Chair of school pedagogy

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Presentation of Research Findings at the EdMedia Innovate Learning Conference 2025

At this year’s international EdMedia Innovate Learning conference in May 2025 in Barcelona in Spain, Tamara Baumann presented the results of her research project at the Chair of School Pedagogy. These findings were obtained, among other things, in the context of the project “ViLeArn_more”.

Media education in an international perspective

On May 6, 2025, Elżbieta Szulewicz, a doctoral student at the Polish PSE partner university in Łódź, visited the Media Education and Education Technology Lab (MEET) at the Chair of School Pedagogy to learn more about the module “Media Education from an International Perspective”.

Presentation of Results of WueDive Pilot Project “Virtual Learning Spaces” at the Bavarian Day for Good Teaching 2025

On March 31, 2025, during the Bavarian Day for Good Teaching at the University of Würzburg, team members from the interdisciplinary WueDive pilot project “Virtual Learning Spaces” presented project results and shared insights into future outlooks

Latest Publications

2024[ to top ]

Tiede, J., Cakmak, E., Grafe, S., & Hobbs, R. (2024). The Advancement of Media Literacy Education in Initial Teacher Education in Germany, Turkey, and the USA. https://eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/28/contribution/55743
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In a world highly influenced by digital media, media literacy education is becoming an increasingly important issue (author; author). It is relevant not only for children and youths (author), but also for researchers and teachers who are responsible for the media literacy education of their students (Meehan et al., 2015; author). Consequently, pre-service teachers must acquire the necessary competencies, skills and abilities to implement media literacy education in their practice (Meehan et al., 2015). However, there are rather no binding regulations to integrate media literacy into initial teacher education (ITE) (European Commission, 2022). Research studies about media literacy education in ITE most often focus the national level (e.g. Klaß, 2020; Christ, 2004; Meehan et al., 2015; author) because different countries have their own media education systems, approaches, curricula, and instructional practices (author). There are only few studies about media literacy education in ITE which take explicitly a comparative point of view (e.g. author). Against this background, the purpose of this study is to identify practices in Initial Teacher Education in Germany, Turkey, and the USA for advancing necessary competencies, skills and abilities of student teachers to implement media literacy education in their practice from a comparative perspective. Accordingly, the following research question will be answered: What are common characteristics and differences between practices of advancing student teachers competencies, skills and abilities to implement media literacy education in their practice in initial teacher education in Germany, Turkey, and the USA? Building on previous research of comparing media literacy education and media-related competencies in initial teacher education in Germany and the USA (author; author), Turkey is included as a third country in this comparative research on media literacy education in ITE. Turkey was chosen because it offers different contrastive perspectives for media literacy education in ITE (Karakaşoǧlu & Tonbul, 2015). There are different terminologies, theories, models, frameworks and curricula for competencies, skills and abilities regarding media literacy of student teachers in ITE in Germany, the US and Turkey (e.g. Tulodziecki, 2012; Weinert, 2001; NAMLE, 2007; author). From a methodological viewpoint, it is necessary to establish a tertium comparationis as a common denominator for the comparison (cf. Hilker, 1962; Suter et al., 2019). We will present the results of a literature review and an expert interview study that take this perspective into account.
Tiede, J. (2024). Die Komplexität sozialverantwortlicher Handlungsentscheidungen: Rezension zu ‹Individuelles Handeln und Gemeinwohl›. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie Und Praxis Der Medienbildung, Reviews - Rezensionen. https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/99/2024.03.13.X
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Hartmann, M., Tiede, J., Latoschik, M. E., & Grafe, S. (2024). Development and Exploratory Implementation of a Higher Education Pedagogy Concept for Teaching and Learning with Social VR Focusing on Diversity. In J. Cohen & G. Solano (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2024 (pp. 146-155). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/224132/.
