Network 4.0 of the Universities of Music

Network 4.0 of the Universities of Music

together. digital. design.

The Karlsruhe University of Music is a partner of the Network 4.0 of Music Universities.

NEWS: The project will end at the end of 2025. The results from four years of Network 4.0 are available on the website, divided into the following topics:

• Designing teaching
• Materials for teaching
• Future skills
• Technologies
• Structural design
• Quality management and teaching development

The travel guide “gemeinsam. digital. gestalten.” (together. digital. design.) is the final report of the nationwide joint project Network 4.0 of the music academies. The publication invites readers to explore the diverse network activities and their numerous results in thematic tours. 
The interactive digital version is available on the Werkeseite at any time, as is a PDF version.

The Network 4.0 sees itself as a strategic alliance. Eighteen of Germany's 24 conservatoires are involved in this network in order to jointly develop the potential of digitalisation for studying and teaching at conservatoires. The aim is to create digital added value for students, teachers and staff of all the universities in the network. The focus is on artistic-musical education. The Network 4.0 is funded as the network project with the largest number of members in Germany in the programme "Strengthening university teaching through digitalisation" of the Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching.

The Network 4.0 of the Universities of Music

• develops concepts, good-practice examples and learning offers with digital relevance for studying and teaching, which can be used by all participating universities,
• offers a communication, exchange and learning platform through conferences, workshops, training courses and further education,
• provides the member universities with project-related advice, support and assistance in quality and process management, and
• strengthens cooperation across the federal states and the innovative competence of the conservatoires as a whole.

Working methods of the Network 4.0 of the Universities of Music

The operational work of Network 4.0 is divided into eleven sub-projects. Four to eleven universities are involved in each of these sub-projects. The Karlsruhe University of Music is involved in two sub-projects: "Didactic Concepts for Digitally-Enriched Artistic-Musical Teaching" and "Onboarding".

Didactic concepts for digitally enriched artistic-musical teaching

Artistic teaching at conservatoires occupies a special position with regard to the digital enrichment of teaching: The conditions and needs of teaching and learning formats (including individual and small group artistic lessons) require the conception of specially tailored didactic offers.

The aim of the sub-project is to support art teachers in further developing their digital competences and testing new didactic concepts. To this end, didactic offers for teachers are being developed, collegial exchange is being promoted and cooperation among colleagues is being initiated.

Onboarding

Onboarding refers to structured measures taken by the university that begin with the acceptance of new teachers and end after a longer but manageable period of time. The aim is to integrate the new teachers professionally and socially into the university and to familiarise them with the university culture.

The aim of the sub-project is to support the conservatoires in the systematic design of an onboarding process at their university as well as in the further development of the university's own onboarding materials through exchange within the working group. The result will be a template for an ideal onboarding process as well as further materials and handouts. In addition, workshops on music didactics for new teachers will be designed and carried out.

Digital tools for musical practice simply explained - Technology Guidebook of the Network 4.0 of Music Universities available for download

The Technology Guidebook of the Netzwerk 4.0 der Musikhochschulen invites you to browse and discover: It contains programmes and helpful apps for musical practice, which are presented in short texts, divided into the following categories:

• Digital technologies
• Audio and video editing
• Digital sheet music
• Metronome and tuners
• Page turning tools
• Virtual band
• Remote music making
• Practice diary
• Music Theory
• Ear training
• sight-singing
• Music notation programmes
• Miscellaneous

In addition, there are assessments of the complexity of the respective tools as well as information on the technical requirements. The target group is teachers and students alike.