Design of Hybrid Teaching Formats in Technical Logistics through Digital Self-Learning Phases and Structured On-Campus Sessions

Abstract

Engineering education has traditionally centered on the transmission of theoretical knowledge and abstract modelling, because implementing real systems in teaching is technically demanding and resource intensive. Digital formats now allow theoretical content to be acquired asynchronously and independently of location, which frees on-campus time for other purposes. Building on this, we present a hybrid teaching concept that moves the acquisition of theory into digital self-study and reserves on-campus sessions for application, problem-solving and discussion.

The approach promotes competence-oriented and individualized learning with a modular design that enables transfer to other teaching contexts. Theoretical content is decomposed into modular Studybites consisting of multimedia learning resources and self-assessment activities, each covering one coherent chain of reasoning. The lecturer supplies the content and records the material, while the student team manages production. Learning materials are didactically designed and complemented by learning portfolios to support reflection and continuous learning processes. The On-Campus Sessions are planned to directly build upon the preceding self-study phases and to focus on application, problem-solving, and discussion. The concept was piloted within an existing course. However, such a concept is only viable if it demonstrably supports student learning without increasing workload for lecturers. The pilot phase was therefore accompanied by continuous observation and feedback loops from students and lecturers to evaluate feasibility, acceptance and transferability from both perspectives.

The pilot showed high acceptance and a closer connection between theory and practice, which motivated transfer to four further logistics courses. The lecturers approved the student-proposed decomposition largely unchanged. Building the first iteration was expensive; running the second was not. When the pilot course was taught again one year later, the digital material was reused unchanged and preparation effort fell well below that of the format it replaced. Initial observations also suggest that the reuse of digital materials may reduce lecturer preparation time, creating capacity for deeper student support and pedagogical innovation. The results indicate that hybrid teaching formats in logistics education benefit strongly from an iterative, student-centered development process. In particular, the early and continuous involvement of students, the professionalization of digital content production, and the clear didactic structuring of self-learning and on-campus phases proved to be decisive success factors. For practice, this suggests that hybrid formats should be designed flexibly, evaluated continuously, and supported by adequate digital infrastructure and organizational resources.