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In a society characterized by processes of change regarding diversity and digitalization, new tasks arise for teacher educators. This article presents a theory based design of a pedagogical concept to promote media pedagogical competence of teacher educators focusing on diversity and using social virtual reality (VR). The concept was implemented at a German University with a convenience sample of eight higher education lecturers. Participants discussed opportunities and challenges of teaching and learning in social VR in a focus group study. The qualitative content analysis highlights numerous opportunities, such as encouraging users’ self-efficacy and self-awareness, as well as potential challenges (e.g. getting used to working with new technologies or establishing interpersonal relationships). In terms of diversity, participants most frequently addressed mental and physical abilities as well as habitus and appearance. Finally, implications for future higher education pedagogy practices and research are discussed.
Halsch, A., Tiede, J., & Grafe, S. (2024). Fostering Media Education Competence of Preservice Teachers Focusing on Diversity. In J. Cohen & G. Solano (Eds.), Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2024 (pp. 17-25). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/223996/
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Teachers need to foster their students’ media competencies while acknowledging diversity. Hence, there exists a research desideratum concerning the advancement of respective competencies in initial teacher education. In this study, an action-oriented pedagogical concept of higher education was developed based on existing theory to support preservice teachers’ media education competence focusing on diversity. Empirically, dimensions of diversity considered by preservice teachers while developing media education lesson designs were evaluated. The convenience sample included 28 preservice teachers from a German university. Data were collected in the form of student portfolios and analyzed. The results showed that preservice teachers referred to different dimensions of diversity and prioritized various foci: in particular, interests/recreational habits, age, and mental/physical abilities. They addressed these attributes with regard to digital media. Subsequently, conclusions were drawn regarding the development of an action-oriented pedagogical concept of higher education and a respective outlook concerning research and practice in initial teacher education was presented.
Baumann, T., Tiede, J., Latoschik, M. E., & Grafe, S. (2024). Teaching and Learning in Social Mixed Reality Focusing on Transcultural Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives. Research Highlights in Technology and Teacher Education, 1, 68-85.
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Digitalization and globalization brought significant challenges to initial teacher education. Against this background, this article targeted implications for the development and implementation of a pedagogical concept to foster pre-service teachers’ media pedagogical competence. A sample comprising 15 pre-service teachers from two German universities participated in a teaching and learning scenario within a social mixed reality (MR) environment focusing on transcultural education. Subsequently, their perspectives on it were shared in focus group discussions and, thereafter, qualitatively analyzed. Results revealed a wide range of experiences as well as anticipated opportunities and challenges for central teaching and learning components. Conclusions drawn from this study should be considered in future practices and research within initial teacher education.
Baumann, T., Tiede, J., Latoschik, M. E., & Grafe, S. (2024). Teaching and Learning in Social Mixed Reality Focusing on Transcultural Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives. In J. Cohen & G. Solano (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2024 (pp. 136-145). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/224123/
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Digitalization and globalization brought significant challenges to initial teacher education. Against this background, this article targeted implications for the development and implementation of a pedagogical concept to foster pre-service teachers’ media pedagogical competence. A sample comprising 15 pre-service teachers from two German universities participated in a teaching and learning scenario within a social mixed reality (MR) environment focusing on transcultural education. Subsequently, their perspectives on it were shared in focus group discussions and, thereafter, qualitatively analyzed. Results revealed a wide range of experiences as well as anticipated opportunities and challenges for central teaching and learning components. Conclusions drawn from this study should be considered in future practices and research within initial teacher education.

