BiLinked

The research-oriented evaluation in the BiLinked project addresses both media pedagogical and higher education strategic issues:

• On the one hand, the evaluation aims to reflect on issues related to teaching and learning with digital media from a media pedagogical perspective together with teaching staff, instructors, lectures and students. The aim is to gain insights into the competence-promoting use of digital media in teaching and the didactic implementation of digital teaching/learning formats. A special interest lies on self-learning, collaboration as well as practice and project orientation with digital media. Furthermore, questions of acceptance of the developed digital teaching/learning formats, their fit to the learning objectives as well as forms of guidance and support by the teaching staff, instructors, lectures will be investigated.
   
• On strategic level, the aim is to identify recommendations from the results of the evaluation measures with regard to the future design of digital teaching at Bielefeld University. In this respect, the evaluation should provide information on the development and expansion of the Digital Learning Lab and the collaborative development of innovative teaching/learning formats, among other things, and open up perspectives for curricular anchoring.

The evaluation in the project BiLinked combines evaluation formats with a descriptive character with the aim of documenting concepts, measures and offers as well as evaluation formats with a reflexive character with the aim of analyzing individual experiences, perspectives and assessments. It works according to the formulated goals and questions with different formative and summative evaluation measures.

During the course of the project so far, the following thematic focuses have been at the center:

• Media-pedagogically oriented accompanying research: How can university teaching be supported and didactically implemented with regard to self-learning, collaborative learning and work, as well as practice and project orientation with digital media?
• University-strategically oriented accompanying research: How can the collaborative development, testing, and curricular and structural integration of corresponding digital teaching/learning formats be achieved at the university?

These have been addressed using the following evaluation measures and instruments.

Evaluation measures and instruments

• Semester-wise documentation of exemplary digital teaching/learning concepts by instructors, overarching work in the Communities of Practice, and support offerings (starting from the summer semester 2022).
• Semester-wise qualitative surveys of students from project-related courses using a digital feedback format (starting from the summer semester 2023; previously: semi-standardized online surveys).
• Focus group interviews with instructors (Communities of Practice) and students from project-related courses (conducted in the summer semesters of 2022 and 2023).
• One-time individual interviews with students who participated in project-related courses (summer semester 2023).
• Evaluation discussions with staff members from the areas of Digital Learning Lab, Student Participation and Collaboration, and Legal Advisory (conducted in the summer semesters of 2022 and 2023).

In the project extension, the following thematic focuses are at the center of the evaluation:

• Reflection on Student Participation & Collaboration: Reflection by faculty and students on the implementation of student participation and collaboration concerning self-learning, collaborative learning and work, as well as practice and project orientation with digital media.
• Design of Implementation/Sustainability: Development of recommendations for the implementation, embedding, and sustainability assurance of the innovative teaching/learning formats and support areas.
• The previous thematic focuses from the first project phase continue to be considered in the evaluation.

These will be addressed using the ongoing evaluation measures and instruments from the first project phase, as well as new evaluation measures and instruments supplemented according to the thematic focuses.

Evaluation measures and instruments

• Semester-wise documentation of the overarching work in the Communities of Practice and the support offerings (starting from the summer semester 2022).
• Evaluation discussions with staff members from the Digital Learning Lab and Legal Advisory areas (conducted in the winter semester 2024/2025).
• Documentation of teaching/learning concepts in the CoP Inclusion-Sensitive Teacher Education (starting from the winter semester 2024/2025).
• Expert interviews on the topic of implementation/sustainability with participants from the four Communities of Practice, focusing on different priorities (expected in winter semester 2024/2025)
• Qualitative workshop discussion with project participants on the topic of Student Participation/Collaboration (winter semester 2024/2025)

Overall, the results of the project evaluation show that a wide range of digital teaching/learning formats have been created in "BiLinked" and successfully implemented in numerous courses. Students particularly appreciated the opportunities for acquiring a wide range of skills, the increased student participation and the high degree of practical orientation. Furthermore, it was found that interdisciplinary collaboration in the four communities of practice and the special consideration given to student perspectives proved to be very beneficial for the systematic development of digital teaching/learning formats. The support services offered by the Digital Learning Lab, the legal advice service and in the area of student collaboration and participation used in a needs-oriented manner. With regard to the structural anchoring of the implemented digital teaching/learning formats, it is evident that very different subject-specific approaches are effective. In principle, sufficient freedom for teaching staff, the opening up of curricula and a broader acceptance of innovative teaching approaches play a decisive role in successful implementation.

The results of the evaluation in the "BiLinked" project were analysed, summarised and published in a detailed evaluation report for each of the two project phases. The evaluation report for the first project phase (October 2021-July 2024) presents the underlying evaluation concept and, primarily, media education findings on the implementation of digital teaching/learning formats. The evaluation report for the second project phase (August 2024-December 2025) focuses on strategic university issues for the sustainable anchoring of innovative digital teaching/learning formats and provides cross-project conclusions.

Evaluation report on the first project phase (October 2021-July 2024): https://doi.org/10.4119/unibi/2999433
Evaluation report on the second project phase (August 2024-December 2025): https://doi.org/10.4119/unibi/3012390