Learning Beyond the Lecture Hall
Making the Most of Limited Time and Resources
With growing student numbers and increasing time constraints in labs, fieldwork, and coursework, digital solutions play a key role in extending learning opportunities beyond the classroom. This Refresh Teaching event highlights three ETH projects that leverage digital tools to complement traditional teaching: from an open-access audiovisual archive to interactive lab preparation and AI-powered self-learning. Discover how digitalisation enhances engagement, supports independent study, and maximizes learning efficiency.
Prof. Dr. Susanne Ulbrich
Prof. Dr. Susanne Ulbrich and Sebastien Goumon (D-USYS) presents his project which aims at creating an open-access archive of high-quality video sequences of housing conditions, husbandry practices and behaviours of various livestock species to be used as demonstration (lecture material), training, and examination material in the field of animal sciences. Hence, complementary to excursions and internships, the produced audio-visual material will be used to ensure productive and successful learning opportunities for students and a tailored support for lecturers.
Réka Mihalka and Christine Bärtsch from ETH Library
Dr. Réka Mihalka and Dr. Christine Bärtsch state that there is significant demand for learning materials about generative AI tools among staff and students as well. At ETH Library, they are developing a self-learning course, which can be taken individually by staff or students or incorporated into another teaching scenario. This helps them provide scalable support to lecturers who wish to address the topic of genAI in their teaching but may not have the time to develop materials about it themselves.
Prof. Xiaoyu Zhang presents iRead
Prof. Xiaoyu Zhang (Assistant professor at School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong) will present IRead, an interactive textbook reading tool, which she developped at ETH Zürich together with Prof. Torbjörn Netland and Prof. Mrinmaya Sachan. IRead assists learners in textbook reading and integrates advancements in large language models and visualization techniques with educational theory to offer a supportive and dynamic reading environment.
