Abstract:

GUUGLE is an acronym in German language and stands for “GUt Und Gerne Lehren und lErnen” – translated “Enjoying excellent learning and teaching”. It is a university wide program, where lecturers and students reflect their usual teaching respectively learning behavior and the rules and structures of the teaching respectively learning context. Both the exchange of ideas and the learning from each other as well as the development of new ideas emerge from those group meetings.
The GUUGLE program is designed for five years and should achieve a cultural change in teaching and learning in the whole university. GUUGLE has been initiated by Michael Vogel and Wolfgang Lukas, both professors at the University of Bremerhaven and received the award for excellent teaching from the “Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft” and the “Kultusministerkonferenz”, which supported this project with a significant budget.
Stimulation and empirical basis are studies about German professors, working at so-called Universities of Applied Sciences, which show that teaching is done in a rather insolated way. Peer networks in the university proved to be quite perforated. Another finding (Vogel, 20xx: y) is that professors at a University of Applied Sciences, who usually have spent several years before their appointment at the University in industry positions, mainly identify with their role as experts in a specialist field than with the role of educators or trainers. This might be the reason why a further qualification in university didactic is rarely used.
The concept of GUUGLE addresses these findings and is composed of four main elements:
• Professional learning communities in which heterogeneous groups of lecturers work on a specific area of interest regarding teaching practices, their self –understanding or the teaching context
• Student projects around learning at the university
• An annual teaching conference in the university
• Continuous communication activities inside and outside the university
Research about outcomes and experiences accompanies these operational activities.
The way how GUUGLE intends to achieve a sustainable improvement of teaching is the concept of organizational development. GUUGLE considers this approach as the conceptual framework for a successful change in this specific area of undergraduate and postgraduate education. It releases the necessary driving forces in an environment, which is characterized by academic freedom, the uncertainties of learning processes and learning outcomes and the typical steering mechanisms of a public service institution like fixed budgeting or detailed legal regulations. A change process driven by the persons concerned and a change of the learning and teaching culture of the whole university is expected as an outcome of GUUGLE.

Keywords:

Learning communities, organizational development, teaching culture, learning culture.