2023[ to top ]

Tiede, J., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2023). Student Motivation in Augmented Reality-Enhanced Gamified STEM Learning Settings. 2023 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/GEM59776.2023.10390444
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Against the background of the research-based assumption that student motivation is a key factor for successful teaching and learning processes, the following paper presents results from a study evaluating the role of student motivation in Augmented Reality (AR)-enhanced gamified STEM learning settings. In the study, an international sample of 1988 primary school students and 91 teachers used an AR-enhanced gamified STEM learning app (intervention group) or traditional teaching and learning approaches (control group). Student motivation and performance were assessed in a pre and post test design and teachers’ opinions were recorded using online surveys. The results indicate that students and teachers in the intervention group considered the motivational impact of the AR-enhanced gamified app significantly higher, compared to the ratings for alternative media in the control group. The product-moment correlation between motivation and further variables, such as student attitudes and self-efficacy, showed significant, medium strong results which are comparably high in intervention and control group. Only in the intervention group, motivation and learning achievement were correlated. Students and teachers in the intervention group tended to agree on the motivational impact of the study phase while a correlation between the opinions of teachers and students in the control group could not be confirmed. Overall, the study provides evidence of the pedagogical usefulness of AR-enhanced gamified STEM learning applications in terms of supporting student motivation, based on findings from a large international sample.
Tiede, J., Förster, K., Grafe, S., & Mangina, E. (2023). Augmented Reality in Primary Education: Teachers’ Perspectives on Potential and Barriers. Proceedings of 17th International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED 2023), 1283-1292. https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2023.0369
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Research findings suggest that Augmented Reality (AR) can be a beneficial tool for teaching and learning practices but brings about certain challenges at the same time. Teachers are central stakeholders in the educational use of AR; given their daily classroom practice, they are also experts in the evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of respective innovative educational technologies. Yet, few studies systematically analysed teachers’ opinions and experiences about the advantages and problems in the educational use of AR technologies so far. In response to this desideratum, the following paper presents results from a systematic and category-based qualitative content analysis based on an interview study. The input was collected from a heterogeneous and international convenience sample of n=11 teachers after they had piloted one out of three AR-enhanced learning apps in their daily classroom practice. The results confirm that increased student motivation and classroom engagement and advanced learning achievements are considered the predominant advantages and that issues with software and technology were perceived as the biggest problems in the pilot study. Furthermore, dimensions of motivation and classroom engagement are considered in detail to achieve an in-depth analysis and to bring forward important recommendations for further developments and for teachers’ future educational use of AR technologies.
Seyferth-Zapf, M., & Grafe, S. (2023). Stop-Motion-Videos zur Reflexion interkultureller Missverständnisse und Konflikte in der Sekundarstufe I. Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse medialer Beiträge aus interkulturell-kommunikativer und medienbezogener Perspektive. In MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie Und Praxis Der Medienbildung (Occasional Papers) (pp. 73-117). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/00/2023.04.08.X
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Angesichts einer migrationsbedingt vielfältiger werdenden Gesellschaft sind Heranwachsende nicht selten von Vorbehalten gegenüber Geflüchteten betroffen, wobei auch von der Medienberichterstattung Einflüsse ausgehen. Der Abbau von Vorurteilen, als wesentlicher Aspekt interkultureller Kompetenzentwicklung, kann durch die Gestaltung medialer Beiträge in Form sogenannter Critical Incidents unterstützt werden. Diese adressiert nicht nur die Auseinandersetzung mit vorurteilsgeprägten Sichtweisen, sondern auch die aus medienpädagogischer Perspektive geforderte Partizipation am Diskurs zu Flucht und Migration. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags steht deshalb eine qualitative Untersuchung von Stop-Motion-Videos, die in interkultureller Zusammenarbeit von Jugendlichen auf der Basis von Critical Incidents als Missverständnisse und Konflikte zwischen Deutschen und Geflüchteten produziert wurden. Ausgehend von interkulturell-kommunikativen und medienpädagogischen Grundlagen wird anschliessend die Gestaltung medialer Beiträge mit der inhaltlichen Ausrichtung auf Critical Incidents fokussiert. Auf der Basis eines qualitativen Untersuchungsdesigns werden die Stop-Motion-Videos hinsichtlich wesentlicher Aspekte der Kommunikationssituation, formaler Medienmerkmale sowie inszenierter verhaltensbezogener Aspekte interkultureller Kompetenz ausgewertet. Während die Ergebnisse zu Aspekten der Kommunikationssituation darauf verweisen, dass die dargestellten Begegnungssituationen sehr komplex und vielschichtig sind, zeigt die Untersuchung der Medienmerkmale u. a., dass die Kommunikation zwischen den Beteiligten hauptsächlich visuell in Form schriftlicher Texte umgesetzt wurde. Aus den Ergebnissen zur Inszenierung der behavioralen Dimension interkultureller Kompetenz geht beispielsweise hervor, dass in allen Videos offene Selbstauskunft als Möglichkeit gewählt wird, interkulturelle Missverständnisse aufzulösen. Abschliessend wird auf die Bedeutsamkeit verwiesen, im Rahmen einer gestaltungsorientierten Bildungsforschung weitere Studien unter Berücksichtigung interkulturell-kommunikativer und medienpädagogischer Perspektiven zu realisieren.
