25 years of vhb – An anniversary celebration and an award for FAU
The “Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern” (vhb) is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. As one of the first universities to establish digital teaching formats in Bavaria, the vhb has been providing significant impetus for the development of (digital) higher education in our state for a quarter of a century. Over the past 25 years, vhb has made significant contributions to digital teaching in Bavaria; both teachers and students at FAU have also benefited from this development.
As one of the founding universities of the vhb, FAU also made its contribution at the 25th anniversary celebrations. FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger, as a member of the vhb Executive Board, together with vhb President Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Godehard Ruppert (Former President of Otto Friedrich University Bamberg) and Prof. Dr. Niels Oberbeck (President of Nuremberg Institute of Technology Georg Simon Ohm) awarded prizes for outstanding teaching to nine outstanding online courses. The teaching teams received awards in the three categories “Outstanding support” – CLASSIC vhb (courses for credit towards a university degree), “Outstanding media didactics” – OPEN vhb (open courses for all interested parties) and “Outstanding overall concept: media didactics, creativity and integration into teaching – SMART vhb (digital learning units). In total, more than 600 lecturers are active with online courses at the vhb.
An award for FAU: Prof. Safferling and team “Outstanding Media Didactics”
FAU Professor Dr. Christoph Safferling and his team (Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, International Criminal Law and Public International Law) received one of the awards for “Outstanding Media Didactics” for their OPEN vhb course “Cybercrime and Digital Criminal Prosecution” (knowledge area Law). The course provides a basic understanding of the socially relevant and media-present topic of cybercrime, the technology behind it and digital law enforcement. The theoretical content of the course is illustrated by various elements: in an animated criminal case – involving a hacking attack – a fictitious detective accompanies the participants throughout the course as they solve the case. Introductory videos provide an overview of the respective lessons, which are designed to be entertaining with explanatory clips and visual representations. Special highlights are interviews with experts who provide a practical reference to the content learned and deepen the content. Numerous interactive task formats are used as learning checks and ensure the success of the participants, who apply their acquired knowledge when solving cases.
This commitment demonstrates the opportunities offered by digital formats to provide students and all target groups interested in academic content with up-to-date and practical insights into topics relevant to higher education.
Professor Safferling’s course „Cyber-Kriminalität und digitale Strafverfolgung“ is available free of charge to all members of the Bavarian vhb member universities and takes around 14 hours to complete. Interested parties can enrol in all current OPEN vhb courses at any time.
Here you can go directly to the course “Cybercrime and digital law enforcement” by Professor Safferling (course access after login via IdM university ID).
Congratulations to all award winners!
Award ceremony for the course team of “Cyber Crime and Digital Law Enforcement” by the vhb Executive Board
Source: vhb press release “Festive event ‘25 years of vhb – The Future of Teaching is Now’ Award ceremony for outstanding teachers”
Film contribution from FAU
Under the motto “The Future of Teaching is Now!”, the vhb has also requested film contributions from its member universities for the 25th anniversary ceremony. In addition to speeches by Bavarian Science Minister Blume and vhb President Prof. Ruppert, these short films illustrate various milestones of the “Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern”.
With its film contribution “50 years of vhb”, FAU has ventured a witty preview of the vhb’s 50th birthday in 2050. Will our avatars really be making the statements for educational films in the future? One thing is clear: AI will actively support us in teaching as a co-creator.
Inspirations for further browsing, such as the video message from Science Minister Markus Blume, the celebratory speech “25 years of vhb” by Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Godehard Ruppert (President of the vhb) as well as the other film contributions from the member universities can be found on the website for the celebratory event and in the vhb’s digital commemorative publication for the 25th anniversary.
Would you also like to become part of the vhb community at FAU?
If you would like more information about the vhb or your own online course, please contact us at vhb-office@fau.de. We look forward to hearing from you and your vhb project!