ILSO

Integrated teaching of sociology – Creation of modular, multimedia teaching and learning units for sociology

For two years ILSO has been creating comprehensive multimedia learning materials for the study of sociology at the Fernuniverstät Hagen together with its project partners, the University of Hamburg and the University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg.

Contents are structured modularly. They both cover large parts of basic teaching of sociology and can be flexibly combined into manifold offers for advanced and professional training. Offers are as follows: Introduction, Theories, Childhood, Adolescence, Old Age, Family, German Civics, Social Structures, Activity Theory, Communication Theory, Diagnosis of Current Societies, Theories of Social Differentiation, Sociological Image Science – Semiotics, Industry and Business, Labour.

Multimedia materials are both prepared on CD-ROMs for self-learning and for online-learning in cooperative learning processes via the Internet. Consequently, ILSO does not aim at exchanging traditional forms of teaching and learning for multimedia teaching and learning, but at combining them into a productive setup that will enable each form to unfold its productive potentials:

• Boosting of face-to-face teaching phases by means of block seminars
• Modernising of self-learning phases by means of multimedial structuring
• Integration of students by means of structured and tutored interactive online-learning phases

Against the background of current modernisation processes in university teaching this concept is highly innovative.

Multimedia materials for self-learning are created in three different basic forms:

• multifunctional and multidimensional file course
• multimedia material workshop
• networked, virtual card box

Tutored online phases are also offered in three versions:

• asynchronous work platform
• synchronous chat
• cooperative whiteboard

Combined with different forms of traditional face-to-face teaching these elements can also be modular parts of concepts for didactical teaching and learning scenarios and can be optimised with regard to both specific contents and specific student groups.

Based on many years of cooperation (Summer-University) with the University of St. Petersburg (Dr.Golovin) first software tools, sociological contents, and didactical teaching and learning scenarios have been translated into Russian and integrated into a shared concept.

	ilso.pdf []
Contact: ilso@fernuni-hagen.de