Like SMEs, educational institutions must also recognise and take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalisation. This is not just about modern learning methods, but also about preparing pupils for the digital future and a changing professional world. The first educational institutions in the Hannover Region are already working with WLAN, school clouds and modern software.
Until now, however, schools in the Hannover Region have only had internet speeds of less than 16 Mbit/s. This is set to change: the region in Lower Saxony has been working on expanding the broadband network since September 2016. As part of the federal broadband funding programme, the towns and municipalities are receiving almost 1.2 million euros in support. Together with its own funds and money from state funding programmes, the Hannover Region has a total of around 3.2 million euros at its disposal. On completion of the project, the schools should have transmission rates of at least 50 Mbit/s per class.
Cautious digitalisation of elementary school
One town in the Hanover region where the broadband network is to be expanded as part of the federal funding programme is Springe, southwest of the capital of Lower Saxony. The steady growth of the town of 30,000 inhabitants is due to its convenient location: Springe on the so-called Deisterpforte – the valley pass where the river Haller rises – lies exactly between the business centers of Hanover and Hamelin. One of the schools benefiting from the current broadband expansion in the Hanover region is the Hallermund elementary school in Springe with its 160 pupils and 13 teachers. However, principal Martina Rücker says that the introduction of digital technologies must be approached with caution, especially at an elementary school. The WLAN network is currently being expanded at the school and a server is being set up on which a school network with a web portal can be integrated. But Martina Rücker has even more plans for digital education: “We are working on a media concept with a neighboring elementary school that we are friends with.” For example, the school would like to teach its pupils programming as part of their science lessons in future. “I did a training course on this with a colleague,” explains Rücker. A teacher is already teaching the pupils the basics of creating texts on the computer in a PC club. For example, the pupils can create tables of contents or posters independently. According to Martina Rücker, the funding from the Hanover region through the federal broadband funding programme is very important for Hallermund Primary School, “as a fast connection allows us to work more quickly.”
© MMBbS
Digital media indispensable at vocational schools
Older pupils are already working professionally with digital media. At the MMBbS (Multi-Media Berufsbildende Schulen) on the outskirts of Hanover, for example, modern technologies shape everyday school life and are an indispensable tool. As a regional competence center for IT and media professions, MMBbS works with regional companies to teach technical, social and design skills to secondary school and vocational school students. The vocational basic education is intended to prepare pupils for subsequent vocational training. “Digital media play a central role in all of our training areas at MMBbS. An IT specialist without digital technology is just as unimaginable today as a media designer or a marketing specialist,” says Joachim Maiß, Headmaster of MMBbS: “For us, digital media are both the subject matter and the medium of instruction in equal measure.” The school for initial and continuing education already has comprehensive Wi-Fi and web-based applications from the school cloud. In addition, the pupils already use professional media software from well-known manufacturers in lessons. All pupils and teaching staff have access to the school’s own EDUPLAZA portal to exchange documents and information.
As a school principal, Joachim Maiß knows how important broadband expansion is, especially for the education sector of tomorrow, and is already planning further measures for the digitalisation of the school: MMBbS is developing a concept to integrate augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into lessons. With the help of intelligent data goggles, the wearer’s field of vision can be supplemented with informative elements or completely filled by an artificial world. “VR and AR open another new door for the education sector. Behind it, further interesting elements for everyday school life can be assumed and explored,” says Maiß: “It remains exciting in the digital world.”
© MMBbS