Anfang Mai wurde in Weimar am ehemaligen Gauforum das Museum Zwangsarbeit im Nationalsozialismus eröffnet. Die Dauerausstellung präsentiert einzigartiges und weitgehend unbekanntes Material aus der Geschichte der Zwangsarbeit und ermöglicht Besucher*innen durch Zeitzeugenberichte und interaktive Elemente, sich intensiv mit diesem Teil der deutschen Vergangenheit auseinanderzusetzen. Die gezeigten Dokumente, Bildüberlieferungen und Fallgeschichten sind das Ergebnis langjähriger Recherchen in Archiven in Europa, den USA und Israel und erzählen die Zwangsarbeit vor allem als eine Beziehungsgeschichte zwischen der deutschen Mehrheitsgesellschaft und den Zwangsarbeiter*innen.
Overnight in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to get together with people in the same place, work in shared rooms, or even attend lectures. A need emerged for something that hadn’t really existed before, or was only used in isolated situations. Online teaching, digital learning and digital classrooms. Without a doubt, the pandemic accelerated the digital transformation. And yet: Four years ago, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar was not as technologically advanced as it is today, but we were still under pressure to offer quick solutions. Starting in January 2022, the »Hybride Lernatelier« was established step by step as a key element of the »Lernraum Bauhaus« project once the »Stiftung für Innovation in der Hochschullehre« approved funding from the federal and state governments in 2021.
Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, isn’t really a new phenomenon. In fact, its roots go all the way back to the 1950s. And yet: Since the OpenAI company made the »ChatGPT« generative AI system available to the public in November 2022, AI has rapidly become one of the most dominant topics of our time. AI not only influences our daily lives, it also has an impact on university instruction. The eTeach Netzwerk Thüringen is investigating the ways AI is changing teaching and how these challenges and opportunities can be understood by universities in Thuringia.
Mysterious, magical, and at the same time familiar and learnable – this is how Dr. Simon Frisch understands teaching. Frisch has been Vice President of Student and Academic Affairs for the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s Presidium since 2023. He has been teaching for over 25 years, more than 10 of these at the Faculty of Media where he is a lecturer for Film and Media Studies. As Vice President, he raises some highly pertinent questions: How can we use AI effectively in a university context? How are reading and writing evolving as a result of new technologies? How can studying and teaching change, and what does good teaching mean anyway? Frisch wants to change how we look at the »new« teaching and learning and to help us overcome our fear of engaging with new practices.