Dr. Hanna Christine Jacobs from the Department of Art History knows that the church is a fascinating example of the interaction between architecture and painting, yet faces the challenge of explaining this holistic phenomenon using two-dimensional slides and notes. In this situation, immersive 3D virtual imaging opens up undreamed-of didactic possibilities. “We can take the ‘virtual elevator’ to get close to ceiling paintings,” she enthuses. Dr. Jacobs has used the new technology repeatedly in teaching. “It is a real benefit to the student experience, enabling a hands-on approach and small group working practices. This brings a whole new way of studying medieval art history".
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Another new tool for improving digital collaboration is the annotation tool Recogito+, which enables teachers and students to work together to transcribe, analyze, edit and research documents, graphics, texts and videos. Students of German Language and Literature have played a key role in developing and have tested it on Middle High German sources within the scope of their master’s seminar. “Students can now work independently and in groups to annotate documents. This facilitates precise and structured text work and helps diverse groups to support each other with their different knowledge and skills,” says Michael Ventur, coordinator of the Collaborative digital work in text studies project, who co-supervised the introduction of the tool. Another advantage of the technology is that it enables collaboration in both real time and an asynchronous fashion.
The comprehensive roll-out of JupyterHub at the University of Bonn brings special benefits for students of the natural sciences, who can use it to write texts, solve statistical and mathematical problems and perform programing tasks. The results of this work can be shared in a virtual environment, which facilitates cooperative improvement. Collaborative scientific computing—for example in the computer-aided analysis of large quantities of satellite data—also becomes much easier, as Stracke tells us. “We can now host a single, shared learning environment, in which all participating students can work together to discuss and edit the files and then submit them virtually.” JupyterHub is also integrated into eCampus and can be used to run other specialist programs, for example statistics programs, from anywhere in the world. “We want to make it as easy as possible for lecturers, students and researchers to work together digitally in the future,” summarizes Stracke.
New fields in research and teaching
The ViCo project is part of the University of Bonn's Digital Strategy in research and teaching. The University of Bonn is planning to use the potential of digital technologies and tools to create an ideal and future-oriented environment for creative academic and scientific work, thereby furthering the development of its outstanding fields of research and teaching.