News Overview

Teachers’ discussion group on 26 February

The Teachers' discussion group as a proven exchange format for methods and didactics in teaching will be continued in the new Rectorate period. In February, the discussion group will be hosted at Campus Inffeldgasse.

Prof. Heidrun Gruber-Wölfler, who was awarded the Prize for Excellence in Teaching 2016, will provide a personal insight into her teaching during the Teachers for teachers input. The expert input, and thus the main topic, will be provided by Dr. Nicole Föger (Austrian Agency for Research Integrity) under the motto Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Control and Prevention.

Teachers’ discussion group:

• When: 26 February 2020, 2 pm - 4 pm
• Where: HS i8, Inffeldgasse 13, ground floor

Limited number of participants! Registration at www.tugraz.at/go/anmeldung-lehr-stammtisch/.

Teach, Present, Publish: English for Academic Purposes

Next summer there will again be the opportunity to participate in the further education program Teach, Present, Publish. Within three weeks, teachers have the possibility to improve their English skills at a scientific level. Teachers of Montclair State University give lessons in three modules:

1. Academic English Writing Skills in the Natural and Applied Sciences
2. Essential Spoken English for Instructors
3. Methodology of Teaching in English

Basic data on the course:

• When: July 6 - 23 2020, every Monday to Thursday
• Duration: approx. 8:30 am - 3:30 pm
• Fees: none for teachers of TU Graz

Information on the application and further details can be found in the intranet TU4U. Deadline for applications is 3 April 2020.

Comprehensive course evaluation

Also this winter semester all courses will be evaluated at TU Graz. The measure, which covers the past summer semester and the current winter semester, serves the purpose of quality assurance.

As soon as the courses are entered for evaluation in TUGRAZonline, lecturers will receive a corresponding E-Mail message from the system. The procedure of the evaluation is the same as usual. For example, lecturers are still able to state own questions. Students are asked for participation!

Information about the process of evaluation can be found on the intranet TU4U.

Diversity in teaching and research

Diversity at tertiary education institutions is omnipresent, no matter whether one relates to the increasing heterogeneity of the students’ population or gender and diversity aspects in research projects. By that, new challenges for researchers and teachers emerge. Two public accessible TeachCenter courses treat that topic (in German):

• Diversity in research
• Diversity in teaching

While the former shows how diversity aspects can be integrated for research projects, the latter contains concrete suggestions on how diversity of students can enrich personal teaching. Finally, checklists can be used to easily determine which aspects can be further developed in one's own teaching or research.

Call for tenders: State Award Digitalisation

The State Award Digitalisation 2020 by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs, which is being awarded for the second time this year, honours outstanding digital products, solutions and processes. An independent jury of experts awards the State Prize to innovative productions in three categories:

• Digital products and solutions
• Digital transformation
• Social responsibility projects

The prize is considered the highest award in this field, which acknowledges the productions and makes them visible. In addition, it demonstrates the innovative potential of the digital sector and presents Austria as a location for digitization, innovation and technology.

• Submission deadline: 27 January 2020, noon (12 am)

Further information can be found on the FFG website.

„Didaktik-Werkstatt“ 2020: Programme and registration

The registration period for the Didaktik-Werkstatt (didactic workshops series) 2020 of Steirische Hochschulkonferenz is open since 26 November. Teachers of all nine Styrian higher education institutions are invited to participate at the workshops. The topic this year – shaping the interaction between teachers and students professionally – comprises five main points:

• Conflict talks within the area of teaching
• Lessons with high numbers of students
• Interactive teaching sequences
• Students’ feedback
• Handling of heterogeneous student groups

Details about the workshops, which are taking place between January and June 2020, can be found on the Website of Science Space Styria (in German). Registration is possible for single courses or for all together (limited number of participants).

Awarding of certificates in higher education didactics

Each year participants of the Didaktik-Werkstatt and eDidactics (both are didactical workshop series) by the Steirische Hochschulkonferenz have the chance to receive certificates in the area of this continuing education programmes. 2019, about 70 graduates of the programmes were awarded at the event analog? digital? interaktiv!.

The festive award ceremony took place at 25 November in the auditorium (Aula) of the Medical University Graz. Further information and a short recap on the event can be found in a news article of the Medical University (in German).

Nominations: Price for excellence in teaching

Every two years outstanding teaching at TU Graz is honoured with the Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Up to three teachers who are able to convey the enthusiasm for their subject to an outstanding degree to their students by excellent pedagogic-didactic concepts are awarded. Especially young teachers (below 35 years old and not appointed) are called to participate, besides that digital support in teaching is awarded for the first time in 2020.

• Submissions: until 15 December for the winter semester
• Submission form in TU4U
• Nominations via lehrpreisnoSpam@tugraz.at
• Award ceremony: Autumn 2020

Further information and previous prize winners can be found on the website of the Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

Barcamp: TEL Marketplace

The first TEL Marketplace-Barcamp of TU Graz is dedicated to the topic of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL). In the academic year 2019/20, six pilot groups at TU Graz are supported in implementing innovative TEL concepts in the daily teaching practice and in developing them together with students – starting from educational videos and playful quiz elements to virtual laboratories. At the Barcamp TU Graz members are able to exchange with the pilot groups and students about technology enhanced learning.

