The Project

What do digital formats do to subject content and teaching processes? How can students be given a critical and reflective understanding of data practices and their consequences? How should digital or hybrid teaching formats be designed beyond the emergency situation caused by the pandemic? What do new technology-induced teacher and student role models look like?

Thinking digitally right from the start

^{Joseph Mucira / Pixabay}

The ‘Digital and Data Literacy in Teaching Lab’ project (DDLitLab for short) addresses these and other questions. A central pillar is the promotion of digital teaching innovations related to data literacy education through teaching projects at all faculties and as part of cross-faculty courses. The project team sees digital forms and spaces as the starting point for the development of the programme - and not, as is usually the case, as a mere supplement to physical elements. Digital and Data Literacy in Teaching Lab is being funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education with around 5 million euros for a total duration of four and a half years.

What exactly is digital and data literacy?

"Digital and data literacy means the technical and cultural ability to orientate and help shape processes of (digital) data collection and storage, their processing, analysis and visualisation, as well as critical reflection on contemporary digital and data practices and their consequences for everyday social life in science, law, culture, politics and business." (Universität Hamburg, 2023)

A central aim of the project is to enable students to gain a critical understanding of digital and data practices and to use data responsibly.

Our interdisciplinary Data Worlds programme, a two-semester lecture cycle with application exercises, provides the basis for this.

We also promote innovative teaching ideas in subject-specific, interdisciplinary and transfer-oriented courses as part of the teaching lab.

Students who want to work intensively on their own chosen, data-driven topics and thus individually expand their expert knowledge and their digital and data skills are supervised in the student research groups with a focus on data literacy.

Foto: Baim Icon & design circle / Noun Project

Content perspectives

Interdisciplinary

The area of interdisciplinary data literacy in the DDLitLab is divided into different areas.

The DDLitLab supports interdisciplinary courses as part of the teaching lab.

Since mid-2024, the interdisciplinary teaching labs have been intensified as part of the Cross-Disciplinary Teaching Labs. Both students and lecturers benefit from interdisciplinary teaching and learning environments and can thus meet current challenges in a completely new way.

Data Worlds

The Data Worlds programme consists of lecture series in the winter and summer semesters, as well as accompanying exercises to accompany the lecture content in practice. Find out more here.

The aim of the Data Worlds programme is to impart basic knowledge in the field of digital and data skills as well as familiarity with digitality, data and methods to students of all subjects. Within this framework, they should acquire practical technical knowledge and learn to critically reflect on digitalisation and data practices from different perspectives. The two are closely linked: In order to understand the changes brought about by datafication and digitalisation in society, it is necessary to understand the basic modes of operation. On the other hand, to be able to handle data competently, you not only need to know the processes, but also be able to assess the associated ethical and epistemological implications.

Subject-specific

The subject-specific data literacy education sub-project is aimed at a subject-specific student body, either in one subject or in several neighbouring subjects. The aim of these teaching lab projects is to promote the discourse on data literacy within the subject, develop new teaching formats, content and concepts and establish good practices at department and/or faculty level in order to anchor the topic in the curriculum in the long term.

The DDLitLab supports the projects primarily in terms of organisation and evaluation. To this end, needs-based formats of exchange and networking between the teaching lab fellows are developed and an interdisciplinary focus is set. In dialogue with committees and quality circles, discussions are sought at department and faculty level in order to integrate data literacy education into future curricula.

Transfer

Sustainable innovations develop primarily through collaborations in which practical entrepreneurship or social commitment and scientific expertise inspire and stimulate each other. Co-creation, i.e. the inclusion of diverse expertise in the context of joint knowledge production, plays a central role in this reciprocal transfer process.

The transfer focus area cooperated closely with actors at UHH who are already active in transfer-oriented teaching, such as the base.camp at the Department of Computer Science, the Research Office for Social Innovation at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences and the #UHHengagiert network. It works together with the newly founded TransferAgency of the University of Hamburg to ensure the sustainable integration of the developed transfer projects and concepts into the emerging transfer landscape at the UHH from the start of the project.

Data Challenges: Data-based challenges for more innovative transfer (completed)

With the Data Challenges, we promoted innovative and data-based transfer activities between the University of Hamburg and public, private sector and civil society partners. How did we do this? By offering teachers concrete suggestions for designing their courses with practice partners, with which they could apply for financial and administrative support in the Data Literacy Teaching Lab. Students, on the other hand, received ideas for the design of their data literacy student project through the data challenges, with which they could also apply for financial support.

Didactic counselling - DUTy

The DUTy (Digital University Teaching Literacy) sub-project is the responsibility of the HUL and is aimed at qualifying teachers and student tutors for digital (or hybrid) teaching.

With the increasing penetration of digital technologies in society, the ability to teach digitally (or hybrid) is becoming an integral part of teaching skills at universities - regardless of the subject matter. Digital university teaching literacy refers to the fundamental ability of teachers to organise their teaching with digital technologies in such a way that the intended educational and learning objectives are achieved. From teaching navigation to AI hands-on events - further information and offers from the DuTy team can be found at the bottom of this page!

Information & education

Generative AI in the DDLitLab

Generative AI is a key topic in studying and teaching. From possible applications and limitations, to tool tips and information on what research is being carried out at UHH in the field of AI, you can find out here what you need to know to use AI confidently during your studies.