Third party funded individual grant
Acronym: GIFzuMINTS
Start date : 01.10.2016
End date : 30.09.2019
Website: https://www2.cs.fau.de/research/GIFzuMINTS/
The increasing digitalization of all areas of science and life render competencies in the foundations of computer science essential for all tech students and more. For the success of their academic studies, often their courses, especially the introductory ones, are problematic hurdles that may lead to a dropout.
For this reason, this project expands the support that students get while they are still at school, while transitioning from school to university, and during the introductory phase. To address the study orientation phase when future STEM students are still at school, we (a) use our regional and national contacts to provide support for seminars and we (b) offer advanced training for teachers as they act as multipliers when future students choose their degrees. To address the transition from school to university, we focus on the fact that freshmen show up with different previous knowledge. We offer revision courses to bring the students onto the same page, i.e., to make their knowledge more homogeneous. In the introductory phase, special intensification exercises and tutoring that take heterogeneity into account strive to lower the dropout rates.
In 2018, one focus was to evaluate the effectiveness of our measures: the increased range of exercise groups, the more extensive support from the tutors, the correlation between exercise attendence and dropout rate, the effects of participation in the revision courses on the performance in the exercises and in the exam, etc.
In order to attract and qualify teachers as multipliers, we expanded the range of advanced training courses for teachers: we demonstrated innovative approaches, examples and content for teaching so that the participants can pass on to their students what they have learned themselves.
To quantitatively and qualitatively improve the W seminar papers written in computer science at school we compiled a 24-page brochure and sent it to schools in surrounding counties. This brochure supports teachers in the design and implementation of W seminars in IT by providing subject suggestions, tips, and a checklist for students.
The GIFzuMINTS project ended in 2019 with a special highlight: On May 20, 2019, the Bavarian Minister of State for Science and Art, Bernd Sibler, and the deputy general manager of vbw bayme vbm, Dr. Christof Prechtl, visited us in a status meeting. Minister Bernd Sibler was impressed: "The concept of the FAU is perfectly tailored to the requirements of a degree in computer science. The young students are supported from the very beginning immediately after finishing school. That is exactly our concern, which we pursue with MINTerAKTIV: We want every student to receive the support she/he needs to successfully complete his/her academic studies."
By the end of the project, the measures developed and implemented were thoroughly evaluated and established as permanent offers. The revision course on computer science was transformed into a continuous virtual offer for self-study and updated to the latest state of the art. The course for talented students that prepares them to participate in international programming competitions was expanded and set up as a formal module of the curriculum. In order to ensure that the measures sustain, we applied for subsequent funding, which has already been approved as CS4MINTS.