With the introduction of modularized bachelor’s and master’s degree programs as part of the Bologna reform, a main project was assessing student working hours, or “workload”. The aim was to record the actual student workload and check whether it aligns with the workload defined by the number of credit points for the modules (crediting). For this purpose, a questionnaire inventory was developed (Fragebogeninventar zur Erfassung der studienbezogenen Lernzeit: FELZ).

The inventory provides data on the average time commitment of students and the distribution of workload over the course of the semester. Another benefit of the inventory results from the possibility of making comparisons on different levels. Thus, parallel courses of a module can be compared regarding the workload but also whole degree programs.

With this inventory the workload was recorded at Freie Universität Berlin in the period from summer semester 2005 to summer semester 2006 in 17 bachelor’s degree programs under the responsibility of Prof. Dr. Felicitas Thiel (Arbeitsbereich Schulpädagogik/Schulentwicklungsforschung). This very differentiated procedure allowed us to collect reliable data on the student workload in each week of the semester and for each module. In accordance with the feedback format developed, the results were made available to the Executive Board and the departments and were used for planning degree programs.
 

Publications (German)

Blüthmann, I., Ficzko, M., Thiel, F. (2006). FELZ – Ein Instrument zur Erfassung der studienbezogenen Arbeitsbelastung. In: Behrendt, B., Voss, H.-P., Wildt, J. (Hrsg.) Neues Handbuch Hochschullehre, 24, I 2.6. Bonn. Raabe Verlag

Blüthmann, I. & Thiel, F. (2011) Sind pauschale Workload-Einschätzungen aussagekräftig? In: Steinhardt, I. (Hrsg.), Studierbarkeit nach Bologna, Mainzer Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung, Bd. 17, S. 82-95. Mainz: ZQ.

Contact person:
Dr. Irmela Blüthmann, Dipl.-Psych.