Day of learning cultures 2025
Information about the program
On December 9, 2025, the Prorectorates for Studies, Teaching and Quality Management (SLQ) and the Prorectorates for Teaching Staff, Continuing Education and Sustainability invite all members of the University of Siegen to the Day of Learning Cultures at the AR Campus from 10:00 to 18:00. Under the motto "Enabling Spaces", you will have the opportunity to get to know innovative learning cultures in various formats: You can actively try out participative methods and creative spatial concepts in workshops, discover lively learning environments from specialist laboratories to extracurricular experimental fields during the (introductory) tours of learning locations, and the Digital Teaching team's trade fair offers practical support for digital teaching scenarios.
Find out more about the program here!
Program in the morning
10:00 - 12:00 a.m.
The morning of the Day of Learning Cultures begins with a joint arrival and a welcome, which creates the space for the professional exchange of the day. This will be followed by a presentation of the university's learning cultures mission statement, which forms the basis for the development of sustainable teaching and learning formats. The University of Siegen 2025 Teaching Award will then be presented, which recognizes innovative teaching developments and outstanding commitment in the field of university teaching. Another highlight of the morning will be the keynote speech by Marcus Berger from the University of Erfurt, an expert in university learning workshops and digital teaching and learning formats, who will speak on the topic of "Opening up learning spaces - between networking, reflecting and redesigning".
Program at noon
12:30 - 14:00
Poster session
In the poster session, university members will present their projects on diverse learning cultures - from the FLEX open-air laboratory for science learning in a natural environment to the development of OER and AI agents for language education to the use of VR glasses in foreign language teaching and much more. Find out about current research and practical approaches in the fields of sustainability, digital transformation and transcultural learning and take the opportunity to exchange ideas with the project managers.
12:30 - 14:00; Exhibition room of the Siegen University Library
Writing peer tutors (SPT) are students trained in writing didactics who support other students in all aspects of their academic writing process as part of peer-to-peer consultations. Our article shows the extent to which working as an SPT at ZefaS can be understood as an enabling space .
SPTs have a variety of learning experiences in different contexts of their work:
- During SPT training, there is an intensive exchange of experiences with participants from different specialist cultures and the ZefaS team.
- In further training courses and in the preparation and follow-up of writing consultations, SPTs learn interactively within the ZefaS team.
- As part of the writing consultations, the SPT expand their skills for their work at ZefaS as well as for their own studies and future professional life by working with students seeking advice.
In these settings, reciprocal learning processes arise in which the SPT learn from collaborators and also contribute their individual strengths and resources to help shape and further develop ZefaS.
Immersive learning environments allow words to be experienced in realistic contexts, which can increase learners' motivation and learning success (cf. Hein et. al. 2021, 129). This presentation therefore focuses on how VR glasses can enrich foreign language teaching in terms of vocabulary acquisition. The applications "Language Lab" and "MeetinVR" will be used to show the opportunities VR glasses offer for tandem learning, the challenges that exist and how their use can be meaningfully integrated into the classroom. There will be an optional opportunity to take a brief look through the VR glasses and gain a brief insight into the virtual learning environment.
Program in the afternoon
14:00 - 17:00
Workshops, guided tours of learning locations and a trade fair organized by the Digital Teaching Team
The afternoon of the Day of Learning Cultures combines workshops, guided tours of learning locations and a trade fair organized by the Digital Teaching Team to provide a variety of impulses for innovative learning cultures. In the workshops, you will explore participative methods, creative spatial concepts and digital teaching-learning formats in order to actively try out concepts and exchange experiences. During the guided tours, you will discover lively learning environments - from specialist laboratories and writing rooms to extracurricular experimental fields - and exchange ideas directly with the designers about their design principles. The fair also offers practical support for digital teaching scenarios, advice on topics such as e-assessment, AI-supported methods and accessibility, as well as examples of good practice that provide direct inspiration for your own teaching.
Find out more about the individual offers here:
Workshops
14:00 - 17:00
As part of the workshop "...and what does that have to do with me?" - Reflection offers on the topic of discrimination sensitivity, we invite both students and teaching staff to engage in a dialog with themselves and others.
