The stakeholder-conference took place on June 10 at the dbb forum Berlin. The event, organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, brought together experts from politics, economy and society to discuss digital education.
aconium is active in the general management of the association Initiative D21. Additionally, together with further partners aconium has analysed the challenges and demands for a contemporary media education in schools in the study “
Media education at German schools” in 2014. aconium took part at the conference in order to exchange experiences with the involved actors and to stay updated on the most relevant issues regarding digital education.
The event started with a keynote by Dr. Dr. Hesse from the Leibniz Institute for media knowledge. After further impulses by Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, Federal Minister of Education and Research, and Dr. Claudia Bogedan, Senator for Education in Bremen and also president of KMK, the participants discussed in four forums about different aspects of digital education and its challenges.
Digital media allows for new forms of knowledge transfer and requires not only an appropriate infrastructure and equipment, but also a reconsideration when it comes to teaching methods. For this purpose teachers need further support beyond technical assistance. The discussions included the necessity for networking and cooperation between actors as well as innovative ideas such as a “baby hatch” for Open Educational Resources (OER). The idea is that experts prepare material received, provide keywords and afterwards make it available to the general public for promoting the culture of sharing of learning and teaching material. It also minimizes the additional work for the producers of OER.
During the subsequent panel discussion, it became clear that the teachers are the key to success for the effective implementation of digital education. To make full use of the potential of digital media education, they need to be equipped with the needed infrastructure and the data protection. Additionally, regulations framework as well as adequate training opportunities are essential. In order to achieve this objective, Dirk Loßack, Secretary of State in the Ministry for schools and professional education Schleswig-Holstein, requested a courageous KMK strategy for the topic education in the digital world in his final conclusion.