Shaping digital practice in Saxony
As part of the “Quality Offensive Teacher Education”, the project “Praxis digital gestalten in Sachsen (PraxisdigitaliS)”, (Shaping digital practice in Saxony), pursues digitization in teacher education. The overarching goal of the project is to embed digitization in teacher training at Saxon universities. In association with Leipzig University, competence-oriented standards of digitization are being developed, tested and incorporated into teacher training degree programs.
PraxisdigitaliS makes it possible to design a concept for digitizing teacher training and to work across all locations on the development and sustainable implementation of teaching-learning scenarios for the training of digitization-related competencies in Saxony. Computer science competencies are being tested in the “Teaching Lab” at the Didactics of Computer Science (German abbreviation: DDI). Its development is part of the project.
At TU Dresden, PraxisdigitaliS complements the efforts already being made in the TUD-Sylber project to improve digitization-related competencies among teachers and university lecturers. In doing so, the project expands the work of the “Coordination Office Digitization”, whose free consulting services are available to all teacher training students at TU Dresden.
Further information on the project
Target groups
PraxisdigitaliS is aimed at all teacher training students, including teachers in lateral entry and continuing education. As such, it leads to a stronger networking of the three phases of teacher training. In this way, the project forms part of the interaction between continuous competence development and theory-practice transfer.
The planned projects directly address the needs of teacher education and specifically target the following four groups in the development of competencies:
- Teacher training students including lateral entrants
- (University) lecturers
- Early career scientists and academics
- Teachers
Main focal points in terms of content:
The following main focal points in terms of content were agreed upon in the joint project:
- Participation in the working groups of the project and co-development of a competence catalog.
- Carrying over the results of the subprojects of the University of Leipzig to individual subject didactics and educational sciences of TU Dresden.
At the Didactics of Computer Science at TU Dresden:
- Development of a competence catalog for basic computer science competencies.
- Acquisition and practical testing of computer science competencies by teacher training students, by means of teaching these competencies to school pupils in the Teaching Lab.
- Teacher training and continuing education in the Teaching Lab.
Total duration of the project
01.03.2020–31.12.2023
Current project phase
Conceptualization and standardization (01.03.2020 to 31.12.2020): The project partners are working together continuously to develop cross-university standards for the professionalization of (prospective) teachers of all school types in the area of digitization.
The “Teaching Lab” subproject at TU Dresden deals with practically testing tomorrow’s lessons today. The team of the Chair for Didactics of Computer Science (German abbreviation: DDI) works together with the Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (German abbreviation: ZLSB) in imparting basic computer science competencies (German abbreviation: IGK) to teacher training students of all subjects.
For this purpose, basic computer science competencies are incorporated into the joint competence catalog of the overall PraxisdigitaliS project. These basic computer science competencies are taught to (prospective) teachers of various school types and subjects in seminars and workshops. The Teaching Lab, which gives the project its name, is being set up for this purpose. Basic computer science competencies are being developed by means of promising technologies such as VR, AR, cooperative multi-touch games, as well as world-changing topics such as artificial intelligence and digital health. In a second step, students learn and test how to teach basic computer science competencies to pupils in the context of their subject. To this end, close collaboration is being established with individual subject didactics at TU Dresden.
In this context, a 90-minute seminar on the topic of the social impact of artificial intelligence is currently being designed in cooperation with the Didactics of Civic Education. In future, the offer will be extended to other subjects and sustainably integrated into the respective (compulsory) teaching.
The project includes a doctoral project at the Didactics of Computer Science on the topic: “Entwicklung und Evaluation von Lehr-Lernkonzepten zu informatischen Grundkompetenzen für Lehramtsstudierende im Kontext eines Teaching Labs, den Kompetenzaufbau bei Studierenden sowie die Schulung der Vermittlungskompetenz an Schülerinnen und Schüler” (Development and evaluation of teaching/learning concepts involving basic computer competencies for teacher training students in the context of a Teaching Lab, development of competencies among students, and training of mediation competencies towards pupils).
Further information about the Teaching Lab at the Didactics of Computer Science can be found on the relevant pages of the Didactics of Computer Science.
Head of Project

Mr Prof. Dr. Axel Gehrmann
Managing Director, Board of Directors ZLSB
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Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (German abbreviation: ZLSB)
Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (German abbreviation: ZLSB)
Visiting address:
Seminargebäude II, Room 01b Zellescher Weg 20
01217 Dresden

Vertretungsprofessur
NameMr Dr. rer. nat. Gregor Damnik
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Visiting address:
Andreas-Pfitzmann-Bau, Raum 2096 Nöthnitzer Str. 46
01187 Dresden
Member of Staff

Project Coordination
NameMs Dr. Nicole Zabel
PraxisdigitaliS
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Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (German abbreviation: ZLSB)
Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (German abbreviation: ZLSB)
Visiting address:
Gebäude für Forschung u. Lehre, Room 102 Ludwig-Ermold-Str. 3
01217 Dresden
Funder
PraxidigitaliS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the joint “Quality Initiative Teacher Education” of the Federal and State Governments.

