Learning & Teaching Enabling the integration of the "whole person"

The initial situation

"There is no going back to the time before Corona." These or similar statements are often used to implicitly argue that the many online formats that were inevitably created during the online semesters cannot simply disappear again.

If we introduce ourselves below as an initiative at ASH Berlin that has taken on the topic of education in presence, it is precisely for this reason: It is true that we cannot go back to the experiences of Corona, even as a university. But what follows from this statement is (still) completely open. And it would be inappropriate for a university debate about its educational formats to simply be affirmative and uncritical here.

We believe that the importance of presence in teaching needs to be reassessed, especially after the experiences of online teaching due to the pandemic. Especially since the question of meaningful formats and necessary conditions for educational processes is not only being raised in view of the experiences with the many black tiles in online semesters: we have long been experiencing developments at universities - due to ever larger seminar groups, CP focus, multiple burdens on students, increasing tasks for lecturers - that are gnawing away at the commitment, quality and continuity of teaching. In this respect, it can be said that the necessary conditions for high-quality (face-to-face) teaching were gradually eroding long before corona.

What es ours is about

Against this background, our initiative sees itself as a reflective space for discourse on the question of good teaching and meaningful learning at our university. It has arisen out of concern for the quality of teaching in our degree programs, but also generally out of concern for our university, its character and its inner life, which has become even more urgent as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

We see an educational-theoretical, pedagogical and training-related need to address the specific educational potential of teaching and education in presence. It will be crucial to ask about the conditions on which teaching and education in presence depend. After many discussions, we are deeply convinced that successful face-to-face teaching means much more than having a group of teachers and learners - physically - in the same room at the same time.

The basic ideas

We see teaching and education in presence as a protected and shared space in which a shared culture of discussion can develop in a special way. Only here is it possible to teach and learn in a way that not only imparts specialist knowledge and skills, but also builds personality. Presence means and enables physical immediacy, with all the associated opportunities for experience. The integration of the "whole person" in teaching and education in presence - through its diverse, atmospheric, comprehensive, interactive, emotional, intuitive and body-language qualities - brings with it correspondingly complex and lasting experiences, both in intellectual as well as ethical and aesthetic terms. These include interpersonal experiences of strangeness and familiarity, connectedness, contrast and difference, which are particularly relevant for ASH Berlin's degree programs and its mission statement. However, in order for these to unfold their challenging educational potential, there needs to be a willingness, both individual and shared, to engage with this lively and diverse coexistence on site. A university like ASH Berlin - in line with its mission statement - is all about being able to talk and argue with each other as equals: To do this, you have to be able to look each other directly in the eye, with as much undivided attention as possible. Last but not least, face-to-face teaching also enables many informal exchange processes around the courses and their content, which often lead to further important experiences and insights.

Concrete consequences for teaching and the university

The specific presence in the shared learning situation has irreplaceable, diverse dimensions of experience that cannot be compensated for either digitally or through written participation. This is why we do not see teaching and education in presence as an "outdated" form of working and learning at universities. Rather, it is now a matter of re-examining this format - against the backdrop of the eroding development that has been going on for some time and in the light of the experiences of the online semesters - and then, as a result, placing it on a new foundation that serves it.

A joint discourse on this central question and task of the university, for example in the context of ASH Berlin's new mission statement "Learning and Teaching", could also be a decisive impulse for the revival and deepening of a jointly designed university public sphere, which many currently very rightly desire. In the best case scenario, this joint discourse could then replace a "culture of non-commitment" that has existed for some time and has probably only been exacerbated by corona, with a newly found and defined teaching and learning culture of commitment. At this point, it is therefore also necessary to question document systems or examination regulations, which already deny any obligation to attend in wording or in practice or thwart them through double assignments. In this respect, a renewed commitment to teaching in presence would require a revision of many regulations or established practices and convictions based on reflections on educational theory.

If we declare the online formats that have emerged as "progressive" simply because they are new and sometimes also see them as a supposed way out of some structural problems such as saving time, lack of space, seminar groups that are too large, etc. (which, however, already existed for some time before corona), then we are (unintentionally) supporting a culture that undermines good teaching and learning together in the spirit of economistic efficiency thinking. In this respect, we should and want to take a critical look and take the time now for thorough reflection and joint discourse.

For a more detailed presentation of the position presented here, we would like to refer you to our "17 theses on face-to-face teaching", which represent the preliminary result of our initiative. These theses are published in open access and can be found here: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-ash/frontdoor/index/index/docId/506