Using blended learning to redesign a groundwater management lecture series: benefits and outcome

Education in the natural and engineering sciences is traditionally taught following a standard template where the instructor stands in front of the classroom presenting statically and linearly the course material. The educational environment can be improved by using innovative didactic concepts with interactive-digital tools that enhance the students’ understanding of the material. Audience response systems promote active learning during lectures, and learning management systems improve students’ self-learning strategies. This contribution demonstrates such adaptations for the lecture series “Groundwater Management with Computer Models” and shares our experiences regarding methods, effort, and benefit. Student performance was significantly improved together with overall positive evaluation. The techniques used for redesign also increase the teaching efficiency because they exhibit a large degree of reusability without significant modifications and are well scalable for larger audiences. In addition, media-enhanced lecture series meet future requirements by students and the industry for higher education in a networked and digitized society.