Whether its smartphones, tablets or apps, it would be difficult to imagine our daily or working lives these days without digital devices and tools. To be successful in this digital world, we need digital skills. Teaching these skills is also a task for schools. This requires well-trained teachers who can integrate digital teaching and learning activities in their lessons. The Federal Government is addressing this issue by setting up the "Centers of excellence for digital and digitally-supported teaching in schools and further training" in cooperation with the state governments. A collaborative project with the involvement of FAU has now been approved within this framework. The project called "Digital sovereignty as the goal of groundbreaking teacher training for languages, social sciences, business and economics in the digital world – DiSo-SGW" (Digitale Souveränität als Ziel wegweisender Lehrkräftebildung für Sprachen, Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften in der digitalen Welt) is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research from June 2023 until December 2025 with around 6.3 million euros. FAU is set to receive 1.9 million euros of this funding.
Developing and evaluating further education and training
In international comparisons, teachers in Germany are more hesitant to make use of digital media in the classroom, which means they do not make the best use of the teaching methods at their disposal. To rectify this, the Federal Government's centers of excellence develop further education and training modules for teachers in various subjects which are made available to teachers throughout the country. The aim of DiSo-SGW is to expand the digital soverignty of teaching staff in various subjects such as German, German as a second language, English, French, Spanish, religion/ethics, geography, history, social sciences, politics and business studies. The focus in DiSo-SGW is not only on digital media from the perspective of their practical use in teaching and learning specific subjects. Developing and expanding a personal and critical attitude towards the opportunities and risks associated with digital media also plays a decisive role, as Prof. Dr. Frederking, head of the DiSo-SGW project at FAU, explains.
Several universities and research institutions are involved in collaborative project
Further education and training modules are being developed in nine subject-related and teaching areas. Three development, research and transfer groups, each with its own special expertise, cooperate in this process: teaching methodology experts work together with teachers and advisors from the second and third phases of teacher training to develop subject-specific further education and training modules, which they then implement and evaluate. At FAU, Teaching German as a Second Language, Teaching Geography, Teaching Social Sciences, Religious Education, Teaching Business and Law and Business Education are involved. These specialist teams are assisted by a team which provides support with technical and conceptual aspects. At FAU, the support is provided by DigiLLabs, DigiText technologies and AI-based portfolios. Another team also supports and coordinates measures for evaluations in empirical research. The aim of the collaborative project is to link educational research, practice and administration.
The project is coordinated by the University of Bamberg (Prof. Brüggemann). In addition to FAU as the second largest partner in DiSo-SGW, the project also involves the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in Bamberg and the universities of Bremen, Chemnitz, Göttingen, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Münster, Regensburg, Tübingen and Würzburg. The project starts in June.
