Digitaler nachhaltiger Unterricht – (wie) geht das? – Umfrage! #tugraz #survey

Im März hatten wir unsere Kick-Off Veranstaltung für die neue DigiSET-Initative die Themen Nachhaltigkeit, digitalen Unterricht, KI und OER zusammenzubringen. Wir freuen uns natürlich sehr, dieses Vorhaben unterstützen zu können: Denn genau diese Themen gehören zusammen – aktueller geht es kaum. 

Damit wir nicht irgendetwas machen, möchten wir ein klares Bild vom Status Quo, insbesondere zu den bisherigen Erfahrungen und Kompetenzen von (angehenden) Lehrkräften gewinnen. Wir sind natürlich auch schon sehr gespannt, ob die langjährigen Initiativen in Österreich rund um Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung, digitalen Unterricht, insb. die Einführung des Schulfachs Digitale Grundbildung, und seit einigen Jahren verstärkte (biildungs-)politische Initiativen zu Künstlicher Intelligenz und Offenen Bildungsressourcen im Unterricht sich auch im europäischen Vergleich der Daten zeigen werden.

Aufruf an alle (angehenden) Lehrkräfte in Österreich! 

Gestalten Sie die Zukunft der Lehrer:innenbildung mit, indem Sie Ihre Sicht auf nachhaltigen, digitalen Unterricht teilen. Auf Grundlage Ihrer Rückmeldung gestalten wir mit Partnern aus 8 Ländern im Projekt DigiSET Materialien und Trainings zur Nutzung digitaler Technologien – insbesondere von AI – zur Gestaltung von offenen Bildungsressourcen für nachhaltigen Unterricht und Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung. Dabei wird u.a. auch der ressourcenschonenden Einsatz von IT, der Gender-Bias von AI und Möglichkeiten für inklusiven Unterricht adressiert.

Vielen Dank für Ihre/Eure Unterstützung! – Teilen ist natürlich sehr erwünscht 

Über Kontaktaufnahme von bestehenden Gruppen und ähnlichen Initiativen in Österreich freuen wir uns natürlich ebenso, damit das Ganze dann auch gut passt und umgesetzt werden kann.

Dauer: 15–20 Minuten.

[Link zur Umfrage]

Mehr zur Initiative DigiSET: https://digisetproject.eu/

Partner in Österreich sind u.a. die TU Graz sowie die Universität für Weiterbildung Krems

This is an impactful contributions, methodological rigor, and exceptional novelty in the research field of AI in education.

[podcast] Internationale Lehre mit Teamwork und Unite! #tugraz

Es freut uns, dass wir nun den 28. Teil unserer Podcast-Serie „Lehren – Lernen – Lauschen“ auf der TELucation-Webseite zur Verfügung stellen können. Diesesmal spricht Daniel Frühwirth zu „ Internationale Lehre mit Teamwork und Unite!„:

In diesem Podcast erzählt Daniel Fruhwirt vom Institut für Thermodynamik und nachhaltige Antriebssysteme über seine Leidenschaft für internationale Hochschullehre. Er berichtet, wie er im Rahmen des Unite!-Netzwerks gemeinsam mit Partneruniversitäten aus Turin, Barcelona, Wrocław, Darmstadt und Stockholm mehrere innovative Lehrveranstaltungen zu Verkehrssicherheit und Nachhaltigkeit entwickelt hat. Daniel erklärt, warum projektbasiertes, interdisziplinäres Arbeiten in kleinen, internationalen Gruppen Studierende optimal auf die Berufswelt vorbereitet, und schildert, wie sein hybrides Format nicht nur Fachwissen, sondern auch interkulturelle Soft Skills vermittelt. Außerdem gibt er praktische Tipps für Lehrende, die internationale Lehrprojekte starten möchten, und gewährt einen Ausblick auf kommende Vorhaben.

[#28 – Daniel Frühwirth zu Internationale Lehre mit Teamwork und Unite!]

Und nicht übersehen – der Podcast ist auch in allen gängigen Portalen verfügbar:


[report] Implementing the European Student Card within the European university alliance Unite! #unite #tugraz

Our report about „Implementing the European Student Card within the European university alliance Unite!. A technical report on status, developments, and plans of Unite! universities“ is online available:

This report describes the implementation of the European Student Card Initiative (ESCI), launched by the European Commission in 2022 and comprising Erasmus Without Paper (EWP), the European Student Card (ESC), and the ERASMUS+ App, within the Unite! alliance. The first part focuses specifically on the ESC, drawing on the actions taken and the information gathered within the framework of the initiative. The Unite! alliance, comprising nine universities (Aalto University, Grenoble INP graduate school of engineering and management, University Grenoble Alpes, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Graz University of Technology, Universidade de Lisboa, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya/BarcelonaTech, Technical University of Darmstadt, and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology), aims to promote the concept of a European campus. The report outlines the nature of this initiative, the strategy adopted since 2023, and the current state of implementation within the Unite! alliance (as of August 2025). It presents two solutions for establishing ESCs within the alliance, including internally developed software solutions, such as a virtual student card application created by Politecnico di Torino, and options involving external service providers, such as Capmonetique in France at UGA (as part of the Unite! partner INP-UGA). The report also highlights potential improvements and broader implications of implementing the ESC, with the objective of supporting and informing other universities about the available solutions.

Recommended Citation:  Bertonasco, R., Diard, J., Landfahrer Berglez, K., Schön, S., Alcober, J., Büttner, W., Cruz, L., Ebner, M., Espadas, C., Ferrian, C., Fink, J., Gasplmayr, K., Hoppe, C., Järvelä, H., Krysiak, J., Oller, M., Petersson, J., Reignier Tayar, N., Schmidt, A., Sessler, C., Szymanska-Kwiecien, A. & Tadaszak, R. (2025). Implementing European Student Card amongst the European university alliance Unite!: A technical report on status, developments, and plans of Unite! universities (Technical Report). Graz University of Technology. DOI: 10.3217/nzz7b-vam63

[Link to the report]

This is an impactful contributions, methodological rigor, and exceptional novelty in the field of european alliances in higher education.

[publication] Usage of (federated) Learning Management Systems in European University Alliances #tugraz

We made a contribution about our outcomes of the European alliance titled „Usage of (federated) Learning Management Systems in European University Alliances

Abstract:
In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, European universities are increasingly relying on digital technologies for collaboration and learning. European Universities, as transnational alliances, aim to reshape higher education by fostering academic exchange and innovation across borders. With over 40 alliances in existence, enhancing virtual mobility and exchange through interconnected learning infrastructures has become imperative. This paper provides insights into Learning Management System (LMS) adoption within European alliances, focusing on the Unite! alliance as a case study. While Unite! demonstrates successful implementation of Moodle as its central LMS, challenges persist in achieving uniformity across all partners. A desktop analysis of European alliances reveals that Moodle might be the most often used LMS in February 2023. A description of the LMS implementation within the Unite! analysis shows as well that a majority uses Moodle – at least as a second LMS. So, although the decision for a federated LMS based on Moodle might be the right one, these results as well indicate the need for tailored technical solutions for future developments for some partners and disparities in lecturers‘ and students‘ concerning a Moodle so that pre-emptive measures to ensure equitable participation are important. Despite these challenges, Unite!’s experience underscores the potential of Moodle as a widely adopted platform, prompting further exploration into solutions like LTI integration.

[article @ proceeding’s homepage]
[article @ ResearchGate]

Citation: Ebner, M., Schön, S., Alcober, J., Bertonasco, R., Herczak-Ciara, A., Hoppe, C., Martikainen, J., Muchitsch, M., Petersson, J. and da Silva, F.M. (2024) ‘Usage of (federated) Learning Management Systems in European University Alliances’, Ubiquity Proceedings, 4(1), p. 37. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5334/uproc.159.

[mooc] Week 2: Open Educational Resources in Higher Education #tugraz #unite! #imoox #OER

Our MOOC on „Open Educational Resources in Higher Education“ for the European alliance UNITE! is reaching the second week. This time we are talking about how to find and use OER. There are some useful hints – so join us for free 🙂

And don’t to forget to change the language, all videos are offered in 11 different languages: [free registration link to the open course]

[report] Aligning IT infrastructures for digital learning amongst the European university alliance Unite! – The Unite! digital campus framework and requirements #unite

After more than one year of exciting work in our community we are a little bit proud to present our first technical report about „Aligning IT infrastructures for digital learning amongst the European university alliance Unite! – The Unite! digital campus framework and requirements„:

The European university alliance „Unite!“ has embarked on a mission to bring together their higher education landscape. As part of this ambitious endeavour, the Erasmus+ Work Package 2, called “Community 2 Digital Campus” or „Cm.2“ for short, was established to shape and implement a cutting-edge digital campus framework within the alliance. The purpose of the present requirement analysis is to collect and list all the key technological, organizational, and legal needs and requirements for an up-to-date European digital campus. This analysis is built upon desk research, utilizing additional methods such as an online survey and stakeholder discussions within the entire Unite! alliance. The requirements analysis results are provided against the background of a short introduction (chapter 1), an overview of platforms for learning management in European university alliances (chapter 2), and a description of the analysis’ procedures, which are the development of descriptions of digital learning and teaching infrastructures of all partners, a survey of the status quo concerning European Student Card Initiative, a survey amongst e-learning support teams, an interactive event for stakeholders and literature and projects desk research (chapter 3). Chapter 4 introduces the federated infrastructures of the Unite! alliance, especially the Metacampus as a federated learning management system based on Moodle. Chapter 5 provides detailed descriptions (including visualizations) of all partners’ digital infrastructures for learning and teaching. Chapter 6 then shares the status quo of the European Student Card Initiative implementation by all partners. Chapter 7 presents five core requirements identified through the analysis, which are the requirements of (a) interoperability between the digital infrastructures of partners and with European standards, (b) the implementation of decision-making concerning IT infrastructure for the digital campus: the Technical Commission, (c) the strategic support for the effective utilization of existing IT systems, especially the Metacampus, (d) clarifying future (learning) scenarios, mobility, and other issues relating to development of the IT infrastructure, and (e) budgetary considerations for the development and maintenance of federated systems. Finally, chapter 8 sketches the next steps and the future of Community 2 Digital Campus and its tasks, and presents (a) the work plan and organisational structure for Community 2 Digital Campus, (b) further development of Metacampus support and resources (T2.3), (c) update of Metacampus and organisational development of support requests, (d) ESCI: improvement of service, (e) eduGAIN maintenance and further development (T2.6), (f) piloting of LTI and integration of MOOCs (T2.6), (g) implementation of meta-data standards for course description (T2.5, T2.6), and (h) support of openness and innovation (T2.1).

The report is open licenced available here:
[repository @ TU Graz]
[ResearchGate]

Furthermore find here some few slides acting as a kind of summary:

Reference: Ebner, M., Schön, S., Alcober, J., Bertonasco, R., Bonani, F., Cruz, L., Espadas, C., Filgueira Xavier, V., Franco, M., Gasplmayr, K., Giralt, J., Hoppe, C., Koschutnig-Ebner, M., Langevin, E., Laurent, R., Leitner, P., Martikainen, J., Matias, J., Muchitsch, M., … Würz, A. (2024). Aligning IT infrastructures for digital learning amongst the European university alliance Unite! – The Unite! digital campus framework and requirements (1.0). Unite! Community 2 Digital Campus, Graz University of Technology. https://doi.org/10.3217/36yen-0wy21

[mooc] Mental borders, physical borders and the shaping of modern European identity and citizenship #imoox #unigraz

Another interesting MOOC started last week at the platform iMooX.at called „Mental borders, physical borders and the shaping of modern European identity and citizenship„:

Since the early descriptions in the Greek chronicles, the foundational myths of Europe as a cultural and civilizational entity have been reshaped throughout medieval, modern, colonial and contemporary history. The mental borders framing European-ness inform discourses around typical European and non-European cultures, which have deeply influenced the socio-politics of inclusion and exclusion within and across European countries. This has led to advances in policies and attitudes that promote and value cultural diversity, but also to the recent resurgence in populist, far-right activity documented in many countries across Europe and beyond.
Consequently, the MOOC explores the advantages of asserting and defending hegemonic cultural notions of European identity from different geographical perspectives. In doing so, it seeks to inform contemporary debate on diversity and contribute to developing inclusive European identities which are truly open to the world.
The course is made up of four units, each of which has been designed to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the topic. Over four weeks, you will be introduced to the challenge of narrating Europe from different angles; you will learn more about the concepts of citizenship in relation to identity and border and about the complex idea of a “humanitarian border”. You will also approach, from the perspective of international relations, the role of the European Union as a global player.

The registration as well as the participation is completly free: [Link to registration for the free online-course]

[mooc] The European Neighbourhood Policy and Cross-Border Cooperation #imoox

We are happy to announce that today a new MOOC is starting titled „The European Neighbourhood Policy and Cross-Border Cooperation„:

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has increased the reach and clout of the EU beyond its borders into the immediate vicinity. Yet, the EU vs. non-EU discrepancies at the economic and political level are still very much visible in the eastern borderlands of the EU which comprise areas of land under the jurisdiction of both the EU and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) states. Thus, in line with the 2015 ENP Review and the subsequent 2016 Global Strategy for the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS), which both emphasised the urgent need for reconsideration of the EU’s neighbourhood and external instruments, the role of borderland regions has also been seen as prominent for enhancing cooperation between Eastern European EU and non-EU members and for strengthening regional stability and security.
This course addresses all students interested to enhance their knowledge in issues ranging from the EU’s actorness, the ENP and the EaP to cross-border cooperation.
This MOOC aims at equipping students, young professionals, civil society representatives,
public servants, etc. with basic knowledge and practical experience in the (geo)political, economic and social processes occurring in European Union (EU)’s eastern neighbourhood. 

As usual the participation is completly free, so just register and have fun with this online course.

[Join free course on „The European Neighbourhood Policy and Cross-Border Cooperation“]