Teaching Awards of the University
Dr. Angelika Kellner is a senior instructor with tenure (Akademische Rätin) at the Chair of Ancient History. She was awarded this year's teaching award in particular for a didactic format, in which she uses flawed studies in her courses. Kellner creates a short fake article for each class – a flawed study which is designed like an academic paper. These texts serve as an introduction to the respective topic, but contain deliberately inserted formal errors, such as inaccurate references or invented literature. The aim of this approach is to raise students' awareness of the criteria for proper academic writing and research. The added value of this teaching approach is the unusual introduction to the basics of methodically clean academic writing and research. While the usual practice usually focuses on the content, the focus here is on the formal structures of an academic text. Against the background of current developments in AI-supported text production, for example through large language models such as ChatGPT, this aspect is becoming even more relevant.
Dr. Niko Halkenhäuser is an academic staff member at the chair of Private Law, German and European Business and Labor Law. Four years ago, he set up and began to run the “Examination Clinic” at the Department of Law. Each year, about 500 students of in their fifth or sixth semester (bachelor’s program) or their third and fourth semester (integrated program) receive individual feedback on their exam technique. The aim is to provide students with the necessary “soft skills” for solving cases in preparation for their exams. For legal work, the result is less important than the justification: Good lawyers are characterized by their ability to argue and persuade, the greatest possible precision and a concise way of thinking and expressing themselves – that's what the exam clinic is all about.
