Berlin, April 24, 2017. A network of schools from all over Germany is working out the relevant fields of action of a learning-oriented digital school culture in the workshop schulentwicklung.digital. At the first meeting of the workshop, which the foundation initiative Forum Bildung Digitalisierung (Forum Education and Digitalisation) hosted in Fuldatal, Kassel on March 30 and 31, the participating schools defined eight dimensions of action that are relevant to the digital transformation in school education. The following working areas were identified: participation, equipment and technology, teaching and learning materials, education and training, legal framework, learning and checking, management and team structures, as well as communicating in networks. Within thematic working groups and during the three other workshop meetings of the network, the schools want to collect their experiences and needs in these fields of action and thereby identify development opportunities and paths to digitalization.
“The schools of the workshop schulentwicklung.digital have already developed their own concepts for their schools in order to use the possibilities of digitalization for pedagogy, learning culture, and educational goals”, says Dr. Nathalie von Siemens. “The schools bring their experiences, wishes, and commitment to the network and develop results there that contribute to a broad digitization of schools in Germany.”
The network consists of 38 schools of different types from all federal states. These are pioneers of digital teaching and media education who wish to share their own progress and obstacles to benefit each other. Over the year, the networking activities will continue with the support of a scientific advisory board. The results will be presented at an interim conference on November 24, 2017.
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The experts from the schools have highlighted eight practical fields of action for the transformation to a digital school culture:
Participation: Digital media enable forms of participation in the digital transformation and offer identification and motivation potential.
Equipment and technology: The technical equipment of schools is the basis for digital learning. The staff should be able to use them competently.
Teaching and learning materials: New digital media also need new digital teaching materials and the legal protection of users.
Education and training: Training is to be anchored in the school development concept; staff must be trained in the use of digital media.
Legal framework: Secure digital teaching and learning requires clear usage guidelines for materials and the guarantee of data protection.
Learning and checking: Digital teaching tools enable individualized learning, which requires personalized procedures for checking learning progress.
Management and team structures: For a successful digitalization process, a team needs time, space, and motivation.
Communicating in networks: In order to achieve the digital transformation, schools need to communicate with one another and with all stakeholders involved.
The Forum Bildung Digitalisierung is a joint initiative of the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Siemens Stiftung. It is being sponsored by Stiftung Mercator. Their activities are aimed at answering one question: How can digital media help meet educational challenges? With their initiative, the foundations are facilitating a dialog of all members of the educational community and are bringing together experts from the classroom, science, and school administration as a way of sharing their experiences with digital change with as many educational institutions as possible. Other partners are welcome to take part as well.
More information about the workshop process and the initiative can be found at: www.forumbd.de