Student Initiatives and Student Initiatives PLUS

project leader: Marc-Dirk Harzendorf

The student initiative pursues the goal of offering a central platform to a curricularly marginalized complex of topics by declaring it the object of scientific observation and the center of cognitive interest.

On the one hand, the lecture series closes a desideratum of the local course offerings. And on the other hand, it allows for a variety of connections to the focal points of Jena sociology in the areas of sociology of work and (critical) cultural sociology as well as political sociology. The lecture series also offers students the opportunity to confront discourse-leading positions beyond Jena sociology and to enter into an exchange with lecturers from other (specialist) universities. Likewise, the initiative stimulates interdisciplinary exchange by sociologically analyzing and questioning psychologized interpretations of late modern life. The questions to be discussed in the lecture series are of particular interest not only to sociology, but also to the neighboring disciplines of psychology and cultural studies.

project leader Madeleine Kündgen

Image: Madeleine Kündgen

Interdisciplinary exchange is becoming increasingly important, but there are hardly any opportunities to learn or promote interdisciplinary thinking. That is why I, a student of microbiology, decided to found a literature club that promotes exactly this. The concept is that the meetings are led by constantly changing moderators, who announce a paper in advance. The meeting itself is not for practising presentation skills, but rather to facilitate interdisciplinary discussions. For this purpose the moderator briefly summarises the paper and leads into a discussion with cleverly posed questions. Interdisciplinary exchange is promoted because of participating students from a wide variety of universities and disciplines. In addition, discussion skills will be deepened/extended by coaches. For the most inclusive communication, the participants will also be supported by a gender representative.

If you are interested, please send me an email: paper-club@mail.de

team of the project with project leaders: Friederike Andrees and Björn Karg (right)

Image: Pia Steinbrücker

As part of the programme, we want to develop an app to support academic writing. Our experience as peer tutors in the writing centre is the starting point for this idea. On the one hand, the app should offer students a personalised way to learn and further development of writing, and on the other hand, to provide more general assistance for the organisation. For example, these include: Networking and question platforms, management tools and visualisation aids. In this way, students can develop targeted solutions with the help of personalised support. The additional tools for organisation provide a suitable framework for planning and carrying out the writing process. Through the matching of writing types and writing techniques, the writing and encourages reflection on one's own work and its challenges.
The aim is to gain independence in academic scientific writing for students.

logo of the university group IPPNW/KritMed

Image: IPPNW/KritMed

In the core curriculum of medical studies, there is often little time to deal with the challenges of marginalised patients. However, these people are also encountered by future doctors in everyday clinical practice.

We, the university group IPPNW/KritMed* Jena, want to fill this gap with the series of events "Health care for marginalised patient groups". For this purpose, lecturers will be invited to a selection of topics, which will give students in the clinical semesters an insight into these types of issues.
A diverse range of topics will be covered, from trans* patients and sexual health to people with disabilities and BIP. The events will take place as seminars so that a productive exchange is possible.

Project leaders: Anne-Kathrin Ballhaus and Louise Fahrenkamp

Image: Anne-Kathrin Ballhaus und Louise Fahrenkamp

In the three-day online conference on the topic of "Diversity-sensitive sexual education in biology teaching and didactics", current perspectives are discussed and basics are conveyed. Sexual education in biology lessons is both content ("sex education") and a permanent cross-subject and cross-institutional task in the work with young people. Diversity sensitivity, i.e. the recognition and appreciation of diversity (including gender, sexual orientation, language), is a central competence for biology teachers in order to support the educational and identity development processes of adolescents in the best possible way and to do justice to the inclusive educational claim.

Anchored in biology didactics, the conference was explicitly inter- and transdisciplinary. There were workshops on content and spaces were opened up to network and develop ideas together. In order to bring theory and practice together, students and trainees, their trainers of all phases and professionals of all disciplines of child and youth work and education were cordially invited.

