Imke Buß; Jutta Rump; Janina Kaiser; Melanie Schiedhelm; Petra Schorat-Waly

The composition of the student body is constantly changing due to demographic developments, higher education policy and study structure conditions, constantly changing social conditions and the increased offer of part-time study programs. Thus, students bring their individual biographies into their studies. These are, for example, socio-cultural backgrounds, gender-specific aspects, different life circumstances such as physical, chronic or mental illnesses, caring responsibilities (children/dependents in need of care), occupation, social or honorary commitment (Boomers and Nitschke 2013).

Gradually, universities are taking these life situations into account in a variety of ways: for example, by making full-time study programs more flexible or by offering corresponding study formats such as continuing education or part-time study programs. At the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, the following life situations are particularly relevant:

These partly (e.g. temporally) stressful life situations result in study difficulties and time and place restrictions that influence learning behavior. This is expressed in particular in difficulties in participating in courses and group work or in finding the necessary time for self-study. The university can support compatibility here through numerous measures in the organization of studies or teaching. For example, teachers can create greater flexibility in terms of location and time by replacing classroom lectures with virtual teaching. Analyses of study structure aspects can be found in Working Paper No. 2 of the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences (Buß et al. 2015).

Literature
Boomers, S.; Nitschke, A. (2013): Diversity and teaching. Recommendations for designing courses with heterogeneous student groups. Berlin.

Buß, I.; Müller, M.; Husemann, B. (2015): Analyses on aspects of study structure. University working paper no. 2. Ludwigshafen.

Buß, I. (2016): Unpublished results of a student survey within the project Open Study Model Ludwigshafen. Ludwigshafen.

Citation
Buß, Imke; Rump, Jutta; Kaiser, Janina; Schiedhelm, Melanie; Schorat-Waly, Petra (2017): Dimension: life circumstances. In: Rump, Jutta; Buß, Imke; Kaiser, Janina; Schiedhelm, Melanie; Schorat-Waly, Petra: Toolbox for good teaching in a diverse student body. Working Papers of the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, No. 6. www. hwg-lu.de/arbeitspapiere

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