Before the covid-19 pandemic, the level of digitalisation at German universities was low. A recent survey of German university administrators shows that before the pandemic, 85.2% of teaching was face-to-face, 6.9% online and 7.9% in a mixed form (Lübcke et al 2022). When the summer semester 2020 was to begin, pandemic containment measures were taken by the government that made co-present teaching impossible. Within a few weeks, university lecturers had to convert their courses to online teaching. This effort, which shortly afterwards was called “emergency remote teaching” (ERT) (Hodges et al. 2020), was supposed to be short-lived. The developments that have taken place since then are the subject of our contribution, using the example of the University of Hamburg.  

In the summer semester 2020, the conversion of face-to-face teaching to ERT came within two weeks. Traditional teaching formats were mainly translated into digital, asynchronous formats. In the following winter semester 2020/2021, the decision as to whether lectures should be presented digital or face-to-face was left to the lecturers, but shortly before the start of classes, this option was restricted again. The experiences from the previous semester were taken up, further developed and synchronous online teaching formats established with asynchronous work phases. Summer semester 2021 was offered completely online, too, and only in the winter semester 2021/22 face-to-face teaching was possible; the decision on the mode of teaching was left to the lecturers again. With new restrictions in December 2021, however, co-present teaching became more difficult to implement. 

After an accompanying study on ERT in the summer semester 2020, the transformation of university teaching and studying under digital conditions was further accompanied and researched from the perspective of lecturers and students. Surveys were conducted semester by semester since winter semester 20/21 from both perspectives. 

The results of the lecturer survey show that there is a variance in the design of courses in different formats (lectures, seminares, practical excercises) - even in the current difficult situation of a pandemic. However, it is also clear that the pressure to digitalise under Covid-19 is binding the teachers' concentration on the requirements associated with digitalisation. This could be one reason why, for example, the design feature of research related teaching does not currently play a clearly recognisable role. Potentials in the use of digital technologies are recognised and used. However, this is currently done rather cautiously and with a view to known advantages (e.g. increased flexibility in studying and teaching) (Reinmann et al. 2021a).  

This corresponds with students wishes regarding digital elements in future co-presence teaching. Students are particularly interested in video recordings of face-to-face courses, asynchronous digital courses (especially lectures), digitally provided working materials and literature, as well as the administration of courses via digital platforms and the support of the course through digitally moderated forums (Team Evaluation 2021b).  

Students were asked how easy or difficult it was for them to cope with certain study requirements related to learning in winter semester 2020/21 throughout the following semesters. In winter semester 2020/21 coping was equally considered to be rather difficult: structuring activities so that learning activities are optimally timed, managing the workload, and dealing with performance pressure. The respondents also found it quite difficult to organize teamwork and to find helpful information and advising services. In contrast, they found it somewhat easier to create a personal timetable, recognize interests, and learn scientific working methods. The differences between these assessments are not particularly great, however (Team Evaluation 2021a, 2021b). 

In a comparison between the winter semester 2020/21 and the summer semester 2021, the assessments seem to have improved across all requirements (Team Evaluation 2021b).

The University of Hamburg is a so-called comprehensive university, which means that all subjects are taught except engineering and architecture. Therefore, the sample is broad and includes both humanities and science. Medicine is also affiliated, but for organisational reasons the participation of the medical faculty is rather low. Our trend study brings together the perspectives of university lecturers and students from two series of surveys. Central questions for the lecturer survey are: How has university teaching at UHH developed didactically in the process of digitalisation since the beginning of the pandemic? What support and qualification needs do the lecturers have and how does this change with the didactic development? Main topics are didactic design elements of digital teaching as well as success criteria, fears and hopes associated with digitalisation. The main topics are differentiated after the main teaching formats: lectures, seminars and practical exercises. The student survey focuses on the experiences of the students - in particular the learning arrangements and elements, communication with lecturers and fellow students, study conditions and requirements as well as retention wishes regarding digital elements in future face-to-face teaching. Socio-cultural information and characteristics of the technical equipment were also collected to contextualise the results. In the survey in the winter semester 21/22, the focus is on face-to-face teaching - in particular criteria for the choice of face-to-face teaching courses and its added value. The student survey is a questionnaire-based online survey of all students enrolled at the University of Hamburg (N1=36.681/n1=5.924 (response rate 16,2%); N2=33.887/n2=3.502 (response rate 10,3%); N3=35.638/n3=2.864 (response rate 8,0%)). Qualitative content analysis of the question of which digital elements should be retained after the end of the pandemic (n=2.510). Quantitative analysis of the items on study requirements, including regression analyses regarding influencing individual and institutional characteristics and its effects on the perception of the study requirements. The lecturer survey is a questionnaire-based online survey for all lecturers working in at the University in different status groups (N1 =4897 / n1 =261 (response rate 5,3%); N2=4897/n2=263 (response rate 5,4%); N3=4897; N3=4897/n3=291 (response rate 5,9%)). Due to the low response rate, we focused on descriptive data analysis. We create profiles of the most important teaching formats lecture, seminar and practical exercises regarding their digital and didactic design and their success criteria.