Here [PDF, 13 MB] DEpdf, 13 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leader: Hannah Bayer

Image: Hannah Bayer

The aim of the project was the competence-relevant learning of digitisation on a photographic level, taking into account cultural studies and museological guidelines.
The collections of the FSU Jena made spectacular objects available to the participants for digitisation. The main focus of the seminar was on learning standardised digitisation procedures. In a subsequent online seminar, the general handling of Adobe programmes was explained.

As planned from the beginning, the interdisciplinary character of the event was in the foreground. The project was to be a mixture of practical work and lectures by two external speakers, who addressed the history, theoretical and practical foundations, as well as possible perspectives of object digitisation in their talks.
One of the highlights was the collaboration with the Collections Officer for the "Object of the Month" format in the Collections Portal (sammlungen.uni-jena.deExternal link). We were very pleased to be able to submit digitised objects for the month of November 2021 and January 2022.

Here [PDF, 391 MB] DEpdf, 391 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Ahmad Shana'ah and Micha Banz

Image: Ahmad Shana'ah und Micha Banz

Students of human medicine as well as students of the Molecular Medicine have come together in this student initiative to form an interdisciplinary journal club.
Articles from scientific journals as well as data from their own research projects were presented in the course of one semester, on several dates. The events were dynamically adapted to the pandemic situation and were held partly digitally and partly in person in a seminar room at the university. The student initiative was framed by a kick-off event for which we were able to win junior professor Adrian Press as a lecturer and a last seminar, in which a professional voice and speech coach gave us the final impulse for self-optimization in terms of expressiveness and articulation.
Because of a self-designed, digital feedback sheet, we were able to quantify the development of technical and practical presentation skills of all participants and to evaluate them at the end.

Here [PDF, 293 KB] DEpdf, 293 kb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Christina Sygulla and Alexandra Peupelmann

Image: Christina Sygulla und Alexandra Peupelmann

Mistakes are part of lifelong learning. However, how these mistakes are dealt with
influences the learning experience and future approach. The goal of the "Error Culture" project was to establish a working group of student volunteers. The
Recruitment was to take place through virtual information sessions, combined with a accompanying onboarding on the topic. After successful onboarding, the working group is to offer interdisciplinary workshops on the topic of "Error Culture - Dealing with Errors" to interested students in the coming semesters. The workshops have
aim: to reflect on the individual handling of mistakes and to offer a platform for the exchange of these experiences in order to show the learning experiences made to the students and to "disempower" this taboo topic of making mistakes and failing. For more information on the student initiative: https://www.fehlerkultur.uni-jena.de DE de.

Here [PDF, 4 MB] DEpdf, 4 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Zichun Huang, Leonie Rotsche, Sahibe Muslumzade and Jana Dix

Image: Zichun Huang

The project "Internship website for DaF/DaZ students" will help Bachelor and Master students of German Studies Abroad (DaF/DaZ) for easier search for internship opportunities. We have decided to create a Moodle room for possible worldwide internship institutes in order to avoid hours of research in the vastness of the
of the internet. Students will find a overview of different types and locations of internships in this room, divided into continents and countries. Once you have decided on an institution, click on it and you will receive concrete information (e.g. general conditions of the internship, location, website) about the internship as well as information about the contact person as quickly and directly as possible.
Furthermore one finds general information about funding opportunities and a FAQ section, which answers all your questions about an internship.

Here [PDF, 794 KB] DEpdf, 794 kb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Lisa Gersdorf and her team

Image: Max Gräßner

Thirty years after the German-German reunification, we feel it within society in general, but also at the University in particular: we are not yet ‘unified Germans’. Many still feel like Ossi or Wessi and condemn the other as Jammerossi or Besserwessi. This feeling of ‘us’ and the ‘others’ is still an East-West German problem today, which the next generation also feels exposed to. Through our series of events, we aimed to raise awareness of the mental division. Within these events, people from different generations who study, teach or work at the university, from the old and new federal states, were able to come together and exchange their own experience, values and wishes. Through listening to and discussing with one another, trust and understanding are to grow, allowing for sympathy for the ‘other’.

