Digitalisation in education – Analysis of the current situation and perspectives in veterinary medicine An online survey among lecturers of the five veterinary universities in Germany was conducted to assess the status of digitalisation in education, particularly in the periods before, during and (in perspective) after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the lecturers were questioned about their evaluation of e-learning approaches. Public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a more or less complete shift from face-to-face teaching to digital teaching from spring 2020 onwards (Marinoni et al. 2020), including veterinary educational institutions in Germany. Prior to the summer semester 2020, lecturers had little experience with digital teaching and rarely if ever offered digital content in their courses. Since the digital summer semester of 2020, there has been a rapid increase in the use of digital teaching materials, approaches and concepts. Especially online live sessions, in which teaching content could be digitalised quickly, were implemented extensively. Moreover, the experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic motivated the lecturers to increase their use of digital teaching long-term, when all COVID-19 related restrictions in higher education have been lifted again. They intend to create diverse digital teaching hours with synchronous and asynchronous teaching content. Compared to the period before the summer semester 2020, lecturers plan to implement more teaching hours digitally, to use digital teaching materials and approaches more frequently, and to increasingly design their courses in blended learning concepts. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic has effectively promoted digital teaching in veterinary medicine and accelerated the process of digitalisation. At the same time, the limitations of digitalisation in veterinary education become apparent. Lecturers agree that not all teaching content in veterinary medicine can be digitalised. This relates especially to the hands-on training stipulated in the TAppV. The lack of teaching practical skills and the reduced social and communicative interaction with and between students are key weaknesses of digital education. As a result, practical classes are less suitable for the use of digital teaching than seminars and lectures; they were less digitally enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic and are expected to be so in the future as well. Although a certain amount of face-to-face teaching in veterinary medicine is considered essential, digital teaching materials and approaches can improve the teaching quality and learning outcome. In addition, the enhanced flexibility for lecturers and students with the associated greater range of digital content, the possibility of collaboration and the individualisation of learning are particularly valued. Therefore, the digitalisation in veterinary education focuses on the optimal combination of face-to-face and digital teaching, i.e. blended learning. As a result, traditional face-to-face classes and blended learning will represent the predominant teaching concepts in the long term. Fully digital courses, which were necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic due to political measures, will only play a minor role. In addition to the challenges specific to veterinary medicine, which are caused by the requirements of practical education, external framework conditions inhibit the digitalisation process of veterinary education. The lack of equality between digital education and traditional face-to-face education in terms of teaching obligation and teaching capacity law, as well as copyright and data protection issues, represented the primary obstacles for lecturers. Insufficient digital skills and negative attitudes towards digital teaching were probably resolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, but external challenges remain. Therefore, the lecturers demand a stronger legislative support. The federal and state governments are responsible for improving relevant ordinances and establishing general regulations for digital teaching. Furthermore, raising the value of teaching performance in academic careers is a necessary factor to advance the digitalisation process. These results highlight the need for action by the government and universities in the digitalisation process of higher education. Even though lecturers are favourable to an increased use of digital teaching following the end of COVID-19 related restrictions, it is essential to find long-term solutions to existing challenges and obstacles.weiterlesen