Further details about the event and the next date can be found on the intranet TU4U (in German), or contact Sebastian Dennerlein (sdennerleinnoSpam@know-center.at).

LLT Breakfast

The LLT Breakfast, which was newly introduced in 2018 by the organisational unit Educational Technology (LLT), will be hosted again during this academic year. During a cosy breakfast you will have the opportunity to receive news about the use of digital media in teaching and to exchange ideas with colleagues and the LLT team afterwards in a relaxed atmosphere. Facts about the event:

• Topic: Online grading with tablets
• When: Wednesday, 11 December 2019, 8 am to 9 am
• Where: Educational Technology, Münzgrabenstraße 36, 1st floor, 8010 Graz

Due to organisational reasons, please register at elearningnoSpam@tugraz.at. Don’t miss it: A new edition of the TELucation folder will be available there!

Information about the winter semester 19/20 for teaching staff

By the start of the new winter semester, the term of office of the new Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, Stefan Vorbach, also began. He would like to inform you about the large number of news out of the field of teaching and learning:

• Study law and organisation
• Excellent teaching
• Service information
• Persons and portraits: Stefan Vorbach, Verena Schwägerl-Melchior (new expert in university didactics)
• Events
• Recap and reports
• IT updates

Details and further information can be found in the intranet TU4U.

Information about the winter semester 19/20 for students

By the start of the new winter semester there’s also a wide range of news out of the field of teaching and learning at TU Graz. Besides the date announcement of the first Student’s workshop with the new Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, Stefan Vorbach, you find information about following areas:

• Study law and organisation
• Excellent teaching/ Key competencies
• Service information: Booklet Studying at TU Graz
• Events
• Recap and reports
• IT updates: feedbackr & TUGRAZonline 3.0

Details concerning each area can be found in the intranet TU4U.

Get together: Children and youth activities at TU Graz

For the first time, teachers and administrative personnel have the chance to network with colleagues who are already actively involved in children and youth activities at TU Graz or who want to get involved prospectively.

After Rector Kainz opens the event, results of a 2018 conducted TU-wide survey about the current situation as well as the demand concerning those activities will be presented. Following that, the focus lies on the information exchange at a buffet between interested participants and those responsible for each area (guided tours, internships, workshops etc.) at the Office for Gender Equality and Equal Opportunity.

• When: 27 November 2019, 11 am to 1 pm
• Location: SR AE02 (STEG006), Steyrergasse 30, ground floor, 8010 Graz
• Registration via jugendnoSpam@tugraz.at until 21 November

Mobility programmes for students: Deadlines and Information Booths

Collecting experience abroad, get to know new cultures, broadening one’s horizon: Mobility programmes of TU Graz offer a range of possibilities. The application period for ISEP is already running, further submissions are possible for the following programmes within the next weeks:

Outside of Europe

• ISEP: until 5 November 2019
• OverSEAs: 4 November to 2 December 2019
• Erasmus+ ICM: 4 November to 2 December 2019

Within Europe

• Erasmus+ student mobility: starting mid-December to 16 January 2020

Details about stays abroad (summer schools, internships, research abroad) can be found on the Website  Study abroad or at the Pop-Up Information Booths for mobility programmes on 16 October (Old Campus, Rechbauerstraße 12), 17 October (Inffeldgasse 25D) and on 23 October (New Campus, Kopernikusgasse 24).

Save the date: “analog? digital? interaktiv!”

Within the framework of the Steirische Hochschulkonferenz, an event takes place to review and look forward to the further education programmes of Didaktik-Werkstatt and eDidactics:

• 25 November 2019, Medical University of Graz
• 5 p.m.: Certificate ceremony for alumni of both programmes
• Beginning 6 p.m.: official start of the event, including a keynote
• Registration: https://www.campus02.at/analog-digital-interaktiv/

Alumni of the programmes as well as persons interested in the programmes are warmly invited to a get together afterwards.

A detailed overview about the programme and information about the registration follows within the next weeks. Save the date!

Stipends of Excellence for Female Students in Mechanical Engineering

Together with TU Graz, the REMUS-SEBRING Group awards five stipends to talented and motivated female students in the field of Mechanical Engineering (3 bachelor’s Stipends, 2 master’s stipends). The stipends are granted for a timespan up to two years.

Benefits:

• Monthly grant for bachelor students: 500 Euro
• Monthly grant for master students: 900 Euro
• Additionally paid internship at the REMUS-SEBRING Group

Deadline for submission: 31 October 2019.

Requirements, conditions of participation and all further information can be found at www.tugraz.at/go/stipends-remus-sebring.

Welcome Days

On Thursday 26^th and Friday 27^th of September 2019 at TU Graz, the Welcome Days will take place. First-year students can gather vital information that helps them successfully kick off their studies at the TU Graz and sneak a peek into the working world of engineers at the same time. In addition to receiving a welcome from the rector and other representatives of the university, students get information about:

• Academic affairs at TU Graz
• studying abroad,
• library and IT services
• TU Graz platforms: TUGRAZonline, TU4U and TeachCenter
• financial support possibilities such as scholarships and grants
• and many more…

For international degree seeking students, the International Welcome Days are taking place at the same time in English. 

TU Graz organizes the Welcome Days in cooperation with alumniTUGraz 1887.

5.000 Euro prizes for gender and diversity

From 8 March to 30 September it is possible to apply for the Prize for Gender and Diversity in Engineering and Science. Five prizes with a total value of 5.000 Euro will be awarded. In this way, TU Graz supports studies of topics related to gender and diversity in engineering and science and helps to raise their visibility. Students, teachers and researchers can apply for one of the five prizes. The following submissions will be considered:

• Theses
• Scientific publications
• Contents of taught courses
• Participation in completed or ongoing continuing education activities, workshops, conference contributions

The entries are evaluated in terms of the quality with which they discuss, consider and/or integrate gender and diversity aspects.

Application period: 8 March until 30 September to akgnoSpam@tugraz.at
Application form and further information: on the intranet TU4U (in German)

Teachers’ discussion group on 17 September 2017

On 17 September the event LEHR-Stammtisch (Teachers’ discussion group) is going to take place at Campus Inffeldgasse. Lothar Fickert from the Institute of Electrical Power Systems will give insights into his teaching with a special focus on the method Flipped Classroom. This will also be the main topic of the session. To provide deeper insights into this method we have invited Stefan Schmid, an Austrian expert on flipped classroom.

Teachers' discussion group (LEHR-Stammtisch)

• When: Tuesday, 17 September 2019, 2 to 4 pm
• Where: lecture hall i14 (room number: HSK1008), Inffeldgasse 18, 1. KG, 8010 Graz

Limited number of participants. Please register at tugraz.at/go/anmeldung-lehr-stammtisch.

Information about the Teachers' discussion group is available on the Intranet TU4U.

The event will be held in German.

CYBATHLON BCI Series 2019: Brain-computer interface (BCI) race for the first time in Austria!

TU Graz’s brain-computer interface working group is one of Europe’s leading research groups in the field of computer-assisted interpretation of brain waves and their translation into electrical impulses for prostheses, robotic prosthetic arms and speech output programs.

Spectators will experience the fascinating power of thought-controlled systems on 17 September, as teams from all over the world go head to head in the CYBATHLON BCI Series 2019 at TU Graz. Pilots who are paralysed from the neck down control avatars using brain-computer interfaces in a specially developed computer game. Tickets for race day are now available.

CYBATHLON information and tickets

Review on the Students’ Discussion Group

The Students’ Discussion Group has been taking place regularly since winter semester 2016. In a casual atmosphere, the team of the Vice rectorate for Academic Affairs gets in contact with students directly to discuss topics concerning learning and teaching. The last Discussion Group on 28 May focused in the central part of the discussion on the topic of actively taking examinations and which measures could lead to an increase of positively taken exams.

The output of the Discussion Group, a review on the years 2016 to 2019 and further information can be found on the intranet TU4U.

Workshop: Deeper Learning in Higher Education

Together with the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe, University of Leoben hosts a workshop on Deeper Learning at TU Graz. This form of knowledge transfer focuses the interactivity between teachers and learners and the joint development of facts, to eventually make learners more secure in mediated contents.

The two-day further education targets teachers and scientific staff of Austrian Higher Education institutions with an emphasis on technical subjects as well as teachers of engineering-focused secondary schools. Information: As download (in German) or contact anja.meiernoSpam@unileoben.ac.at.

When: 26 to 27 September 2019
Where: TU Graz, SR AT01104, Rechbauerstraße 12, first floor, 8010 Graz

Registrations at anja.meiernoSpam@unileoben.ac.at possible until 6 September.

New: Academic Affairs news overview as RSS Feed

The news overview for academic affairs is now available as RSS Feed. By that, it’s possible for you to subscribe to news updates out of this field: As soon as a new article appears in the overview, you are informed in real-time about that. Various news sites can also be subscribed to via such a feed.

The only thing needed for this is a free available feed reader. Those readers are available for one’s preferred browser as add-on. Afterwards you just need to read the link (https://rss.tugraz.at/lehre.xml) into the RSS Feed.

Results of the senatorial elections

On 26 June, the senatorial elections took place. Employees of TU Graz were called up to elect 13 representatives of the university professors, 6 representatives of the associate professors and 1 representative of the administrative personnel.

• Election results: Representatives of university professors
• Election results: Representatives of associate professors
• Election results: Representatives of administrative personnel

The term of office for the new constituted Senate starts by 1 October 2019 and runs until 30 September 2022.

NEW: Booklet Studying at TU Graz

To enable an optimal start of studies, a new booklet for first year students was developed. The brochure contains information and useful tips related to various relevant topics:

• From school to university
• Where to get information and advice
• Checklist for getting started
• Courses
• Examinations
• Work environment at university
• Students’ rights and obligations
• Practical tips on student life

Starting with the enrolment phase in July, the booklet will be handed out to all first-year-students. You can download the booklet as PDF version.