Here [pdf, 3 mb] deExternal link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Alexandra Treder and Sora Meyberg

Image: José Adolfo Carril Paniagua

By using methods from drama and narrative pedagogy in foreign language teaching, communicative ability to act, intercultural competence as well as holistic and creative learning processes can be promoted. In the study programme German as a Foreign and Second Language, the didactic-methodical concepts of drama and narrative pedagogy have so far only been dealt with theoretically. On two dates in the summer semester of 2021, students were given the opportunity to practically apply games and methods from drama and narrative pedagogy and to reflect on their possible applications in the teaching context. The workshop was led by professional drama and storytelling pedagogue Maria Carmela Marinelli, who also placed a focus on teaching methods of multilingual storytelling. With this impulse to promote multilingualism, the workshop offered further points of contact with a broad spectrum of central topics in the DaF/Z degree programme.

Here [pdf, 24 mb]External link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Alexandra Treder and her team

Image: Privat

The online conference was aimed at students and lecturers in educational study programmes as well as interested parties. We understand discrimination as something that affects everyone. Prospective German as a Foreign Language / German as a Second Language teachers do not only teach German, but also talk about social, political and historical issues with the participants, e.g. in the context of integration courses. Therefore, we are looking for answers to the question of how to talk to each other about controversial issues—both privately and in professional, i.e. in our case teaching-learning contexts—while remaining appreciative and culturally sensitive and at the same time representing one's position. In workshops, lectures and discussion rounds with speakers from academia and practice, possibilities for answering this question were presented and strategies developed together with the participants on how to deal with discrimination and diversity in order to enable peaceful coexistence in a diverse society.

Here [PDF, 4 MB] DEpdf, 4 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leader: Roman Wanusch

Programming exercises are submitted and corrected manually at FSU Jena to a large extent. An automation of the correction would be desirable in order to increase the feedback frequency and to enable more differentiated teaching. There are uncertainties regarding their fit, flexibility, and long-term controllability with available technologies. This project considered suitable systems, one was selected and implemented and tested as an example for the course "Structured Programming".
In selecting the platforms, care was taken to ensure that it was as open as possible, which was achieved through the use of open source software, an own server and own exercise contents. As a result, it was demonstrated that a self-controlled technical solution integrated into our Moodle environment is possible. Recommendations for further development of automation of programming training are given.

Here [PDF, 439 KB] DEpdf, 439 kb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Tjorben Matthes, Katharina Wölfl and Georg Schwartz

Image: Tjorben Matthes

Finding one’s way around studies and everyday life at university is one of the first major challenges of starting one’s studies. In many cases, this succeeds, but the faculty usually loses a noticeable proportion of students, especially female and male students in teacher training programmes.
In order to reduce dropout rates and retain students in the long term, a large-scale support programme for new students is presented here.
Beginning with the introductory days, the first-year students are supervised in small groups by student and professor mentors, who are available as contact persons both for subject-related questions and as private reference persons.
In addition, as was the case last year, an exam preparation weekend for first-semester students will be offered at the end of the next winter semester (24 to 26 January 2020).

HereExternal link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Lea Stegmann and her team

Image: Lea Stegmann

In the winter semester 2019/2020, peripheral areas of psychology will come into focus on six different dates, for example environmental psychology or culture- and migration-sensitive psychotherapy. Despite the topicality and socio-political relevance of these topics, they are rarely mentioned in the course of psychology studies. In the lecture series ‘Footnotes in Psychology’, these topics will be examined and intensively discussed. The aim is to impart knowledge, arouse curiosity and stimulate a critical examination of the topics through informative and interactive evenings. Academics and professionals from the field organize the events and offer an insight into research and practice with a lecture, a workshop or a panel discussion. Emphasizing the interdisciplinary character of the topics, the events are aimed at students of all disciplines.

