I'm quite passionate about teaching, as I strongly believe that with the right motivation and the perfect supporting material (intuitive and self-explanatory lecture slides, examples, strong motivations, etc.), everybody can achieve what they want, provided enough time is available for studying.
I recall where I didn't invest my time because I thought I'd not be 'good enough', and how I've been "turned" into an "over achiever" (with sufficient self-esteem) when I was a young student due to some senior academic who put his trust in me and motivated me. (Kudos!)
I just believe that most students who are struggling are mostly doing so because they didn't have the right mentor to give them the self-esteem they need and deserve to trust in their capabilities to achieve as best as they could. I believe that such lacking self-esteem or frustration is one of the core causes for not fulfilling one's full potential. I am convinced that it's the convenor's responsibility to eliminate those issues by perfecting the material as much as possible and encouraging and supporting every single person -- no matter at which level of performance they currently stand.
I constantly try to improve my material to produce easy to understand material that supports learning. I thus always actively ask for any sort of critique to continuously improve myself and the students' teaching experience (otherwise I might think something is great whereas in reality it's perceived quite differently...)
In line of what I mentioned above, I enjoy mentoring the most, even more than doing research on my own, I'd rather supervise more undergraduate, graduate, or PhD students -- to motivate and support them (after all, you even get more research output this way, while interacting with and learning from the next generation). On the surface, I might not seem like an overly friendly person (I am quite direct; I've been told that this is typical for Germans), but that's just the surface! I deeply care for other people, and I always sacrifice all my time to support others if they need it, which translates into my devotion into mentoring and teaching.
In March 2026, after 8 years(!), I completed the Baden-Württemberg-Zertifikat Hochschuldidaktik (English: "Baden-Württemberg Certificate for Teaching and Learning at University Level").
This certificate is awarded by the Baden-Württemberg Centre for Teaching and Learning of the Universities and the Universities of Education (HDZ). It aims at increasing the quality of teaching at Universities and Universities of Education in the state of Baden-Württemberg (a state of Germany; this is where I obtained by PhD and did a short period of post-doc). In order to promote the professionalization of teaching staff, as well as stimulate and support the improvement of courses and curricula, the HDZ offers the continuing education program in university didactics which is awarded with the Baden-Württemberg Certificate for Teaching and Learning at University Level.
The certificate consists of 3 modules, taking in total 200 workload units (45 minutes each), though in practice it takes much more. Here, a more precise breakdown:
Module III: The goal of module "Teaching and Learning III" is for participants to be able to confidently apply principles and forms of didactic practice in teaching and in advising students. They are expected to independently apply their didactic knowledge in their professional practice through participatory teaching and learning concepts. Furthermore, they should contribute their own teaching approaches to the development of teaching and advising within their faculty. Module III requires the completion of Module I.
The module comprises a total of 80 workload units, composed as follows:
Module II: The goal of the module "Teaching and Learning II" is to professionlize the didactic acting of the participants in central fields of action of University teaching: The participants shall recognize and classify the basic conditions of teaching and learning at the University. They shall reflect their own teaching in depth and be able to deal with participation-oriented teaching and learning types and consultation situations at the University solidly.
The module comprises 60 workload units, composed as follows:
Caption of topic areas:
Module I: Goal of module "Teaching and Learning I" is to promote a foundational understanding of human learning processes among participants, to sensitize for central conditions of their didactic acting as well as learning of the students, and to encourage reflection of their acting.
The module comprises 60 workload units, composed as follows: