Peer Coaching in Tuition

The fact that they work in different departments does not prevent Prof. Dr Norbert Jung and Prof. Dr Marco Winzker from collaborating. For about five years, they have taken it in turns to give guest lectures during their colleague’s seminars and lectures. The Vice President for Tuition, Prof. Dr Manfred Kaul, congratulated them, wishing that others would follow their example.

Prof. Kaul hopes that this "Peer Coaching" will take place at university level - not because this is provided for by the University Development Plan, but because the two colleagues learn from each other. He thinks that this has a positive impact on the development of tuition, from which both the students and the professors benefit.

Prof. Norbert Jung from the Department of Computer Science explains how it works, “During my lecture on "Embedded Systems", my colleague Winzker from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Technical Journalism (EMT) gives a regular account of his industry-oriented projects with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). In this way, the students obtain first-hand information on this new technology. In turn, I report on my experience and findings during his lecture with the research focus "Security". Jung has recently dealt with the topic of “Synchronisation Mechanisms in Embedded Systems”.

Vice President Manfred Kaul (middle) is happy about the Peer Coaching between his two colleagues Norbert Jung (left) and Marco Winzker (right)

Prof. Winzker says that each of them sits in the other’s lecture, which enables both of them to give valuable feedback on the other’s tuition methods; he explains that from the university didactic point of view, the importance of this Peer Coaching is seen in the very efficient improvement in quality.

The professors also cooperate beyond their tuition exchange, especially within the framework of the European intensive courses DeSeRTS and SaSeRos on the topic of functional security, which have been organised by Prof. Jung since 2007. Following Espoo/Finland and Amsterdam/Netherlands, the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences was the venue again this year. There are plans to continue the intensive courses at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in 2012.

By the way, according to Jung it is only natural for their colleagues to participate in their lectures during these intensive courses. He considers it to be "highly interesting" to see how others teach their topics.

Vice President Kaul praised the two colleagues' dedicated commitment as an example of the varied activities undertaken by the Bonn-Rhine-Sieg University of Applied Sciences to ensure excellent tuition. "There are starting points for Peer Coaching between all our departments", he said. And he is happy to give tips to those interested.