Ivett Guntersdorfer has used both coffee and the highly-sensitive topics of sexuality and anxiety to get students interested in the German language. The coffee is served at a weekly Kaffeetisch, where undergraduates get together and chat informally with each other and with teaching assistants in the language they’re trying to learn. Growing from a handful to nearly 20 students, the Kaffeetisch has inspired a possible breakfast, adding Muesli to the beverage on hand.

The topic of sexuality is part of the subject matter in an undergraduate course she developed for the Collegium of University Teaching Fellows. The discussion is set in the context of Sigmund Freud and contemporary thinkers and writers working in Vienna in 1900. Students must come to class with a research question based on their readings, and "as a result, the atmosphere in class becomes generally very lively," Ivett says. "Students feel less intimidated as they have already thought about the material and developed their arguments." To incorporate new media, Ivett had students develop an interactive map based on Vienna locales mentioned in their readings. Students were asked to find out what’s happening in those places today and find a connection of those events and the historical and fictional past.

The Google map project, inspired by Professor Todd Presner’s HyperCities project, grew into a proposal for a session at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages conference, "Teaching Freud and Schnitzler with Technology." The undergraduate seminar itself grew out of Ivett’s dissertation project, examining the work of Arthur Schnitzler, a Freud contemporary who dealt with sexual themes and a deep angst in his novels and plays. Difficult subject matter is nothing new to Ivett, who also taught a Holocaust course. "I believe that we all learn through challenges," she says, "so I would like to teach my students to discuss difficult topics of life, even if it makes us feel uncomfortable."

Reading her dissertation proposal, her adviser, Wolfgang Nehring says he admired how well she transformed her research into a seminar. "She is not satisfied with mere reading and writing at her desk but rather tries to make her ideas work in the classroom," he says. "Her students learn from her that scholarship is not a dull hobby of elderly professors but rather a lively endeavor that can help you to understand and to change a life."

Indeed, making an impact on students’ lives is one of Ivett’s goals. "I know that many of my students feel more passionate now about exploring other cultures, learning new languages, and celebrating diversity," she says. "I also hope that, as a result of taking my courses, many became more confident about meeting challenges in their lives, more determined to pursue their dreams, and more engaged in the ongoing reflection about relating to other people."

Published in Spring 2011, Graduate Quarterly