By Marianne Fuglsang Welling Farsinsen, photo: AAU Photos.

Baseline survey and masterplan

In the autumn of 2022, 3,316 students and 843 lecturers responded to a large questionnaire on digitalisation in education. The many responses, and more than 1,600 comments, together form the sum total of the survey scope of digitalisation in AAU's education field.

The survey showed that 78% of AAU's lecturers recognise the value of digital methods, but only 17% feel they have the time to experiment with them. It also shows that students demand more uniformity in the use of systems and a better overview of AAU's system landscape. The survey has been the focal point in the preparation of goals, vision and initiatives for the field of education in the coming years, and you can read more about the results here.

"The study shows us a clear need for initiatives, both in terms of a technical and organisational boost of systems, but also points to a need for initiatives in relation to strengthening competencies and developing practice. The study reflects a strong consensus on a number of challenges, and we are finally addressing them with the targeted initiatives that will start here in 2024", says Prorector Anne Marie Kanstrup.

The initiatives are gathered in a digitalisation master plan for the education area in the years 2024-2026, and have been prepared with the involvement of the senior education management and directors of studies across AAU and adopted by AAU's Digitalisation Committee. The masterplan addresses three visions:

1. We will make the necessary strategic choices and embed digital learning in all aspects of our programmes.
2. We will support and inspire our educators, and we will strengthen our digital learning environments for all our students.
3. We will build a solid foundation of coherent and intuitive systems.

Common basic package of supportive learning systems for the education area

One of the primary purposes of the masterplan for the education area is to strengthen AAU's digital learning environment and create a more seamless and uniform user experience, which students in particular demand in the baseline survey. The educational environments use many different systems, but as part of the masterplan's vision of a solid foundation, the starting point is a basic package of systems. The basic package consists of Moodle, Microsoft365, Zoom and Panopto: systems that can cover students' and teachers' basic needs for digital support of study activities and that are common to all educational environments at AAU.

The education management has chosen to focus on the systems in the basic package, which are highly prioritised in terms of support, technical development and organisational support. This includes working to provide better help with the use of Moodle and the systems in MS365, to develop Moodle so that the system better supports the needs of the educational environments and sets a common direction for the use of Moodle, so that AAU offers a more uniform user experience for students.

2024 is the year of execution

AAU's digitalisation team in ITS works strategically within three portfolios: education, research and administration. The efforts in the education area are run by PBL Digital with reference to the Strategic Education Council (DSUR). In December 2023, PBL Digital presented the approved masterplan for AAU's student management at all levels.

2024 will be the year of execution. Teachers and students will receive direct information about the initiatives that are developed in collaboration with teachers and students from 2024 and onwards, and which can be brought directly into play to improve the experience of the digital learning environment.

You can read more about PBL Digital here.