The Berlin State Teaching Prize will be awarded for the first time in 2026 by the Senator for Science, Dr. Ina Czyborra. It underlines the special importance of university teaching for Berlin as a center of science and provides an important impetus for commitment to excellent teaching beyond one's own teaching area. In addition, selected examples of good practice and findings on the further development of university teaching are presented to a broad specialist audience at a specialist day and the exchange of innovative teaching formats at Berlin universities is promoted.
In the university's own selection process, ASH Berlin selected four outstanding teaching projects from 14 submitted projects and officially nominated them for the final evaluation for the Berlin State Teaching Award. The selected projects impress with their high potential for innovation, strong didactics and student-centered approach. They are exemplary examples of what future-oriented university teaching can look like today.
Nominated teaching projects
The four teaching projects submitted belong to the following three categories:
Best teaching that imparts basic knowledge and skills:
Prof. Dr. Susanne A. Benner, Introduction to Law, Bachelor of Social Work course
Best teaching that promotes the independent production, generation or (artistic) interpretation of knowledge and skills:
Prof. Dr. Julia Franz: Critical reading of case documentation: Discrimination critique and professional action competence, Bachelor's degree course in Social Work
Prof. Dr. Mart Busche, Lilian Franck: Social work and sexual education work - analog, digital, media, Bachelor's degree course in Social Work
Best teaching that promotes the application, transfer or deepening of knowledge and skills:
Prof. Dr. André Heinz, Wibke Hollweg: Technology and innovation in healthcare, Bachelor's degree course in Interprofessional Healthcare online (IGo)
Internal university selection procedure
Nominations were made via a structured internal university procedure that was launched at the beginning of the winter semester 2025/26.
- Students and lecturers had until December 1, 2025 to submit nominations.
- Teaching staff were informed and submitted complete application documents by January 12, 2026.
- The jury consisted of the Vice President of Studies, Teaching and Digitalization, the Vice Deans of both departments, student representatives from both departments, the head of the QME SuL department and the Women's* and Equal Opportunities Officer.
- Students were actively involved in the selection process - both in making suggestions for teaching projects to be submitted and as jury members with voting rights.
Evaluation criteria
The projects were assessed according to the official criteria of the State Teaching Award with the following internal ASH weighting:
- Quality of didactics (45%) - e.g. learning objectives, methods, skills development
- Student-centeredness (35%) - e.g. learning process, activation, co-design
- Innovation (10 %) - e.g. new formats and methods
- Transfer potential (10 %) - e.g. transferability to other degree programs
Why these projects were selected
The nominated teaching projects combine innovative formats with strong didactics and focus on the students. They promote independent learning, critical thinking and the combination of academic qualifications with practical skills. Digital and analog methods are sensibly combined and specifically tailored to different learning groups.
A particular highlight is the transfer potential: the approaches can be easily transferred to other degree programs and departments, which can sustainably strengthen the quality of teaching at ASH.
The projects take up the university's SAGE profile by combining social relevance, application orientation, creative ability and commitment. They can provide impetus for the further development of an innovative teaching and learning culture and open up prospects for sustainable anchoring.
Consistency with the mission statement
The projects correspond to theLearning and Teaching Mission Statement of ASH Berlinwhich promotes a learning culture that is critical of discrimination, participative and diversity-oriented. The projects put these principles into practice by designing active learning processes, incorporating diverse perspectives and taking into account the needs of a diverse student body. Practical references are integrated and the university is strengthened as a learning organization.
Against this backdrop, the Executive Board is convinced that the teaching projects submitted meet the criteria of the State Teaching Award in an outstanding manner and deserve an award.
Insights into teaching projects
In the following, the nominated lecturers themselves provide a brief insight into their teaching projects and report on the ideas and concepts that particularly motivate them:
Prof. Dr. Susanne A. Benner: Teaching law creatively - how "Introduction to the law" comes alive
"The starting point for the course I designed on Introduction to the law is the experience that many social work students perceive legal content and also the technical language as "dry" and difficult to access.
The aim of the nominated teaching project, which is aimed at students in the first semester, is therefore to make it possible to experience law as a lively, professionally relevant field of action and to break down barriers to learning, using the potential of creative approaches.
