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Strategic Development in Teaching and Learning

Together with the Vice-Rector for Teaching and Learning (Prof Dr Ulrike Weyland), the Future Lab promotes and supports current development initiatives in teaching and learning. We connect students and colleagues  from diverse academic disciplines, subject didactics, and the educational sciences as well as from the Centre for Teacher Education, central administration and external institutions. Together we create future-oriented concepts, including well-targeted bids for external funding.

How we work

We identify needs and opportunities, facilitate networking projects and shape strategic funding bids—from the first spark of an idea through to successful delivery. This includes:

  • Scouting and prioritising strategic themes,
  • designing and facilitating appropriate networking formats,
  • co-creating goals, workflows and indicators, and
  • project management and administrative support.

Our benchmark is scalability: rather than isolated flagship projects, participatory design should generate lasting impact across study programmes, teaching practice, and the University’s structures.

Examples of our work

  • Full membership of the Leibniz Education Research Network (LERN): A major success for the educational sciences and subject didactics at the University of Münster. Joining this interdisciplinary network enables direct exchange with leading institutions and strengthens research, knowledge transfer, early-career development and the University’s voice in education policy along the entire education pathway. The Future Lab coordinated the internal application process and provides administrative support for the membership.
  • “Prize for Excellence in Teacher Education”: With the concept “Situated learning, professional practice – a scalable model for excellent teacher education”, the University of Münster won the award presented by the Stifterverband and the TÜV SÜD Foundation as part of the “Zukunftsmission Bildung” initiative. The process was led by the Vice-Rectorate for Teaching and Learning and coordinated by the Future Lab in close consultation with the Centre for Teacher Education and experts from all participating areas.
  • University-wide bid in the funding line “The World Is My Campus” (Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching): The aim is to empower students as future holders of responsibility. To this end, the Zukunftslabor brought together expertise from across the University and developed a future-oriented and delivery-focused project proposal.

  • MIT-PART ("Taking Responsibility through co-creation: Participation as a key to fostering cross-cutting competencies in teacher education") embeds participation as a curricular principle of teacher education (as well as in the two-subject Bachelor's programme).Teacher education students actively co-create their studies and teaching, while developing competencies in democracy education, education for sustainable development, and career guidance. Together with lecturers and practice partners, they design corresponding teaching, learning, and assessment formats, supported by the Participation Hub and a digital toolkit.The foundation "Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre" is funding MIT-PART under the programme line "Die Welt ist mein Campus" with nearly €3 million.
    The Future Lab was involved in securing the funding and is currently serving as the interim overall coordinator of the project on behalf of the Rectorate.