IWM researchers lead forums at the BMBF Education Research Conference 2021

What factors lead to successful education in a digital world and how can the quality of teaching be ensured? These questions were the focus of this year's educational research conference, which was held by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and took place on March 9 and 10. The online event was attended by Dr. Anne Thillosen and Marcel Capparozza, two IWM researchers representing the meta project “Digitisation in the Fields of Education" (Digi-EBF).

In collaboration with researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen and from projects of the BMBF funding line “Digitisation in Education”, the two IWM scientists organised and led a forum on the topic of "Challenges and Perspectives of Teacher Education in a Digitally Shaped World”, in which participants from academia and practice discussed issues related to the education and training of teachers.

Teacher training courses which had to be designed and offered as online events on very short notice in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic were a topic of discussion. "All participants agreed that these formats have a lot of potential that must also be used in the future. At the same time, little is known about the conception of online formats in teacher training courses from an empirical perspective”, said Marcel Capparozza, who is conducting research at IWM as part of the meta project on digitisation in teacher education.

Dr. Anne Thillosen, scientific head of of the meta project at the IWM, discussed with another group the hypothesis that media didactics should be a mandatory part of teacher education. Despite the participants' fundamental agreement with this idea, it quickly became apparent in the discussion that opinions differed widely as to which competencies prospective teachers or students should possess. "That's exactly why this discussion is so important. And that's exactly what we want to contribute with the IWM online platform e-teaching.org and its associated dialogue and expert forums”, said Anne Thillosen.