The course follows a student-centered, skills-oriented approach that consistently combines legal systematics with creative and narrative methods. The methods used include acrostics on legal concepts, term taboos, legal miniatures to analyze norm structures, narrative transformations, such as fairytale-like narratives of fundamental rights, law-in-literature analyses and scenic writing on typical professional situations. The methods are arranged in the sense of a didactic progression that leads from low-threshold activation via linguistic transformation to application and reflection.
The innovation potential lies in the systematic integration of creative methods into legal teaching as well as in the combination of specialist learning, linguistic understanding and discrimination-sensitive reflection. Law is not only understood, but also formulated in a way that is appropriate for the target group and applied in a social work context. Diversity-sensitive and activating university teaching is implemented as part of the course."
Prof. Dr. Mart Busche & Lilian Franck: Social work and sexual education - analog, digital, media
"The nomination by our students motivated us to apply in order to make the transferable study design accessible to others. The project seminar shows how students act professionally and take responsibility in a politicized, sensitive field - in an error-friendly learning culture and with clear safeguards from the teaching team for protection and standards.
Didactically, we work over several semesters in a structured, open learning setting with clear milestones, transparent criteria and continuous, mutual feedback. Students co-design content, analyze sexual education materials in a power-critical and intersectionality-sensitive manner and work on professional ethical dilemmas.
The combination of structured self-direction, team teaching and project-based performance assessment is innovative and translates learning objectives into public, target group-oriented products (short film, exhibition, social media, reader, methods).
The transfer into a real educational format is central: a public specialist event developed by the students and supported by the entire seminar. They take on roles of responsibility and reflect on decisions iteratively. The seminar culminated in a successful, well-attended symposium on anti-feminism, resulting in co-constructive knowledge production that ensures professional standards and allows controversies to be dealt with professionally."
Prof. Dr. Julia Franz: Kritische Lektüre von Falldokumentationen: Critique of discrimination and professional competence to act
"I am really delighted that a course on the seemingly dry subject of case documentation by students has been nominated for the teaching award. As a professor of social work specializing in case understanding, it is important to me to promote a critical awareness of case documentation such as help plans, development reports and epicrises, as well as a professional, discrimination-sensitive approach. The didactic approach of my course is a combination of interdisciplinary exchange, a historical perspective, close reading and a writing workshop. The practice-oriented approach of self-criticism, which can lead to changes in everyday professional life, is innovative. We reflect on the fact that standard formulations may provide short-term relief, but make it difficult to understand the situations and perspectives of the addressees and lead to subsequent problems. By deconstructing case files, comparing them with self-testimonies and in the writing workshop, students learn to grasp powerful case constructions analytically and develop new ways of writing."
Prof. Dr. André Heinz & Wibke Hollweg: Technology and innovation in healthcare
"With our application, we want to make the relevance of digital technologies and innovative support systems for healthcare visible. Working students from the nursing and therapy professions in particular need skills to not only understand digital transformation, but to actively help shape it. Our teaching project strengthens students as qualified future practitioners who can test and evaluate technological and digital innovations in their fields of work in a critical, ethically reflective and open manner.
The "Technology and Innovation in Healthcare" module combines asynchronous self-study phases, synchronous exchange formats, attendance components, guest contributions from digital health experts, excursions and practical exercises in a blended learning concept. Students work interprofessionally, collaboratively and in a research-based manner on topics such as e-health, telemedicine, teletherapy, telecare, AAL, robotics and AI applications. Case studies, practical tasks and the use of real technologies enable direct transfer to professional fields of action. Students develop a 5-minute pitch on an innovative application and an in-depth slidecast as part of the examination. This combines scientific research, application transfer, critical reflection and digital presentation skills. Co-teaching brings together different professional perspectives and strengthens the interprofessional character of the course.
The innovation potential lies in the combination of digitally supported teaching, practical professional experience, ethical reflection and concrete technology evaluation and testing. The learning architecture has a modular structure and can be transferred to other degree courses, professional groups and subject areas. It shows how part-time online teaching can be designed to be flexible, activating, practical and scientifically sound. The very positive evaluations confirm the relevance of the content, the studyability of the format and the perceived increase in skills. The project thus contributes to the professionalization of healthcare professions in the context of digital transformation. The project thus contributes to the professionalization of healthcare professions in the context of digital transformation."
We are keeping our fingers crossed for a successful selection and would already like to draw attention to the award ceremony of the State Teaching Prize and the "Excellent Teaching" symposium on July 1, 2026 at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (BHT); information on the program and registration will be published on the event website.