The students have a very differentiated idea of which digital elements they want to transfer from ERT to face-to-face teaching. In particular, the recording of teaching content is in the foreground here. Students are less appreciative of student presentations in video conferences and work assignments for student groups (Team Evaluation 2021a, 2021b), which can be regarded as core elements of seminars and practical exercises. This coincides with the findings of Lübcke et al. where university administrators want to focus digitalisation primarily on lectures (Lübcke et al., 2022). Our lecturer survey shows that teaching formats have not changed significantly because of digitalisation (Reinmann et al. 2021b). Keeping this in mind, and the fact that students and university administrators focus on the lecture in their ideas of a post-digital university, one should be aware that this could also be a missed opportunity for the further development of university teaching. Regarding the perception of study requirements, the difficulties seem to level out with the continuation of distance teaching: the initial challenges normalise yet these experiences are still influenced by an emergency mode. We have the impression that lecturers have developed a "digital teaching fatigue" (MacGaughey et al. 2021). An indication of this is, for example, the declining approval ratings for the positive expectations of digital teaching. However, fears related to digital teaching are neither more nor more intense. All these findings show that we have not yet reached our goal of being able to map the digitalisation process of teaching after Covid-19. All the attitudes, practices that we observe are still conditioned by the pandemic. We would like our contribution to be understood as a warning against drawing conclusions about digitalisation at universities too quickly. A pandemic-induced digitalisation remains a digitalisation of the exceptional. We cannot yet see a new normal.

Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T. & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emer- gency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review. https://er.edu- cause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and- online-learning Lübcke, M., Bosse, E., Book, A., Wannemacher, K. (2022): Zukunftskonzepte in Sicht? Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie auf die strategische Hochschulentwicklung. Arbeitspapier Hochschulforum Digitalisierung. In print McGaughey, F. et al. (2021). ‘This can’t be the new norm’: academics’ perspectives on the COVID-19 crisis for the Australian university sector. Higher Education Research & Development. URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2021.1973384?casa_token=Kc682IufzgkAAAAA%3AKuIsi_1HSjUxZPF3QP7xw3nE_VVBfsbXtCE_fl34KzMK8jegv_RduwfQnoRi8qR6TdinQVEbxYtyBQ Reinmann, G., Lübcke, E. & Brase, A. (2021a). Transformation von Lehren und Studieren unter digitalen Bedingungen (TaLeS). Trendstudie zur didaktischen Entwicklung der Lehre unter digitalen Bedingungen aus Lehrenden-Perspektive an der Universität Hamburg. Ergebnisbericht zum Wintersemester 2020/21. Hamburg. URL: https://www.hul.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/laufende-projekte/tales/bericht-tales-lehrende-wise-2020-21.pdf Reinmann, G., Lübcke, E. & Brase, A., Bohndick, C. (2021b). Transformation von Lehren und Studieren unter digitalen Bedingungen (TaLeS). Trendstudie zur didaktischen Entwicklung der Lehre unter digitalen Bedingungen aus Lehrenden-Perspektive an der Universität Hamburg. Ergebnisbericht zum Sommersemester 2020/21. Hamburg. URL: https://www.hul.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/laufende-projekte/tales/bericht-lehrendenbefragung-sose21.pdf Team Evaluation (2021a). Bericht zur Studierendenbefragung im Wintersemester 2020/21. Trendstudie zur Transformation von Lehren und Studieren unter digitalen Bedingungen (TaLeS-Studium). Hamburg. URL: https://www.hul.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/laufende-projekte/tales/studierendenbefragung-tales-ws-20-21-ergebnisbericht-barrierefrei.pdf Team Evaluation (2021b). Bericht zur Studierendenbefragung im Sommersemester 2021. Trendstudie zur Transformation von Lehren und Studieren unter digitalen Bedingungen (TaLeS-Studium). Hamburg. URL: https://www.hul.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/laufende-projekte/tales/studierendenbefragung-tales-sommersemester-2021-ergebnisbericht.pdf