With the goal of advancing German-Israeli academic cooperation in research and teaching, Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), are pleased to announce the 3rd Call for Joint Online Courses. Launched in 2021 through the German-Israeli Virtual Campus (GIVCA) initiative, the project aims to foster the development of joint digital and blended learning, teaching and mobility formats for the benefit of students at both institutions.

The reality imposed by Covid-19 has significantly increased the relevance of and experience with joint international online courses as a new and lasting form of international cooperation. FUB and HUJI are seeking pairs of academic staff – 1 HUJI and 1 FUB as “teaching tandems” – who will design and deliver joint online/digital courses that can be integrated into the regular curricula of both institutions.

Call Details

Fields: Open to all fields. The activities may either focus on a single discipline or be interdisciplinary in nature. 

Funding: Up to 6.000 Euro per joint course; eligible expenses include:

• Costs for the production of digital content
• Personnel (on external contract basis)
• Consumables
• Travel expenses (these should not comprise the majority of project costs)
• Subcontracting services by the units for digital teaching and learning at both FUB (CeDiS, University Library) and HUJI (Unit for Teaching and Learning)

Potential Course Frameworks:

• Intensive short-term joint courses
• Long-term joint courses (1-2 semesters)
• Joint online lecture series
• Other formats, especially blended formats combining on- and off-line components

All formats should include joint digital teaching and learning activities, i.e. lecture recordings, live sessions via web conference, use of online tools like wikis, blogs etc. These can include blended mobility as a combination of digital teaching and on-site teaching, i.e. workshop either at FUB or HUJI for course participants and/or PIs. Concept, content and teaching materials of each online lecture or joint course should be developed on a “fifty-fifty-basis” by FUB faculty and HUJI faculty. Individual lectures may be prepared and produced (filmed, etc.) with the support of the local e-learning units at FUB and HUJI.

Please note: all teaching materials are to be developed and published according to the GIVCA style guide. Furthermore, please reference the digital teaching tools provided by both universities.

Timeframe: The proposed activities should commence and conclude during the 2023/24 academic year.

Participants: Courses will be open to registered FUB and HUJI students.

Teaching Load: Each lecturer should receive the full teaching load at his/her institution.

Application and Submission

Proposals should be jointly submitted by FUB and HUJI faculty in English and must include the following information:

• Course title, description and tentative syllabus
• Course timeframe
• Budget
• Written statement of endorsement from respective FUB/HUJI department/faculty
• CV of both instructors

Description, syllabus, timeframe and budget should not exceed four pages in total. (CVs and endorsement letters do not count towards the page limit). Given their expertise, consultation with the respective service units for e-learning (see below) before submission of proposals is strongly recommended.

Researchers should submit their joint proposal simultaneously to FUB and HUJI until March 15, 2023 (deadline extended).Proposals should be sent electronically, in a single PDF file, to the following addresses:

Freie Universität Berlin: Bertram Welker, Division of International Affairs, E-Mail: bertram.welker@fu-berlin.de

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Keren Sagi, International Office, E-Mail: kerensa@savion.huji.ac.il

Selection Criteria

Funding for joint online courses will be provided on a competitive basis. Projects will be selected by a joint FUB-HUJI committee, lending particular attention to the following criteria:

• Excellence of course proposal
• Level of synergy between the lecturers, students and institutions
• Contribution to the department’s/institution’s curriculum
• Quality and sustainability of the digital/blended teaching and mobility format
• Sustainability of the cooperation beyond the initial seed money funding phase

Further Information

For information regarding the application process please contact the above-mentioned staff. For consultation regarding concept development and implementation, please contact the respective service units for e-learning at both universities:

Freie Universität Berlin: Team E-Learning, CeDiS, University Deadline, E-Mail: digitale-lehre@fu-berlin.de

Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Michal Ramot, Head of the Online Teaching Unit, E-Mail: michal.ramot1@mail.huji.ac.il