Innovative Teaching Formats
The Institute develops and implements innovative teaching formats that complement traditional academic instruction. We organise collaborative seminars with partner universities and support student-led teaching initiatives. At the same time, we continue to integrate experimental and experience-based elements into our courses, using media such as VR, AI, and interactive online formats.
"Ethics by Design" - A HOOU Online Course
Ethics by Design is an innovative learning and informational resource developed by the Institute for Ethics in Technology for the Hamburg Open Online University (HOOU), highlighting the central role of ethics in the development and application of technology. The course demonstrates how ethical considerations must be embedded at every stage of the development process, rather than addressed only retrospectively. Through interactive scenarios, participants are invited to make decisions grounded in everyday situations, while engaging with key issues such as fairness, justice, and data protection. By fostering awareness of the ethical implications of technological development, the course encourages a more reflective and responsible engagement with technology—much as our approach to food changes when we understand how it is produced and the consequences it entails.
The course is available open access via the HOOU platform.
ECIU Course on AI and Innovation
The Institute for Ethics in Technology at TUHH contributes to the European ECIU University programme, in which TUHH students collaborate with peers from twelve partner universities across Europe to address pressing societal challenges.
Within this framework, courses such as Creativity and AI and Ethical Innovation and AI, taught by Dr Jonas Bozenhard, explore the interplay between technological innovation, creative practice, and ethical reflection. Students engage in interdisciplinary and intercultural teams, working on real-world problems while developing critical perspectives on the design and use of artificial intelligence.
This challenge-based, transnational learning environment represents a forward-looking model of engineering education: it equips students not only with technical expertise, but also with the capacity to navigate complexity, collaborate across borders, and take responsibility for the societal impact of emerging technologies.
BLUE ENGINEERING - Students Teaching Students
Launched in October 2024, the TUHH Blue Engineering group is part of a Germany-wide student network that empowers engineering students to develop and deliver their own teaching formats on social and ecological responsibility. Building on this established network, the TUHH group contributes its own locally developed courses, such as Ethical Decision-Making in Career Choices, fostering responsible leadership in engineering.
The TUHH initiative is supported by the Claussen-Simon Foundation and supervised by the Institute for Ethics in Technology, providing an academic framework while preserving its student-driven character. By enabling peer-to-peer teaching and collaborative learning, Blue Engineering creates a space in which students critically engage with the broader societal implications of their future professional practice. The TUHH group was awarded third place at the Harburg Sustainability Award 2026 — an achievement we are proud to support as an institute.
IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING – An Innovative XR Seminar
Launched in the winter semester 2025/26, Stories Beyond Screens: Immersive Narrative Spaces in the Age of Spatial Computing, taught by Daniela Dinnes, explores how storytelling changes when audiences become active participants in immersive environments. The seminar introduces students to narrative forms in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, and examines how these technologies reshape perception, interaction, and the role of the user.
Combining theoretical reflection with hands-on experience, the course engages with key concepts such as immersion, presence, and agency, while analysing contemporary XR applications. Through guided exercises, students experience immersive technologies first-hand and critically reflect on their narrative and ethical implications.
By developing their own XR concepts, participants explore new forms of science communication and creative practice. The seminar thus exemplifies the Institute’s commitment to innovative, practice-oriented teaching at the intersection of technology, culture, and ethics.
INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING – TUHH × University of Hamburg
Launched in November 2024, this teaching collaboration between the Institute for Ethics in Technology at TUHH and the Institute for Media and Communication at the University of Hamburg brings together students from engineering, media, and cultural studies. The initiative enables participants from both universities to attend selected courses across institutional boundaries, fostering interdisciplinary exchange and broadening academic perspectives.
By connecting technological, ethical, and media-cultural approaches, the programme encourages students to engage critically with contemporary developments such as artificial intelligence, digital media, and the transformation of the public sphere. Through this close institutional collaboration, students gain insights into complementary disciplinary perspectives and develop a more integrated understanding of complex socio-technical challenges. In doing so, the initiative exemplifies the Institute’s commitment to collaborative, cross-disciplinary teaching formats.
TU Hamburg
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