Educational Media in focus: Presentation of the Georg Eckert Research Award

Excellence in research on digital and historical educational media.

Dr Alexandra Krebs, a post-doctoral researcher in the Centre for Education and Digital Transformation at the PH Zurich, impressed the jury with her PhD thesis ‘Geschichten im digitalen Raum. Historisches Lernen in der App in die Geschichte’ (History in the digital space, using an App to learn history). Her insightful analysis demonstrated how interactive digital histories boost learning processes and enable a deeper understanding of historical interconnections. The work provides a new awareness of digital learning processes into which there has been, to date, little research, and opens new perspectives for the design of innovative learning environments. Dr Krebs’ dissertation has already won the award for excellent dissertations from Paderborn University as well as the doctoral prize for cultural sciences.

Dr Victoria Cain was honored for her monograph ‘Schools and Screens: A Watchful History’. The jury was impressed by the understanding demonstrated in the work of the dynamic between technological innovation and education policy. It provided an in-depth exploration of the reciprocal relationship between educational institutions in the USA and the introduction and use of screen media throughout the twentieth century. It also critically reflected on how screen media have influenced learning, monitoring and social dynamics in schools.

Professor Eckhardt Fuchs, director of the GEI said, ‘The works produced by Dr Krebs and Dr Cain demonstrate exceptional intellectual depth and social relevance. Both award-winners have made a valuable contribution to the understanding of educational media in digital and historical contexts and provide stimuli for further research. The Georg Eckert Institute offers its heartfelt congratulations to both prize-winners and looks forward to incorporating their findings into future research and practice.’

The culture minister for Lower Saxony, Julia Willie Hamburg highlighted the importance of the work for educational media research, ‘Textbooks contain the knowledge that one generation wishes to pass on the next. In that sense they can act as a mirror for society. In view of the challenges, crises and conflicts with which we are currently faced, research into textbooks takes on a particular significance. It provides important stimuli for the examination of the past and the present. The findings are crucial for democracy education in our schools and for the improvement and further development of teaching materials and consequently for high-quality teaching. The Georg Eckert Research Award helps to focus attention on the important field of educational media research. The fact that two women are receiving these prestigious awards for their socially meaningful work this evening is another reason for celebration.’

Information on the award: https://www.gei.de/en/knowledge-transfer/awards/georg-eckert-research-award

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