HereExternal link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Logo of Refugee Law Clinic Jena

Graphic: Refugee Law Clinic Jena

Students of the University of Jena founded the Refugee Law Clinic JLC Jena in 2016. We offer an open consultation hour for refugees several times a week. In addition, we organize an annual training programme in asylum and residence law. Fellow students who have successfully participated in this can then join us as counsellors after a period of observation. In accordance with the idea of clinical-legal education, we want to give our students the opportunity to complement their theoretical studies with practical work. At the same time, we want to contribute to effective access to (human) rights and support people in an often particularly precarious situation through a low-threshold offer. We are in close contact with fully qualified lawyers who specialize in migration law and provide us with expert advice.

HereExternal link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Aleksandr Kazakov und Anna Zherdeva (M.Sc. Economics students)

The project referred to scientifically proven study strategies improving learning processes such as spaced retrieval, interleaved practice, generative learning and self-assessment.

The project tended to the implementation of these strategies into the in-class learning process: In selected courses, students involvement is to be enhanced by performing a short quiz at the beginning of each lecture. The questions target on recapitulating the content of previous lectures as well as building bridges towards subsequent subjects and areas of application. The quizzes will be implemented by using online quiz services such as Moodle. The results will provide regular feedback on the learning progress.

The project corresponds with the aims of the Facultys working group Neue Medien in der Lehre and was carried out in close consultation.

HereExternal link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Tjorben Matthes, Katharina Wölfl and Georg Schwartz

Image: Anna Katharina Wölfl

At the end of the winter semester (25 to 27 January 2019), the student council of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy organizes an exam preparation weekend for first-year students. For this purpose, about 50 students and 10 tutors travel to Bad Sulza for three days to study for the upcoming exams. This project serves to accompany and support the first semester students.

The students from the first semester who participate are offered an optimal learning environment: group rooms to work in, a large pool of exam questions, fellow students studying for the same subjects, and finally tutors from higher semesters who are available to answer questions and give tutorials. In addition, short oral mid-term exams take place in between, through which students receive individual feedback on their learning progress. On the last day, students can write mock exams in the individual subjects to simulate the real exam situation.

HereExternal link you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

schedule of the training program of the RLC

Image: Refugee Law Clinic Jena e.V.

Since 2016, the Refugee Law Clinic Jena e.V. has been offering students of law and related courses of study the opportunity to expand their theoretical knowledge in a practical field of application and to combine it with social commitment. The students can acquire in-depth knowledge of asylum and immigration legal issues within the framework of a multi-part, extracurricular 
program, in order to then be able to act as volunteers themselves in the sense of the Clinical Legal Education approach as volunteer legal advisors. The RLC Jena e.V. is the only association in the whole of Thuringia to offer refugees and migrants a free, low-threshold counseling service. 
The counseling has been taking place weekly for more than five years. 
The training program to become a volunteer counselor will be offered again in the summer semester 2023. This comprises 16 lectures as well as a seminar weekend, whereby the contents are imparted by different actors from the legal practice. The program is typically coordinated by an assistant, since the organization of such a varied series of lectures exceeds the capacities of the volunteer advisors. 
The personnel costs for this are borne by the Akademie für Lehrentwicklung which makes the program possible in the first place.

project leader: Tjorben Matthes, Willi Kröning and Katharina Wölfl

Image: Ben Marske

The dropout rates in the physics program and the teaching profession are enormously high, especially in the first semester (approx. 30-40 %). Most of the dropouts have difficulties finding their way in their new environment "university". This is due to the greatly changed requirements: the complexity and scope of the subject matter are increasing enormously, while at the same time a high level of personal responsibility is required. The aim of this project is to improve preparation for the exams. The requirements and demands in exams, which have changed considerably compared to school, initially present many students with problems at the beginning, since a different way of learning is required.
Better preparation for exams is ensured by the exam preparation weekend. With
students spend a weekend intensively working on the lecture material of the first semester. The tutors are always available to answer any questions. 
At the end, the participants can also write a mock exam under exam-like conditions. In order to check the set goals, the participating students should take part in an evaluation at the end of the exam preparation weekend. The students can evaluate other things how well they feel prepared for the upcoming exams and whether they were able to ask questions at any time.
The weekend receives (qualitatively) positive feedback from all sides,
be it from students, lecturers from the first semester or from the dean's office.

