What Do University Teachers Reflect on when Discussing University Teaching Material?

A Content Analysis of Discussions in the Format ‘Materialwerkstatt’

Abstract

Based on the demand for a reflection-oriented teacher education, this article focuses on the reflection of university teachers on teaching. It presents the results of an ethnographic research of so-called ‘Materialwerkstätten’ in which teachers discuss university teaching materials. The content analysis of the discussions opens up a system of eleven main categories, which are considered in the article with recourse to the specific discussion format. It turns out that the teachers discuss the didactic triad of learning object, goal and methods in particular, focusing more on subject-related reflections than on cross-disciplinary aspects of higher education teaching. On the basis of a concept map, the article also outlines which references the teachers in the ‘Materialwerkstätten’ make between the categories. The concluding consideration classifies the results with regard to reflection processes of teacher educators and potentials of the format ‘Materialwerkstatt’. The communicatively established references suggest that theory-, structure- and self-reflections can be stimulated in ‘Materialwerkstätten’, whereby teachers rather refer to their experiences and their subjective reference system. Finally, the article shows practical starting points as well as further research perspectives.