rainer Geissler and Horst Pottker (Eds.) (2005). Massenmedien und die Integration ethnischer Minderheiten in Deutschland: Problemaufriss--Forschungsstand--Bibliographie [Mass media and the integration of ethnic minorities in Germany: The problem--state of the art--bibliography]. Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag, 542 pp., ISBN 3-89942-280-5.

Although the 542 pages of the book suggest that this is yourtypical reader with many contributors, all its chapters arewritten by only four scholars. They are the collaborators ofa joint research project at the universities of