8.12.2025: MSLab Termin 9 for Medical Faculty, University of Münster

In their third year at the Studienhospital, medical students at the University of Münster learn the initial skills required for taking a medical history, performing various physical examinations and carrying out initial interventions. As having explicit performance goals, receiving immediate and accurate feedback, and repeatedly performing the assigned task are all key elements of effective, transferable learning from simulation-based training, half of the students in one clinical group were asked to focus on these elements during a regular practical session (MSLab Termin 9), when practising the insertion of a peripheral venous indwelling catheter.

The TIIM app, which was developed for the ACTIVATE project to support deliberate practice, helped students in their self-regulated learning. Users collected information on the level of performance they were aiming for, as well as feedback on their actual performance from everyone involved. They also had a short discussion with their tutor about the trustworthiness of carrying out these tasks on patients. All this information was audio-recorded on their own smartphones and transcribed by the Scribesoftware in their eportfolio.

The four students involved were positive about the added value and user-friendliness of the app.

Informations: See WP2 D1. Scenario for individual skills training: peripheral venous indwelling catheter

14. - 16.11.2025: IHCI-2025 Conference in Rajasthan, India

The 2025 edition of the Intelligent Human-Computer Interaction (IHCI) conference, addressing the fields of human-centred technology and cognitive computing, took place at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence at Banasthali Vidyapith in Rajasthan, India, from 14 to 16 November 2025.

Within the ACTIVATE project, researchers from the University Twente and the University of Münster presented online the process of designing a novel deliberate practice scenario for medical simulation training, as well as the subsequent development of a mobile feedback app and e-portfolio, and the early-stage usability testing of these. The results emphasised the dual benefits of such workshops: they provide actionable insights for improving software and validate the conceptual basis of enhanced feedback practices in medical education.

At the end of the conference, the ACTIVATE team received the special session award for their conference paper.

11.11.2025: Tagung Interprofessionalität 2025, Bielefeld, Germany

Following the successful interprofessional conference held in 2024, Evangelischen Klinikum Bethel (EvKB), Krankenhaus Mara and Universitätsklinikum OWL organised a second conference Interprofessionalität in Bielefeld on 11 November 2025. Nearly one hundred people attended the event.

The two main focuses of the event were: 1) the exchange of research and best practices in interprofessional learning (IPL) to establish IPL at EvKB, Mara Hospital and OWL University Hospital, and 2) interprofessional knowledge exchange to improve interprofessional collaboration (IPC).

In the context of the IPC focus area, Bas de Leng from the University of Münster presented an innovative simulation developed as part of the ACTIVATE project to promote interprofessional collaboration in palliative care.

Informations: Flyer Tagung (DE)

22. - 26.10.2025: Summer school for Dokkyo Medical University, Japan

The Institute for Education and Student Affairs (IfAS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Münster, organised a summer school for a delegation of Japanese medical students and their supervisors. The programme included practical training, clinical visits and virtual reality (VR) courses, among other things. On 25 September, eight students took part in skills training using an innovative scenario for deliberate practice, which was developed in the ACTIVATE project. Students were required to perform a two-stage assignment, first examining a simulated patient (SP) with “simple” lower back pain, and then a more complex case.

During the first case, care was taken to make the personal learning goals, expectations and needs explicit (‘feed up’) before carrying out the physical examination. This was followed by group feedback (‘feed back’) after the examination and a personal discussion with the tutor to set new learning goals (‘feed forward’). The feedback collected had then to be applied to the second, more complex case. However, the Japanese students wanted to deviate from the original procedure by changing who went into the second simulation. This was because they wanted to give as many students as possible the chance to talk to a SP, which is virtually unheard of in their education so far.

Informations: See WP2 D1. Scenario for individual skills training: two-stage assignment

10.10.2025: Workshop ‘Tomorrow’s need for specialised care in the home’, Örebro

The Schools of Health Sciences at Örebro University and Mälardalen University organised a one-day event featuring presentations, discussions and a workshop at the Östra Mark in Örebro. Project partners from the two Swedish universities and the Universities of Münster and Leipzig shared and discussed their educational development and research work with teachers from the occupational therapy and nursing programmes at Örebro and Mälardalen universities, as well as with healthcare staff from the academic care home ‘Akvarellen’ for people with dementia in the Kumla municipality. Afterwards, the German guests were given a tour of the Clinical Training Centre (KTC) at the Department of Health Sciences, which is located in Prismahuset. The KTC provides undergraduate and graduate nursing and occupational therapy students with skills training in rooms resembling a hospital environment. There are also two rooms that resemble a home setting, where students can practise home care.

