SaG

In the Department of Electrical Engineering at the der h_da, a slower variant of the Bachelor's program in Electrical Engineering, i.e. stretched over a larger number of semesters, was to be tested in cooperation with the Technical University of Central Hesse and the Fulda University of Applied Sciences under the direction of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art. This was aimed at students for whom the regular study program is too demanding and/or too fast. Possible reasons for this could be:

• gainful employment to finance studies,
• family commitments, e.g. children or caring for relatives,
• generally slower learning ability (slow learners).

In the adapted version, the content of the first four semesters is stretched to six semesters. There are also mandatory additional mentoring events as well as projects for practical application of the content learned. At the end of these first six semesters, students move on to the regular main degree program.

During the first phase of the project, as many first-year students in the program as possible complete an entry questionnaire that includes sociodemographic items (age, family/residential situation) as well as questions about schooling, motivation to study, etc. At this point, students have not yet decided on the regular or adapted program option. In addition, they fill out further questionnaires during the course of their studies, which inquire about their experiences during their studies. During the second phase, it was planned to track the study and examination performance during the main study period. The answers of these questionnaires and the examination results were to be used for the following:

• Description of the target group, isolation of a comparison group among regular students with as similar characteristics as possible.
• Identifying reasons for impediments: Why are regular students who would be "predestined" not participating in the adapted variant? How can the adapted variant be promoted more effectively and made more appealing?
• What can be improved in the design and implementation of the adapted variant?
• Tracking both groups to graduation, comparing academic performance.
• Did the adjusted variation produce significant improvements in dropout rates, exam scores, and final grades?

Contact persons at DISO

• Prof. Dr. Jutta Groos
• Florian Junge

Cooperation partners

• Hessian Ministry for Science and Art
• Technical University of Central Hesse
• Fulda University of Applied Sciences

Time period

Summer semester 2016 until Winter semester 2019/2020

• 2015/2016: Initiation of the project by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art
• Summer semester 2016: Inquiry by Mrs. Cornelia Walter-Appel to DISO (then: CCSOR) in person of Prof. Dr. Jutta Groos, who calls in Florian Junge to clarify technical details
• Summer semester 2017: Start of the first phase of the project
• Summer semester 2018: Presentation of first questionnaire evaluations in a joint round of the three participating universities
• Summer semester 2019: Presentation of further results in joint round
• Summer semester 2020: Termination of the project, as it was clear at this point that the summer semester 2020 would not allow any face-to-face courses due to the CoViD-19 pandemic and therefore also not the obligatory additional courses for project participants. Furthermore, it was not foreseeable when regular classroom teaching would be allowed again