Knowledge-enhancing Helix: An Approach for Developing Key Academic Skills at Universities. A Case Study

Nadja Boeller, Sonja Hierl, Josef Herget

In an increasingly e-literate society, new and media technologies are proliferating and traditional teaching approaches are challenged to meet new requirements. Other aspects such as teamwork and knowledge exchange are also becoming more important. Collaborative working methods are more dominant in the networked business environment. The vocational training at universities is therefore continuously facing with new challenges. The objective of this paper is to show how the implementation of a holistic teaching approach including the idea of blended learning can be an effective way to train students in collaborative and academic working skills, methodological expertise, information literacy, as well as making students aware of new developments in media literacy. This approach follows our proposed concept DIAMOND (Didactical Approach for Media Competence Development) with a main focus on the implementation of the “knowledgeenhancing helix.” This pedagogical concept was developed corresponding the requirements for “good online learning.” The paper accordingly discusses the theoretical framework and presents a case study where the concept was implemented in practice.

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