Financial mathematics is not necessarily the most popular subject

Mr Obermeier, why do you teach?

"I've always been interested in passing on knowledge, so I've always aspired to give lectures, whether professionally or in the context of my own studies, where I set up a few study groups as my colleagues and I completed a part-time distance learning programme. Another important aspect is that you also learn while teaching. There is an interesting mix of students at the UAS, all of whom already have some life experience, and this always leads to great discussions that also sharpen my perspective on the material."

What motivates you?

As a child I was a bad student, few teachers managed to capture my interest. I excelled in these subjects, others were more like torture for me. Even as a child, everything I learnt made me question what it could be useful for in life, and this question was rarely answered. This was largely due to the fact that content was presented on a theoretical, abstract level, but you rarely saw examples of how the mathematical function or physical law was used in everyday life.

Later, during my studies in England, I realised that things could be done quite differently, with lots of examples being used to teach the content. I would like to take up this concept and teach my students the theoretical basics on the one hand, but also make them understandable with some real-life examples.

What practical content do you bring to the lecture theatre?

My subject FiMeK, i.e. Financial Methods and Calculation for Cloud, offers me many opportunities to talk about my more than 30 years of professional experience and show how the methods I teach can then be used in everyday life, for example to evaluate investments. Buying a car, building a house or replacing a heating system offers a broad playing field for applying the methods and ultimately making a decision.

The very positive assessment by the students in the last year shows that I am on the right track with my approach, especially as financial mathematics is not necessarily the most popular subject. Perhaps also because it is very often taught purely theoretically.