Media | Transformation
Media have always been entangled with social transformations. The Media | Transformation department explores the socio-political implications of the educational technologies used in schools. It asks what schools do with media and what media do with schools. In this sense, we understand school as a social space in which power relations and discourses are reproduced and interrupted. Projects explore national, international and transnational settings, and investigate historical and contemporary processes.
- Research
The department has three priority areas: In the first, ethnographically inspired projects explore how media (from textbooks to blackboards, interactive apps and cloud solutions) are used in schools today. In the second, we adopt a critical approach to educational technology, examining the structural shifts which are unfolding in today’s post-digital schools, at a time when digital technology has become the unmarked background to contemporary life. The third priority area investigates the role of digital technology for teaching history, social studies and related school subjects.
- Research Infrastructure / Transfer
The Media | Transformation department has developed the digital lab ‘The Basement’ as an integral part of the research infrastructure and a location where knowledge can be shared. As a ‘classroom of the future’ it offers new perspectives on how to use educational media. Researchers can experiment with educational media interactions in the lab, outside the social space of the school. Teachers and students can use the space to develop and test new teaching and learning scenarios. There are a number of formats where researchers and educators can share information and expertise, which boosts the social relevance of the research and supports the further development of educational media and schools.