Kassel professor supports nationwide centers for digital education

As part of a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), four so-called "Competence Centers for Digital and Digitally Supported Teaching in Schools and Continuing Education" are to be established. The aim of these centers is to bring together various associations on specific topics and thus create synergies. For example, there is one for STEM subjects and another that combines music, art and sports. They are intended to help develop digitization measures for schools and continuing education offerings for digitally supported subject instruction. The findings and measures are then to be incorporated into the education system.

A research team from the University of Kassel led by Prof. Dr. Frank Lipowsky, Head of the Department of Empirical Research on Schools and Teaching, is involved in this project with two subprojects. The first aims to support the four competence centers in their research on the developed training measures. To this end, the participants are examining and developing suitable instruments with which the centers can evaluate their digitization-related training and continuing education courses for teachers as effectively as possible.

The second subproject is more specifically concerned with the question of which standards should be used to implement the measures in the education system. To this end, researchers from various universities will first obtain a systematic overview of the current state of research on the quality and characteristics of effective digitization-related training. Based on this, fixed standards for digitization-related continuing education and training for teachers are to be developed in collaboration with the competence centers. Relevant actors from the education system are involved in this step and will subsequently disseminate and implement the developed standards.

The projects fit in well with the ongoing research activity of the department: "We, my colleague Daniela Rzejak and I, have been researching the topic of 'hallmarks of effective in-service training for teachers' here for years," says Prof. Dr. Frank Lipowsky. "Our practice-oriented guide on this, for example, has already been perceived very positively in the scientific community and also in practice." The guide can be downloaded free of charge here if you are interested. 

The Kassel team will receive nearly 800,000 euros for the two subprojects. The overarching project, in which 60 experts from various disciplines are participating nationwide, is funded by the BMBF with 30 million euros. The cross-state networking and transfer office coordinates the networking and communication of the various competence centers and complements them with its own research. A particular strength of this network is that it brings together university and non-university partners from eight German states. The project started on 01 February 2023 and will run for just under three and a half years.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Frank Lipowsky
FB 01 - Institute of Educational Science
Empirical School and Teaching Research
Tel.: +49 561 804-3613
E-mail: lipowsky[at]uni-kassel[dot]de