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The lecture "German as a second language for teacher training students of the humanities" was undertaken for the first time in the summer semester of 2015 and was attended by approx. 390 students. The weekly lecture was split up into 12 thematic face-to-face sessions. The subject-spanning tutorial that belonged to the module and was only one weekly semester hour long took place on a bi-weekly interval. The face-to-face as well as contact time of the students is split up witin within this large lecture group with little chances of interaction and the indeed smaller tutorial groups which though still had an average group size of 40 students.   

During the eraly early planning stages of the semester a blended learning structure was developed for the module of the subject group of the humanities which served two focal points. On the one hand the extensive contents of the module should be presented in a structured way and enough material provided for self-study purposes (cf. Illustration 1). On the other hand supportive online interaction offers were to be made. For the first goal repetitive structures were set up within the Blackboard course regarding thematic learning modules from the lecture. For the support of the tutorial 10 work groups were set up within the framework of the lecture course (cf. Illustration 2) in which the students filled in wikis with lecture protocols and reading excerpts during the course of the semester. In addition, in the respective work groups the tools e-mail and forum were available.   

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Illustration 1 - Screenshot: Learning modules within the lecture structure

illustration Illustration 2 - Screenshot: Wok groups within the lecture course

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1. The dovetailing of lecture contents and independent activities by students within a module that, based on the high numbers of students enrolled does not allow for individual supervision, is a success.
2. The students access the online leaning offers provided in various different ways.
3. The task of "Creating a wiki post" was fulfilled by most students (active participation), this - though - in a myriad of ways. Some of the students did actually work online in a collaborative manner. A few of the groups met face-to-face in order to mutually work on creating the wiki posts. Only very few posted individual text fragments. The contents of the wiki posts were the basis for the oral design of the tutorial sessions by the respective student groups (protocol group, excerpt group). The wiki pages were therefore partially public texts that the students created for one of the semester sessions. The oral presentation of the topics and the related design of the face-to-face sessions based on the wiki entries were realized very differently. Some groups read out the wiki texts, others    wurde von den allermeisten Studierenden erfüllt (aktive Teilnahme), allerdings in sehr unterschiedlicher Weise. Einige Studierende haben tatsächlich kollaborativ online gearbeitet. Einige Gruppen haben sich in Präsenz für das gemeinsame Erstellen der Wiki-Einträge getroffen. Nur wenige haben individuelle Textbausteine eingestellt. Die Inhalte der Wiki-Einträge waren die Grundlage für die mündliche Gestaltung der Übungssitzung durch die jeweiligen Studierendengruppen (Protokollgruppe, Exzerptgruppe). Die Wiki-Seiten waren somit halböffentliche Texte, die die Studierenden zu einem Termin im Semester erarbeitet haben. Die mündliche Präsentation der Themen und daran geknüpft die Gestaltung der Präsenztermine aufbauend auf den Wiki-Einträgen wurde sehr unterschiedlich realisiert. Während einige Gruppen die Wiki-Texte vorgelesen haben, haben andere ergänzende Übungen durchführen lassen, für die die Wiki-Einträge im Vorfeld von der Gesamtgruppe gelesen werden mussten.
4. Dank der Wiki-Einträge wurden die Studierenden dazu gebracht "etwas zu schreiben", obwohl das Modul in seiner aktuellen Struktur dies kaum zulässt. Auch diejenigen, die in den großen Gruppen nicht zu Wort kommen, konnten so einen aktiven Beitrag leisten. Dieser Beitrag war nicht das "klassische universitäre Seminarreferat".
5. Die E-Mail-Funktion wurde von den Studierenden selbstständig genutzt, z.B. für das rechtzeitige Verschicken von Protokollen und Exzerpten unabhängig vom Wiki. Die Forumsfunktion der Arbeitsgruppen wurde nicht genutzt.
6. Die Wiki-Einträge dienten zum Teil als Klausurvorbereitung. Um hier das Potential noch besser auszunutzen, müssten die Arbeitsaufträge noch stärker strukturiert werden. Der Gefahr der Verschulung der universitären Lehre sollte allerdings mit geeigneten, anspruchsvollen Arbeitsaufträgen begegnet werden.