Several stations are offered, which can also be visited individually and are intended to encourage the following discussion:
- "Check your privilege!" - using the "Power Flower" to think about (de)privilege and start a conversation
- Writing discussion: Develop and discuss visions of a new, discrimination-sensitive teaching and learning culture at the University of Siegen
- Analyze and comment on materials and media in a discrimination-critical way
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
How can learning spaces be created that promote creativity, cooperation and self-direction? The concept of enabling spaces aims to create conditions in which learners can take responsibility, try things out and develop new things together. It encompasses not only physical, but also social and mental spaces in which openness, trust and curiosity become effective.
In this session, we will explore the potential of "enabling spaces" using the agile LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) method. By "thinking with your hands", abstract ideas and structures become visible, relationships and dynamics are made "tangible". Together we build and reflect on models to find out which conditions and attitudes favor enabling spaces and how they can be specifically designed in teaching-learning contexts. The skills and ideas of all participants are equally integrated. It opens up a creative, playful approach to questions of learning space design and helps to make unspoken perspectives visible. In individual and collective reflection phases, we develop impulses for the further development of a participative, trusting and innovation-promoting learning culture at the university.
Maximum number of people: 20 (Registration for the workshop is possible on the day of the event on the participation lists on display)
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
The workshop presents initial concept ideas from the international PowerBase project, which sees schools as 'enabling spaces': spaces in which children and young people can playfully experience and strengthen their basic psychological needs for orientation/control, bonding, pleasure and displeasure as well as self-esteem enhancement/protection (Grawe, 2004). Based on the MGML methodology (Girg, Lichtinger & Müller, 2012), SeELe materials (Müller, Grieser, Roos & Schmalenbach, 2022) and movement pedagogical approaches (Mura, Tatulli & Zurru, 2019), an experience-oriented and autonomous learning setting beyond the pressure to perform will be tested. In the workshop, we will jointly work out how these pedagogical principles
can be transferred to higher education didactic practice; as a contribution to the development of participatory learning cultures that promote creativity and new spaces of opportunity for students.
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
How can artistic practice itself become a form of research, and what role do digital and analog technologies play in shaping this process?
This workshop, led by Dr. Evelyn Buyken and Dr. Lawrence Wilde, introduces students and teachers to the methods and practices of artistic research.
In the first part, Dr. Buyken will shed light on the theoretical foundations of artistic research: What is artistic research, how does it differ from other research approaches, and how can students apply artistic research methods in their own studies and creative works?
The second part, led by Dr. Wilde, is practice-oriented and hands-on. Participants will work with various creative technologies, focusing on the "Postdigital Laptop Ensemble (PULSE)" - a technology-mediated space for experimentation and reflection. They will explore sound, composition and performance as forms of knowledge acquisition.
Together, these components create a space to reflect on and try out artistic research as a method of generating knowledge through creative processes.
The workshop will be offered bilingually in English and German.
How can artistic practice itself become a mode of research, and what role do digital and analog technologies play in shaping this process? This workshop, led by Dr. Evelyn Buyken and Dr. Lawrence Wilde, introduces students and teachers to the methods and practices of artistic research.
In the first part, Dr. Buyken will explore the theoretical foundations of artistic research: what it is, how it differs from other research approaches, and how students can apply artistic research methodologies in their own studies and creative work. The second part, led by Dr. Wilde, will be practice-based and hands-on. Participants will work with a range of creative technologies, focusing on the Postdigital Laptop Ensemble (PULSE) as a technology-mediated space for experimentation and reflection, engaging with sound, composition, and performance as forms of inquiry.
Together, these components create a space to reflect on and try out artistic research as a way of generating knowledge through creative processes. The workshop will be bilingual in English and German.
