Description

The digital transformation calls for new approaches to subject-specific education at schools, universities and in adult education. In the German-speaking world, however, there is currently no clear vision for how a culture of digitisation can be integrated systematically into teacher training programmes, nor is there an explicit definition of which formats should be used or which digital competencies should provide the basis for these programmes. This research project investigates possible ways to integrate digital competencies into training programmes for geography teachers; this includes reviewing teaching methods, recognising and changing attitudes, and examining how teaching and learning settings impact geography training programmes. Finding areas where geographical and media-pedagogical competencies overlap is of key importance. In addition, teaching and learning settings are needed for learning formats that are flexible with regard to time and space, that are individualised, problem- and action-based, cooperative and collaborative, and that can activate cognitive learning.

Project outcomes

The GeoDigIT project at the PH Zurich (2022–2025) was a research-based development project. It investigated and developed which digital skills can be promoted in the future in geography education for secondary school students and how this can be achieved. An essential step was the literature-based derivation of digital subject-specific media skills that are relevant for geography education at the PHZH. This requirement arises both from social reasons and from the demand of Curriculum 21 to promote digital application skills in various subjects.

This was achieved by first defining general digital media skills and then specifying them for geography education at the University of Teacher Education. These general digital media skills could also be adopted for other subjects (in Switzerland), as they are fundamentally valid for the acquisition of the corresponding skills in teacher training. However, it is then necessary to specify the respective subject-specific conditions, especially if no substantial curricular changes can be made. As a rule, this is only the case sporadically at Swiss universities of teacher education, where training is based on binding agreements that are only changed in the event of major reforms (every 10 to 15 years).

Further project steps succeeded in supplementing a semester course in geography teaching with digital skills in specifically developed teaching/learning settings. This showed that the learners are very well prepared and that the initiative has been well received and considered useful. Adapting existing teaching/learning settings to include digital skills ensures that the objective pursued does not remain exemplary and singular, but is broadly supported in various forms throughout the entire training programme. The need for action derived from the investigations is being addressed on an ongoing basis so that all training programmes deal with the promotion of digital subject-specific media skills and a common understanding of this is established.

In this respect, the GeoDigIT project contributes to geographical education in the digital age because it specifies the acquisition of digital skills specifically for geography education at the PH Zurich and explicitly identifies them for each course in appropriate teaching/learning settings. At the same time, it became clear that adapting to current developments relevant to society in higher education teaching depends not only on the prior knowledge and willingness of students (and lecturers), but also on training structures, time frames and technical or human resources.

With regard to the formal framework conditions at the PH Zurich, however, it has also been shown that the integration of subject-specific digital media skills into existing structures is possible; this can be achieved with exemplary, but well thought-out and designed learning sequences. These specifically developed teaching/​learning arrangements represent a realistic, beneficial and, in terms of the students’ future teaching activities, successful opportunity to promote subject-specific digital media skills – and to increase learners’ willingness and ability to apply them in their everyday teaching. They empower students in a variety of ways so that the experience they gain, the insights they acquire and the skills they develop can be transferred to school practice, thereby helping to ensure that the subject-specific digital media skills promoted by universities are also applied in schools. To ensure that this is successful and that a positive attitude and mindset can be developed towards the issue, specific reflection phases are necessary, as well as the clarification of open questions and the empowerment of students to develop different teaching/​learning settings themselves that can also promote digital subject-specific media skills among learners in school classrooms.

The collected data is registered as open research data on SWISSUbase with restricted access.

Publications

Contact

Prof. Dr. Monika Reuschenbach:

Lecturer

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Prof. Dr. Monika Reuschenbach

Lecturer

+41 43 305 53 46

monika.reuschenbach@phzh.ch