Informations: Progamm (SE) and impressions

Venue: Östra Mark (Örebro, SE)

12.09.2025: Long Night of University Medicine, Münster

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of university medicine in Münster, the University Medical Center Münster (UKM) and the medical faculty hosted the “Long Night of University Medicine”. It attracted 14,000 visitors from the city and surrounding area. The ACTIVATE team presented the IPL part of the project to an interested public.

Informations: programm and impressions

Venue: Study Laboratory Münster (Münster, DE)

20.08.2025: SPHERE (Shared Pharmacy and Healthcare Education for Real-world Experience), Münster

The Institutes of General Medicine and Pharmaceutical and Medical Chemistry at the University of Münster organised interprofessional simulation training for nine pairs of final-year medical and pharmacy students. All pairs worked through three cases developed by Johanna Schweizer, Hedda Wollbold (General Medicine) and Isabel Waltering, Björn Burckhardt, Martina Düfer (Pharmacy) in collaboration with the ACTIVATE project’s Münster-based partner. The cases were then discussed with all students in a plenary session based on questions from the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory.

Informations: Debriefing presentation (DE) and impressions

Venue: Study Hospital Münster (Münster, DE)

13.08.2025: Multi-professional summer school on palliative care, Münster

The German Society for Palliative Medicine organised a summer school on palliative care in Münster, attended by 34 participants from across Germany. One of the components of this four-day event was an afternoon of simulation training at the Studienhospital, featuring two interprofessional cases developed by Florian Bernhardt and the Münster-based partner of the ACTIVATE project.

Informations: Flyer DGP (DE) and impressions

Venue: Study Hospital Münster (Münster, DE)

24.06.2025: Summer party Erasmus+ and 100 years DAAD, Münster

To celebrate the success of the Erasmus+ programme and the 100th anniversary of the DAAD, the University of Münster’s Career Service and International Office organised a summer party. Information stands provided details about the various Erasmus+ funding opportunities at the university, and participants exchanged information about their projects and programmes. The International Office selected the ACTIVATE project for inclusion in her poster presentation.

Informations: Ersamus+ Cooperation projects (DE) and impressions

Venue: Botanicum Münster (Münster, DE)

05. - 06.06.2025: Workshop Palliative Care Skillstraining and Debriefing Dashboard, Münster

Students of Computer and Media Science from HTWK Leipzig visited the Studienhospital in Münster to participate in a palliative care skills training course for medical students and collect feedback from teachers on their prototype debriefing dashboard.

Informations: Program and impressions

Venue: Study hospital (Münster, DE)

15. - 16.05.2025: National Conference Clinical Education, Örebro

The Education Centre, Region Örebro County and Örebro University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health organised the fourth national KU 2025 conference on clinical education. Over 200 participants from across Sweden gathered to discuss how academia and healthcare can collaborate to improve clinical education. PhD students presented their research contributions to the ACTIVATE project, which focuses on the design and piloting of simulation-based learning.

Informations: Article in local Kumla Municipality media (SE) and impressions

08.05.2025: Usability test of mobile app and e-portfolio for Deliberate Practice

The BMS Lab development team from the University of Twente came to the Studienhospital in Münster to conduct a usability test of the TIIM app with medical students who had completed standard individual skills training. The students were then shown mock-ups of the app and e-portfolio, after which they had to write down their perceptions and ideas in four quadrants on an A3 sheet of paper.

Informations: Usability test protocol and impressions

Venue: Study hospital / Limette (Münster, DE)

03.12.2024: Workshop Deliberate Practice, Twente

The design team from the University of Münster visited the BMS Lab at the University of Twente in Enschede to develop procedures that would support an earlier-formulated PACT scenario for deliberate practice in medical skills training within the ‘Twente Intervention and Interaction Machine’ application (TIIM). Each team developed a conceptual procedure in TIIM, and one of these was selected at a later stage for further development into a prototype.

Informations: Program and impressions

Venue: BMS Lab (Enschede, NL)

15.11.2024: Workshop Interprofessional Learning, Leipzig

The design team from the University of Münster visited the University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig to introduce students of Computer and Media Science, along with their supervisors, to the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). Together, we brainstormed ways in which the theory’s basic unit of analysis, the ‘activity system’, could be used to develop a debriefing dashboard for interprofessional learning.

Informations: Program and impressions

Venue: Trerfftz building (Leipzig, DE)

18. - 19.10.2024: Kick-Off-Meeting, Papendal

In the framework of the EU-project ACTIVATE (Agile Competency-Based Learning for Individuals and Teams) a kick-off meeting is organized by its strategic partnership (Universities of Münster, Leipzig, Twente and Örebro).

Informations: Scientific program

Venue: High Performance centre Papendal (Arnhem, NL)