Pedagogical analyses for course preparation
According to the German educationalist Wolfgang Klafki, four different analyses need to be carried out when preparing lessons:
- Conditional analysis: Who is being taught by whom?
- Subject analysis: What is being taught?
- Didactic analysis: Why is something being taught?
- Methodological analysis: How is the subject being taught?
For the educational design of university teaching, we recommend analyzing at least the following aspects as the first step in course preparation:
- How many participants are expected?
- What is the composition of the target group (e.g. age, attitude, gender)?
- What prior knowledge and experience do the students bring to the course
(e.g. beginners, experts)? - What expectations do the students have of the course? (possibly ask online in advance)
- What specifications does the university make (e.g. course type, teaching/learning forms, course content, teaching/learning materials, examination mode)?
- What content is required?
- What objectives (learning outcomes) are to be achieved according to the curriculum?
- Which rooms are available?
- How can rooms be booked and how are they equipped?
- Is there a PC/internet connection/projector in the room?
- What other media are available (e.g. flipchart, pin board, whiteboard)?
- Is a computer with internet access/W-LAN available for all students?
- Do students have access to mobile devices (if necessary for the course)?
The technical equipment of a room is recorded in UNIGRAZonline. It may also be useful to view the room before the course and test the technology.
- What form will the course take (e.g. weekly, block)?
- How many units will be held and for how long?
- At what time of day will the course be held?
- What is the ratio of self-study phases to on-site instruction phases?
- How high is the proportion of online teaching in relation to face-to-face teaching?
- How often are online units used (e.g. once, twice, after each face-to-face unit)?
- How are the online units embedded? (e.g. parallel/alternating)
- When are digital media used? (e.g. before/at the beginning/during/at the end/after the course)
- What software/hardware is available or should be available to learners?
An overview of the hardware and software available at the University of Graz can be found on the intranet.
Educational technologies at the University of Graz
Modern university teaching at the University of Graz is often a combination of "traditional" teaching/learning methods and the pedagogically motivated use of digital technologies in order to provide students with the best possible support on their path to learning success. This often means expanding the physical learning space with the help of digital learning environments, such as Moodle, recording course units or shorter sequences in the form of videos, or holding videoconferences (e.g. for teaching or online consultation hours).
Before the start of the semester, consider the following questions for successful teaching preparation:
- What are the learning objectives to be achieved by the students?
- What can/should be worked on in synchronous phases (face-to-face or online) and what in asynchronous online phases?
- How can the use of the Moodle learning management system support the achievement of the learning objectives? Which other digital tools are useful for your own lessons? (e.g. use of learning videos, digital whiteboards, audience response tools, etc.)
- Which activities can be used on Moodle to suit the course? (e.g. forums, glossaries, polls, tasks, etherpads, surveys with activity feedback, etc.)
Continue working with the analysis results
Based on the outcome of the pedagogical analyses, pedagogical decisions can be made in the next step.