OpenEdu RLP

OpenEdu RLP is an initiative to promote open educational resources (OER) at universities in Rhineland-Palatinate. [Please check: add a brief description of the overall initiative, the funding body and the duration]

The Faculty of Computer Science at Worms University of Applied Sciences is participating with three sub-projects:

  • Learning digital accounting through play
  • ExGOER – Exploratory OERs in the field of computer graphics and VR
  • Teaching and learning process management in a realistic context

Each sub-project develops its own open teaching and learning materials and makes them available to all interested parties as part of OpenEdu RLP.

Sub-project: Learning accounting digitally and through play

This sub-project focuses on the lecture ‘Introduction to Accounting’. The project is led by Prof. Dr Marie-Luise Sessler. The aim is to convey the often dry topics of accounting in a playful way.

To this end, course participants take on the role of new ‘owners’ of a sushi bar. In this way, they gain an interactive understanding of various challenges and concepts in accounting.

The project group prepares the content and subsequently publishes it on the OpenEdu-RLP platform, where it is freely available to anyone interested.

Student assistants: Pascal Renner, Dennis Schaffner, Tim Wrobbel
Accounting tutor: Isabelle Obenauer

Sub-project: ExGOER – Exploratory OERs in the field of computer graphics and VR

Foto: Klaus Böhm, i3mainz, CC BY-SA 4.0
Part of the project team (from left to right): Florian Diller, Prof. Klaus Böhm, Fabian Püschel, Prof. Alexander Wiebel, Julian Stockemer.

Interactive learning environments have been shown to offer benefits for teaching. This sub-project utilises them to develop OER (Open Educational Resources) materials on various topics in computer graphics. Each teaching unit combines three components:

  • an interactive 3D web application
  • lecture slides
  • quiz questions

The project team refers to this combination as ‘Exploratory Graphics OER’, or ExGOER for short. It is being developed for selected areas of overlap between eight modules at Worms University of Applied Sciences and Mainz University of Applied Sciences. The modules involved cover a broad spectrum of computer graphics topics, ranging from the fundamentals to complex 3D transformations and rendering techniques.

Sub-project: Teaching and learning process management in a realistic context

Highlights from the Design Thinking workshop held on 10 January 2023 at Worms University of Applied Sciences.

Tina Nett is studying Business Informatics and is undertaking an internship in business process management at bureau4us GmbH. There, she is getting to know the various departments and key players within a typical medium-sized company. She is learning how effectiveness and efficiency can be improved there.

Tina Nett and the fictional bureau4us GmbH provide the framework for this sub-project. With their help, the project team breaks down complex issues in process management into practical, small learning steps.

Process management is a key topic in business informatics. It forms the backbone of efficient workflows in businesses and public administrations. Students studying this subject need feedback: can their models be implemented? What impact would that have? This feedback is provided by fellow students and lecturers in face-to-face sessions.

In online teaching, simulations help with this: they complement this feedback and, in some cases, replace it. Petri nets are currently the most extensively researched formal language for modelling dynamic systems and their processes. Simulations help students to better understand such systems.

The GAPS research group has been developing new digital learning formats in this field for years. This is in line with the strategy of Worms University of Applied Sciences and the Faculty of Computer Science. OpenEdu-RLP now offers the opportunity to further develop these results and make them accessible across the state.

Prof. Dr Carlo Simon is leading the project. He brings a wealth of personal experience to the project, as does his team. In addition, the findings from a design thinking workshop involving students and staff at the university are being incorporated.

This is resulting in self-study materials featuring motivating gamification elements, available in German and English, and designed in accordance with the guidelines for students with visual impairments.