Maximum number of participants: 15 (Registration for the workshop is possible on the day of the event on the participation lists on display)
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
Maximum number of participants: 15 (Registration for the workshop is possible on the day of the event using the participant lists provided)
Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
COMET is an instrument for successively measuring the learning setting (competence orientation) and the degree of competence development achieved, especially in the industrial-technical professions (throughput and output). COMET thus works in the area of determining vocational aptitude, an evaluative core criterion that applies in the German education system both for recognized training occupations and for BA courses of study. At the heart of this is always the teaching approach of project-based action orientation instead of knowledge transfer. COMET therefore calls for the development of "holistic design skills" as an educational objective. The COMET procedure maps 8 criteria (functionality, utility value orientation, business process orientation, social responsibility, ecological responsibility, economic efficiency, creativity, presentation) with 4 items each and thus enables an independent evaluation with a reliability of more than 75% after successful rater training. developed.
Maximum number of participants: 15 (registration is possible on site on the day of the event)
Time: 14:00 - 17:00
Location: Campus Breite Straße (BS), Breite Straße 11, 57076 Siegen
(Guided tours at places of learning
14:00 - 17:00
We offer guided tours of the main library AR:
- Insights into support services for learning, researching and writing
- an overview of the many possibilities of the library as a place of learning - from individual workstations and collaborative learning spaces to our courses and offers for academic writing
- a presentation of the peer-to-peer writing consultations for the individual development of your own writing skills and the ZefaS writing and reading time (open writing group for concentrated work)
- Information on research advice
- the opportunity to get to know all the services on offer, ask questions and experience the library as an active space for academic practice.
Maximum number of people: 20 per tour. Prior registration is not necessary.
Times: The approx. 60-minute guided tours are offered at the following times:
- 13:00
- 3:00 p.m.
The Lernwerkstatt Lehrkräftebildung is an institution of the Center for Teacher Training and Educational Research. It offers a place for encounters, exchange, advice and further training for student teachers of all subjects and school types. The offers are organized and partly carried out by student employees in the Lernwerkstatt. In addition, the Lernwerkstatt is well networked with all internal university institutions that are important for student teachers and also works with external speakers and cooperation partners.
Services offered:
- Student counseling: Peer counseling
- PC workstations, literature and materials, rooms for free work
- Information events, lectures, workshops and excursions
- Sofa concert, games evenings, LaNa and Master's party, participation in Open University and ESE
Times: Between 14:00 and 17:00, interested parties can visit the Lernwerkstatt Lehrkräftebildung during regular opening hours.
The "Haardter-Berg-Hauptschule" was built in the early 1970s as part of the "Haardter-Berg" urban development project as a model school and is now used by the University of Siegen (part of the Adolf-Reichwein-Str. campus). The proximity to the former Siegen University of Applied Sciences enabled a close exchange between the educational institutions for decades and thus a practical implementation of the current teaching concepts by the trainee teachers. In addition, the building has special architectural features that are expressed in specific spatial qualities. The multifunctional assembly hall, also known as the "pedagogical center", which serves not only as an entrance and access area, but also as a meeting space, is worthy of special mention. The classrooms are flexible in size and sections can also be partitioned off by sliding walls to create places for individual supervision of the pupils. Thanks to the terracing of the building and the consistent use of skylights, the entire depth of the room is optimally lit.
Guided tours of the building and an exhibition are intended to convey this "enabling space" and discuss the great potential of the rooms for university use.
Maximum number of people: 15 people per tour (registration for the workshop is possible on the day of the event on the participation lists available)
Time/s: we are flexible between 10 am and 4 pm, length of the guided tours: 30 minutes, at least 30 minutes break between the guided tours, number of guided tours: 3-4, starting times can be determined by the organization team so that the offer fits well into the program
Meeting point: Foyer of the Haardter Berg School (AR-HB, main entrance)
Contact us
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the Day of Learning Cultures 2025, please contact the organization team at lernkulturen@uni-siegen.de!
The Day of Learning Cultures 2025 is organized by the Prorectorate for Studies, Teaching and Quality Management and the Prorectorates for Teaching Staff, Continuing Education and Sustainability. Your contact persons are the speakers
Antje Zoller (antje.zoller@uni-siegen.de, +49 271 740 4645) and Swaantje Brill (swaantje.brill@uni-siegen.de, +49 271 740 4701) are at your disposal.