Project leader: Niklas Menge

Image: privat

In order to support first-semester students in the Department of Mathematics in mastering the transition from school to university mathematics, the FSR Mathematics has been organising the exam preparation weekend (KlaVoWo for short) since 2016. Tutors from higher semesters support first-semester students in preparing for exams. Important learning strategies and subject-specific skills are practised and consolidated using maps developed in recent years for the subject of mathematics. In addition, the students are offered a learning development discussion during the weekend, in which they are supported in reflecting on their own learning status. At the end of the weekend, a mock exam can also be written under the most realistic conditions possible, for which the students receive feedback from the tutors.
A unit on working out effective learning strategies completes the offer.

project leader: Dorothea Schmitt and team

Image: CampusCouch

We would like to offer thematic workshops in addition to our listening offer for students to expand our student initiative, the CampusCouch. These will expand the courses offered to all students of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences with practical and application-oriented programmes. In terms of content, the workshops will focus on therapeutic approaches. For this purpose, the psychodynamic discussion group will be available, as well as a systemic workshop. In addition, methods of relaxation will be taught such as progressive muscle relaxation and mindfulness techniques. We would like to offer interdisciplinary discussion and discussion rounds on non-violent communication and reducing the stigmatisation of psychotherapy. We would like to invite experts from the field and pay them appropriately for their professional work. We want to use the Academy's funding for this purpose.

Project leaders: Katharina Wölfl, Tjorben Matthes und Adrian Minnich

Image: Michael Dimler

For five years now, the Student Council of the PAF (Faculty of Physics and Astronomy) has been organised an exam preparation weekend (KlaVoWo) for students in their first semester, sponsored by the ALe and the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. During this time, a comprehensive pool of exercises and their solutions was collocated, as well as materials for tutorials. According to previous participants, this exam preparation weekend is a great help in getting started with their studies.
The KlaVoWo was conducted online for the first time in 2021 but with mixed feedback. A compromise solution was tried out for the KlaVoWo this year, so one was held in presence and one online. The funding of the ALe was used to conduct the face-to-face part, this will be dealt with primarily in the following.
The weekend took place from 28.01.-30.01.2022 in the Bad Sulza youth hostel under appropriated hygiene conditions. During these three days, the students learned in an optimal environment: together with their fellow students. They were encouraged to solve difficult tasks and support each other. If necessary, tutors helped them and worked out solutions together. At the end of the weekend, they were able to test their acquired knowledge in mock exams and get to know the exam situation.

Herepdf, 28 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leader: Niklas Menge

Image: privat

In order to support first-semester students in the Department of Mathematics in mastering the transition from school to university mathematics, the FSR Mathematics has been organising the exam preparation weekend (KlaVoWo for short) since 2016, during which tutors from higher semesters support first-semester students in preparing for exams. Using maps developed in recent years for the subject of mathematics, important learning strategies and subject-specific competences. If possible, this is done in groups. In addition, one of the tutors offered a lecture in which he explained how effective and long-term learning works. In addition, the students are offered a learning development discussion during the weekend, in which they are supported in reflecting on their own learning status. At the end of the weekend, students can also write a mock exam under the most realistic conditions possible, for which they receive feedback from the tutors. Because interest was also very high among students of other subjects who also have to take mathematics, we allowed other students to participate this year for the first time.
Due to the pandemic situation at the beginning of 2022, it was necessary to conduct the KlaVoWo online. The basic procedure of the weekend remained the same, the participants worked together online in groups.

