Digital strategies in higher education

I am proud to announce that we are one of the winners of the digital strategy competition by the Stifterverband and Heinz Nixdorf Stiftung! As one of the 8 winners selected out of from 99 submissions from all over Germany, we will be developing educational digital strategies in all of our faculties at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin. Beuth University is a university of “educational climbers” (e.g. 55% of our students come from non-academic families) and so the goal of our digital strategy is to use digital media to improve the study process and occupational perspectives, helping “educational climbers” become “educational winners”.

The focus of our digital strategy development is supporting diversity of students in all phases of the student life-line, which is a concept we developed to outline the different pathways students take before and with entering the university until leaving the university and beyond (e.g. alumni relations). Our three guiding principles are:

• Using digital media to enhance educational quality, especially in terms of personalisation and development of self-competence, providing opportunities for building individual capabilities;
• Using digital media to support diversity of students, especially in terms of diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds, diverse competency levels and life circumstances;
• Using digital media to help students prepare for connected digital life, especially in terms of the new requirements and conditions in digital economy and digital work.

An interesting part of designing digital strategies at Beuth University will be the Design-based Research (DBR) methodology to conceptualise and implement digital strategies iteratively in natural settings and at the same time to generate new scientific insights and frameworks for designing digital strategies in higher education.

You can find out more about the digital strategy competition by the Stifterverband and the 8 finalists here.

We will soon set up a website with more information about the process and outcomes of digital strategy development at Beuth University. You can view the films about the diversity of students at Beuth University on YouTube.

• design-based research
• digital education
• digital learning
• digital media
• digital strategy
• diversity
• higher education
• Stifterverband