Oberdörfer, S., Elsässer, A., Grafe, S., & Latoschik, M. E. (2023). Superfrog: Comparing Learning Outcomes and Potentials of a Worksheet, Smartphone, and Tangible AR Learning Environment. In M.-L. Bourguet, J. M. Krüger, D. Pedrosa, A. Dengel, A. Peña-Rios, & J. Richter (Eds.), 2023 9th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN). https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47328-9_26
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The widespread availability of smartphones facilitates the integration of digital, augmented reality (AR), and tangible augmented reality (TAR) learning environments into the classroom. A haptic aspect can enhance the user’s overall experience during a learning process. To investigate further benefits of using TAR for educational purposes, we compare a TAR and a smartphone learning environment with a traditional worksheet counterpart in terms of learning effectiveness, emotions, motivation, and cognitive load. 64 sixth-grade students from a German high school used one of the three conditions to learn about frog anatomy. We found no significant differences in learning effectiveness and cognitive load. The TAR condition elicited significantly higher positive emotions than the worksheet, but not the smartphone condition. Both digital learning environments elicited significantly higher motivation, in contrast to the worksheet. Thus, our results suggest that smartphone and TAR learning environments are equally beneficial for enhancing learning.
Grafe, S., Trefzger, T., Eisenmann, M., Siller, H.-S., Dreßler, J., Hennecke, M., Heurich, T., Nord, I., Pohlmann-Rother, S., Ratz, C., & Richter, T. (2023). DigiLLab@JMU an der Professional School of Education der Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. In M. Meiner, G. Greefrath, M. Hammann, R. Wodzinski, & K. Ziepprecht (Eds.), Lehr-Lern-Labore und Digitalisierung, Edition Fachdidaktiken (pp. 155-159). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-40109-2_13
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In den DigiLLabs@JMU werden digitalisierungsbezogene Kompetenzen von Lehramtsstudierenden gefördert und eine begleitende fachbezogene und interdisziplinäre medienbezogene Professionalisierungs- und Unterrichtsforschung durchgeführt. Durch die Zusammenarbeit von fünf fachgruppenbezogenen Netzwerken, welche die an der Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung beteiligten Fächer und Schulformen vollständig abdecken, wird eine große Reichweite erzielt.
Förster, K., Grafe, S., Hicks, T., Cakmak, E., Hahn, J., & Hobbs, R. (2023). Designing a Transnational Professional Development Program for Educators as a Virtual Community of Practice. Proceedings of AERA Annual Meeting, 1-11. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3102/2012169
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The global pandemic created new opportunities for the professionalization of educators. In this exploratory case study, we report on a transnational professional development program, focused in Germany and the United States (yet welcoming educators around the world) as a virtual Community of Practice. Using a design-based research process, the program aimed to create opportunities for dialogue about media literacy education and contemporary propaganda. Using mixed methods data collected through surveys and observations, research results show that participants were motivated primarily by the perceived value and usefulness of the program. Many participants were able to collaborate effectively with a peer, developing an original project focused on media literacy education in their own teaching contexts.
Förster, K., & Grafe, S. (2023). Fostering Teacher Educators’ Media-Related Intercultural Competencies Using a Social VR Environment. Proceedings of SITE 2023 Conference, 2547-2557. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/221901/
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This study reports on the results of a case study within a Design-Based-Research project aimed at designing, implementing and evaluating a professional development concept to foster teacher educators’ media related intercultural competencies. A remote workshop using a Social VR environment was conducted with a convenience sample of 10 teacher educators. Data collected through a qualitative pre-posttest and a focus group was interpreted through qualitative content analysis. Findings validated the pedagogical concept and showed intercultural competence development in several domains as well as increased ability to evaluate potentials and risks related to interculturally focused teaching and learning with Social VR.
ARETE. (2023). Report on Evaluations for Pilot 4. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7704282
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ARETE. (2023). D6.5 Pilots Performance Analysis. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7940994
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Chair of school pedagogy

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News

Presentation of Research Findings at the EdMedia Innovate Learning Conference 2025

Media education in an international perspective

Presentation of Results of WueDive Pilot Project “Virtual Learning Spaces” at the Bavarian Day for Good Teaching 2025

Latest Publications

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