Johannes Kretzschmar offering a digital photonics workshop.

Digital Teaching

Digital teaching is a vital part of our education concept.
Johannes Kretzschmar offering a digital photonics workshop.
Image: Anne Günther (University of Jena)

Digital Teaching at the Abbe School of Photonics

User Interface of the XRTL Adaptive Optics experiment.

User Interface of the XRTL Adaptive Optics experiment.

Screenshot: Fabian Lukas

Digitalization has finally become essential for excellence in future academic education, research and collaboration! Physical mobility can already be replaced by intelligent mobility – a mixture of physical and digital presence. At our school, a digital teaching team works at the frontier of this vision. Strong support and synergies are created by our collaboration with the excellent equipment and the experts of the Digital Teaching Lab of the Max Planck School of PhotonicsExternal link.

All our digital teaching activities fulfill a twofold purpose. On one hand, we provide support for our faculty in their basic teaching activities, including didactic and technical aspects of digital education, such as course design, technical realization and broadcasting. On the other hand, we are working on solutions for pertinent challenges of digital education, such as hybrid photonics laboratories at different locations.

Our Current Activities 

  • XR TwinLab

    Extended Reality (XR) web-based application to control real-world optical experimental setups in our labs.

    XRTL Logo
    Image: Fabian Lukas

  • Lab Buddy System

    The Lab Buddy System is one of our approaches to a truely hybrid experimental photonics lab. The concept is fully embedded and established in the M.Sc. Photonics course.

    Lab Buddy System with highlighted components.
    Image: Falko Sojka

  • ASP Kickstarter Moodle

    A Moodle-based collection of useful information for a successful start to your master's studies at ASP.

    Students on their arrival in Jena
    Image: Johannes Kretschmar

  • ASP Gather.town

    The Abbe School of Photonics offers an opportunity for remote students and lecturers in a digital twin environment of our real-world Abbe School of Photonics in Jena: Gather.town!

    Virtual copy of the ACP Plaza.
    Image: Jonas Brandhoff
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More Digitalization Tools and Opportunities

  • The digiPHOTON project (2020-2022)

    The digiPHOTON project was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from 2020 until 2022 and was a milestone for enabling studying remotely through digitalization of the M.Sc. Photonics program.

    An impression of teaching via the ASP lightboard.
    Image: Falko Sojka

  • Build your own device in the Lichtwerkstatt!

    External link

    In order to facilitate remote students’ active participation in the laboratory experiments, a remotely controlled system was developed in close collaboration with the Lichtwerkstatt Jena. This development is ongoing and open for new ideas and extensions.

    XRTL experiment sidview
    Image: Clara Henkel

  • AR and VR methods

    Essential parts of the research-oriented training and central laboratory internships are transferred to virtual rooms. Technology and interaction schemes from virtual and augmented reality are used. It is possible to enter laboratories virtually and complete the training modules without the need for a real presence.

    Demonstration of a virtual photonics lab.
    Image: Steffen Walther.

  • Hybrid Learning Solutions

    In addition to the streaming-ready lecture halls at our University, our digital team has installed additional conference systems in all seminar rooms of the ACP building to enable both students as well as lecturers to attend events remotely and interact with one another.

    ACP PI Prof. Malte Kaluza offering a hybrid lecture on ultrafast physics.
    Image: Jens Meyer (University of Jena)

  • Mobile Streaming Setup

    This Setup was made possible by the Max Planck School and allows to create an environment for studio quality records including Green Screen Technology in nearly every location.

    Jari Domke demonstrating ASP's streaming setup.
    Image: Falko Sojka

  • Studio for Educational Videos

    To prepare for unexpected terms of absence from daily studies, some core elements of the initial study phase like the Prep Course Math were recorded and edited to serve as backup learning material in case of lecture outages.

    Claudia Rödl explaining fundamental math concepts in a hybrid lecture.
    Image: Falko Sojka

  • Open Photonics Lectures for Everybody

    External link

    One of our prime collaborators is Prof. Rick Trebino (Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, USA), an international expert in ultrafast optics and spectroscopy. For quite some years, Prof. Trebino has been developing high-quality courses of PowerPoint lectures for four college-level optics and physics courses, complete with pictures, movies, animations, and derivations. This material is provided on his website and fully open to every student, teacher, and lecturer for use and distribution.

    Prof. Rick Trebino (Georgia Tech University), winner of the 2019 SPIE Maria J. Yzuel Educator Award.
    Image: SPIE

Fabian Lukas

Abbe Center of Photonics
Abbe Center of Photonics, Room 202
Albert-Einstein-Straße 6
07745 Jena Google Maps site planExternal link