In the ATLANTIS project, the Business Information Systems (Wirtschaftsinformatik, WI) departments of Lower Saxony join forces in a university-based teaching network to benefit from cross-institutional teaching exchanges.
The ATLANTIS network partners jointly exchange courses from their bachelor’s programmes in the field of Business Information Systems. Through ATLANTIS, the range of courses offered by the participating departments is expanded, increasing the attractiveness of the subject area in Lower Saxony. The network also enables professors to focus on their specialised areas of expertise. This helps counteract the structural challenges faced by small academic disciplines.
Since regular operation began in 2007, an average of 160 students per semester have earned course credits through ATLANTIS. On average, 1,250 students per semester have used a 90-minute e-learning module from the ATLANTIS network within the introductory WI course. Student satisfaction is reflected in strong evaluation results.
Objectives
The purpose of the ATLANTIS education network is the cross-university exchange of teaching units (a “course exchange ring”). These teaching units may include computer-based trainings, web-based trainings, or teaching content from which such materials can be developed.
Organisational Objectives
- Increasing the attractiveness of bachelor’s education in Business Information Systems across Lower Saxony by expanding the number of courses available at participating locations.
- Improving competitiveness in research and third-party funding through
- a stronger focus of each partner institution on its core teaching competencies (cross-location division of labour), enabling better synergies and freeing time for research.
- more efficient teaching through a reduced variety of courses offered by individual partners at a single location, while increasing participant numbers by allowing students from other universities to join these courses. This enables partners to focus more strongly on their core strengths.
- dissemination of technologies and know-how developed in ELAN I and II — such as media-production tools, learning-management systems, video-conference technologies, and teaching content — across all locations, including partners not involved in ELAN I or II.
- greater flexibility in teaching, as students can take the offered courses independently of traditional semester schedules.
Didactic Objectives
- Improving the comprehensibility of abstract information systems used in business and public administration—as taught in WI introductory courses at all partner institutions—through integrated digital media (e.g., recordings of typical workflows in manufacturing and service management applications).
- Enhancing the professional relevance of degree programmes through blended-learning scenarios that support problem-based learning grounded in constructivist learning theory.
- Leveraging synergies, improved efficiency and the benefits of a larger target group to create high-quality digital learning materials.
- Developing digital-media literacy as a key competence early in the bachelor’s programme through practice-oriented use.
Courses
Project Partners
University of Osnabrück
Prof. Dr. Uwe Hoppe (Project Lead)
TU Braunschweig (Carolo-Wilhelmina University)
Prof. Dr. Dirk Mattfeld
Prof. Dr. Susanne Robra-Bissantz
Technical University of Clausthal
Prof. Dr. Jörg Müller
Leibniz University Hannover
Prof. Dr. Michael H. Breitner
Georg-August-University Göttingen
Prof. Dr. Matthias Schumann
Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
Prof. Dr. Axel Hahn
Apl. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Sauer
