2024 Learning and Teaching Fair
Four teaching projects were presented by department members at the 2024 Innovation in Learning and Teaching Fair. One of the projects was among the three finalists for the KITE Award.
Digital Mathematics Assessment among the finalists for the KITE Award
The project "Digital Mathematics Assessment" by Meike Akveld, Andreas Steiger and George Ionita was one of three finalists nominated for the 2024 KITE Award.
Akveld, Steiger and Ionita have developed automated exercise sequences that help students to practise mathematical tasks independently, whenever they want and as often as they want, and with immediate differentiated feedback from the system.
This is possible thanks to a computer algebra system that can be used to assess and evaluate mathematical tasks. It is available as a question type called "STACK" on the Moodle learning platform. Based on this, Akveld, Steiger and Ionita have developed a comprehensive collection of exercises for their engineering analysis lectures.
The Lecturers' Conference (KdL), that assessed the KITE Award projects, praised the project as groundbreaking, as it enables a new form of independent, active learning. It can also be scaled up very well and transferred to other areas, which is crucial in view of the growth in student numbers at ETH Zurich.
Further information can be found on the STACK project website and in the news article ETH Zurich employs computers as supplementary maths tutors.
Further projects nominated for the KITE Award
Project owner: Prof. Rima Alaifari
The entire course is built in a way that requires action by the students. They are guided through the process of reading a paper and assessing it. This guidance is also what motivated students to participate, because it is a support they rarely get but highly value. The assessment of scientific work is implemented through a review process in which each student prepares presenting one paper to their fellow group members. This definitely required their engagement. Also, the fact that they had to decide on three accepted and two rejected papers made it quite natural to have a vivid group discussion. For the coding part, the students very much enjoyed the competitive nature of the process, with the leader board. This made it a fun experience to learn this new coding challenge of attacks and defenses.
Project owner: Dr Alexander Caspar (D-MATH), Dr Katja Köhler (D-BIOL), Florin Gegenschatz (D-BIOL), Xaver Hanushevsky (D-BIOL), Mario Kunz (D-BIOL)
In the world of natural sciences and engineering at ETH, the importance of mathematics should not be underestimated. However, students often only realise late in their studies how essential mathematical models are for biological processes. This shortcoming is addressed by an innovative initiative that was launched in 2017. Through team teaching and group projects, accompanied by lecturers from both disciplines, complex questions of gene expression are researched. The result: a deeper understanding of the application of mathematics in biology and sustainable learning and teaching material for future generations of students. A pioneering concept that strengthens the bridge between maths and biology and sustainably promotes academic success at ETH.
Further innovative math teaching projects
Project owner: Dr Laura Kobel-Keller, Dr George Ionita, Florian Spicher
During the last years, the student numbers grew rapidly while the supervision/mentoring capacities (lecturers and teaching assistants) remained rather constant. This led to bigger and bigger classes where individual mentoring and guiding is no longer possible. One possible idea to tackle this challenge are interactive exercises with individual feedback. In Moodle, the platform that is most commonly used for lecture webpages/platforms, STACK provides such a feature.
Video series "Diversity of Teaching"
The documentary video series "Diversity in Teaching at ETH" was also introduced at the Learning and Teaching Fair. The series highlights the diverse spectrum of teaching methods at ETH Zurich. Each video presents an innovative teaching style practised at ETH. Andreas Steiger is portrayed in this series with his lecture in Analysis I/II.
Innovation in Learning and Teaching Fair
The KITE Award ceremony took place as part of the second Innovation in Learning and Teaching Fair on 15 May 2024. At the event, ETH lecturers share innovative teaching projects and ideas at a large exhibition in the main hall of ETH Zurich's main building.
The KITE Award acknowledges teaching projects that are simultaneously innovative, effective and sustainable, in the sense that they consolidate skills over the long term. These skills should also be potentially transferable to other subjects and areas. In 2024, the KITE Award focused on teaching formats that excel in motivating students and promoting their engagement in the classroom.