Probleme und entwickelte Lösungsstrategien:

1. others made their peers carry out supplementary exercises for which the wiki posts had to be read beforehand by the entire group.   
2. Thanks to the wiki entries the students were made to "write something" even though the module doesn't really allow for this in its current structure. Even those that don't have any say within the larger groups were able to provide a bit of active participation. This contribution was not the "traditional university seminar presentation".  
3. The e-mail feature was used by the students independently, e.g. for the on-time handing in of protocols and excerpts that were independent of the wiki. The forum function of the work groups was not used.
4. The wiki entries serve partially as exam preparation. In order to use the potential available here even better, the tasks assigned need to be structured even better. The danger of turning university education into school-like teaching should, though, be counteracted with suitable as well as challenging tasks that need to be worked on and completed.  

Problems and developed solution strategies:

• Making tasks provided for the collaborative wiki entries more precise
• Systemizing feedback for the wiki entries
• Providing models for properly worked-out wiki entries (thematizing text types "protocol", "excerpt")
• Structuring face-to-face sessions that build on online activities in a stronger and more sequential manner (offering protocol + excerpt + exercises as a task)
• Maintaining / creating free spaces for mutual reflection even though suitable online structures are in place
• Aufgabenstellungen für kollaborative Wiki-Einträge präzisieren
• Feedback zu den Wiki-Einträgen systematisieren
• Modelle für gelungenen Wiki-Einträge bereit stellen (Textsorten "Protokoll", "Exzerpt" thematisieren")
• Präsenzzeiten auf online-Aktivitäten aufbauend stärker strukturieren (Protokoll + Exzerpt + Übung als Arbeitsaufträge anbieten)
• Freiräume zur gemeinsamen Reflexion erhalten / schaffen trotz guter online-Strukturen

Further information / Excerpts from the course evaluation (FU, Department of Education and Psychology)

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• it was good that everything was so well organized in Blackboard!
• the offers in the LMS
• good online realization
• Mir hat es gut gefallen, dass die Vorlesungen von den Studis zusammengefasst wurden und für alle im Wiki verfügbar sind.
• Die Einbindung des Onlineangebots. Online-Plattform war hilfreich -> Texte wurden zur Verfügung gestellt
• Protokolle zum Lernen im Blackboard sehr gut!
• Blackboard gut genutzt -> weiter so! man findet alles gut
• Gute Kombination aus VL, Übung und Online-Lernportal -> Zusammenspiel bestmöglich ausgenutzt.
• Group-Wiki habe ich als sehr hilfreich empfunden
• I enjoyed that the lectures were summarized by the students and were made available in the wiki for all
• the integration of the online offers provided - here the online platform was very helpful -> texts were made available
• the protocols for learning were very good!
• Blackboard was used well -> keep up the good work! One can find everything very easily
• good combination of lecture, tutorial and online learning portal → the interplay was used to its maximum benefit
• I found the group wiki to be very helpful
• the revision and preparation of the lecture within the tutorial was very good - I was "made" to confront and deal with the wiki and thereby I learned how to use itDie Wiederholung und Vorbereitung der Vorlesung in der Übung waren sehr gut. Ich wurde "gezwungen" mich mit dem Wiki auseinanderzusetzen und habe so den Umgang damit gelernt.

Support offered by CeDiS

• Consulting services for the implementation of digital solutions in teaching: The Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) has extensive experience of many years when it comes to the implementation of digital media and systems within the fields of teaching, learning and research. We offer a wide variety of consulting services on the implementation of these tools and systems within the entire academic scope and especially at Freie Universität Berlin. 
• Training courses and workshops: For lecturers at Freie Universität Berlin (professors, employees, tutors) as well as lecturers of other universities CeDiS offers training courses and workshops on the topic of teaching and learning with digital media. These course enable participants to implement online elements within their own sphere of teaching.
• The Executive Board of the Freie Universität supports e-learning initiatives: With the e-learning funding program financial resources are provided to lecturers that enrich and improve their courses quality-wise by implementing technological and media-related support. All of the academic staff teaching, the lecturers or even the institutions of the Freie Universität - without the Charité-Universitätsmedizin - can be supported within this program.

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