Herepdf, 190 kb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Pia Weinschenk and her team

Image: Pia Weinschenk

The lecture series "Footnotes of Psychology" was founded in the winter semester 2019/20 by students of psychology at the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena and will be implemented in the summer semester 2021, in order to give alternative forms of therapy and topics that are generally less represented in the curriculum. One focus was interdisciplinary perspectives and smaller sub-areas of psychology that are not included in the curriculum or cannot be discussed in detail due to resource constraints. The high number of participants reflected the great interest of the students. Inspired by the initiative and the exchange that took place, a student group was formed to continue the project. Again, the project was to take place fortnightly 7 dates from October 2021 to February 2022, topics should be presented and intensively discussed which topics that stimulate a critical, interdisciplinary examination of psychological and societal social topics. The target groups were the psychological students and students from other departments in order to promote interdisciplinary exchange.

Here [PDF, 2 MB] DE pdf, 2 mb · deyou can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Johanna Poggemann and her team

Image: Johanna Poggemann

We learn in our studies that people should not be limited to their nationality, that
culture is constructed and that changing perspectives is central to intercultural competence. What we would like to see is a space for self-reflection to understand what discrimination has to do with each individual. It also raises the question of how we should concretely discuss around controversial topics, especially when we teachers, create lessons and language courses with students. It takes professional competence to answer the question: Where does tolerance begin, where does it end?
We want to approach this question through lectures, discussions and above all a workshop. For this purpose, we have invited speakers from science and practice, who will deal with the following questions: How does discrimination work? What does it have to do with me? Where am I affected, where am I caught up in discriminatory structures? How can I take a stand when human rights are violated? On what do we argue in such conflicts? And how can I, as a German teacher for foreign and second language, or as a future teacher at schools, address certain values such as equality and diversity in society in a linguistically sensitive way and in doing so balance between cultural sensitivity and the defense of human rights or the Basic Law?
The series of events was organized by the Student Council DaF/DaZ and IWK with the support of the Institute for German as a Foreign and Second Language and Intercultural Studies. The majority of the seminar sessions were open to students and teachers of all faculties as well as to interested external parties. In this way, we facilitated a valuable exchange of different teaching/learning experiences as well as ways of dealing with discrimination and diversity.

Here [PDF, 2 MB] DEpdf, 2 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Logo of Refugee Law Clinic Jena

Graphic: Refugee Law Clinic Jena

The Refugee Law Clinic Jena e.V. offers students especially from the Faculty of Law but also from other faculties, the opportunity to expand their theoretical (law) studies through voluntary legal counseling in asylum and residence law according to the clinical legal education approach.
In order to ensure high quality legal counseling, regular legal and
psychological supervisions were implemented on a monthly basis. So the counseling activities of the Refugee Law Clinic Jena e.V. could be professionalized. Through legal
supervisions, basic legal knowledge in the subject area, current case law and
cases of counseling were instructed, deepened and reflected. The counselors were trained to deal adequately with the psychologically stressful situation of those seeking advice and their role as volunteer counselors in an psychological supervision. A total of 6 supervisions - 4 legal and 2 psychological - were carried out.

Here  [PDF, 2 MB] DEpdf, 2 mb · deyou can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).

Project leaders: Georg Schwarz and his team

Image: Georg Schwartz

For the past three years, an exam preparation weekend has been held in cooperation with the student representative committee of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy. It was financed with funds from the ALe and the faculty, as well as donations from professors and non-university institutes. During this period, a large pool of exam questions and solutions was created. Since previous participants called the exam preparation weekend a great help, this format of supervised learning is to continue.

For this purpose, a presence exam preparation weekend was planned from 28 January to 30 January 2021. During these three days, the participating first-semester students were offered an optimal learning environment: in digital group workrooms, they could puzzle over difficult tasks together with their fellow students and, if necessary, call in tutors to work out approaches with them. In mock exams, they were abled to test their knowledge and prepare for the exam situation.

The ALe sponsorship enables us to charge only a very small contribution towards expenses, so that participation does not depend on the financial means of the students.

Here [PDF, 10 MB] DEpdf, 10 mb · de you can find the final project report (URZ login credentials required).