Harnessing future technologies for study and teaching
The Emerging Tech Lab identifies new technologies and evaluates them in terms of their potential implementation and impact for studying and teaching. It supports further education institutions in Lower Saxony by providing ideas and stimuli that are firmly based in research and that aim to take advantage of technological developments at an early stage and to promote educational innovations in a targeted manner. The project operates from the perspective that new technologies are not neutral tools, even in further education institutions, but rather they can performatively alter the scope of possibilities for studying and teaching. Following this view point, the Emerging Tech Lab aims to systematically observe new technological developments, to critically and constructively classify them and to reveal their potential for studying and teaching. The focus is on ‘emerging technologies’: those that are still in different stages of development, but could have a disruptive effect on studying and teaching in the future. The project supports further education institutions in Lower Saxony by providing realistic scenarios and research-based recommendations in order to improve their ability to adapt, react and innovate and to proactively shape technological change.
The GEI is cooperating with four further education institutes in Lower Saxony on the Emerging Tech Lab as well as the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V./Hochschulforum Digitalisierung. The project is part of the network known as the Lower Saxony Digital Teaching Hub (Digitale Lehre Hub Niedersachsen - DLHN) and the umbrella organisation Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen (Universities.digital Lower Saxony). At the GEI the project is based in the Media | Transformation department and run by the digital lab The Basement. The Media | Transformation department develops practice-oriented models for the analysis of the interaction between technology and educational scenarios (e.g. the media constellation model) and applies these models within projects in order to evaluate technological developments in a differentiated manner. The Basement is an established testing location for digital educational media in which specific technologies can be investigated, systematically analysed and applied in realistic user scenarios, in this case in order to deliver findings for the work of the Emerging Tech Lab that are in step with actual practice. Further information (in German) can be found at: https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/projekthaus/labs/emerging-tech-lab
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Aims
The central aims and objectives of the project are:
- Early identification, discussion, testing and evaluation of new technologies in the context of educational media,
- To strengthen the ability of further education institutions in Lower Saxony to take full advantage of technical innovations and to create future-proof education spaces,
- To promote a sustainable transformation process, that increases the potential for innovation in further education institutions and raises the visibility of Lower Saxony as a centre for education both domestically and internationally.
The project aims to achieve the following outcomes, which will open up opportunities for participation, knowledge and co-creation for those involved in studying and teaching at further education institutions:
- Identify and understand
- Monitoring emerging technologies
- Giving tech talks
- Material platform with curated content
- Share interpretations and test
- Testing locations
- Challenge-based formats
- Testing in teaching workshops
- Scenario development and discourse
- Fellowship programme
- Future workshops for scenario development
- Cross-media presentation of scenarios
- Evaluate and innovate
- Publication of findings as white paper
- High-level dialogue with decision makers
The GEI has responsibility within the project for creating testing locations for the analysis of emerging technologies and for testing in teaching workshops with trainee teachers (dimension: Share interpretations and test). It also has responsibility for the publication of findings as a white paper (dimension: Evaluate and innovate), which will collate and condense the findings from the project activities and from existing analyses and those conducted by the project team. The GEI will also be involved with the other project dimensions, particularly by contributing its expertise in educational media research.
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Methodology
Through its digital lab, The Basement, the GEI is able to provide a space in which emerging technologies can be critically tested and analysed. The project team at the GEI will orientate their work around the model of media constellations developed to enable a systematic, educational media research analysis of new technologies being implemented in study and teaching. The findings from these analyses will be combined with current research findings and findings from other areas of the project such as tech monitoring, future workshops, work with teachers and students, the fellowship programme and interviews with experts. The project team at the GEI will use qualitative methods and approaches to process the information. The products and materials developed by the Emerging Tech Labs project will be made available online through a targeted platform.
