News

Study on Homeschooling During Corona

Successful Homeschooling Depends on Digital Literacy of Teachers

75 Percent of Parents Experience Hurdles

85 percent of surveyed households in which school-age children live had digital school lessons or a digital exchange with teachers during the Corona epidemic, and the success of homeschooling depends heavily on the digital literacy of teachers. These are the findings of the eGovernment MONITOR 2020 study by the Initiative D21 and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), conducted by Kantar. Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar, Founding Dean and Delegate Officer of the President – TUM Campus Heilbronn and Professor for Information Systems at TUM, contributed to the study on the part of TUM.

Digital Literacy of Teachers Decisive for Support During Homeschooling

About half of the parents were overall satisfied with the school lessons during Corona, while one third of parents were dissatisfied. The design of digitally supported school lessons depended heavily on the skills and commitment of the individual teachers: 54 percent said that the teachers had designed the lessons in a digital format on their own initiative. 42 percent were dissatisfied and stated that they felt teachers were overwhelmed with digital applications. Overall, the respondents rated the schools’ commitment better: 59 percent thought that the respective school had done everything in its power, while a third felt that the schools efforts were insufficient.

Initiative D21 President Hannes Schwaderer comments: “The best possible support for pupils in digital learning cannot be left to chance! We need nationwide standards to ensure that teachers have the necessary skills. The education and training system must imperatively impart a ‘digital ABC’, which is vital today. The deficits are now sufficiently well known. The first few weeks of the start of school will show whether solutions will be found, and whether the crisis will be used as an opportunity to establish modern, up-to-date and crisis-proof forms of education and learning.

75 Percent of Parents Experience Hurdles

Three quarters of parents report obstacles in digital teaching. The most common reason given was a lack of support from schools, followed by internet problems (speed/network problems) and a lack of digital literacy among teachers. The technical equipment at home plays only a secondary role: Too few or too old devices were mentioned by only 14 percent. The use of digital equipment for school lessons rose from 66 percent before to 96 percent during Corona. The most frequently used device is the smartphone, followed by the laptop.

The most common means of transmitting teaching content was via e-mail (81%), followed by video conferencing (44%) and messenger services (32%). The exchange of materials via a school server or learning platforms was used somewhat less frequently. Analog ways of transmitting learning material, such as picking it up at school (16%) or transmitting it by telephone (14%) or post (7%) were also used. “Education thrives on interaction between students and teachers. At the beginning of the crisis, it was right to ensure some form of exchange at all. In the future however, interactive formats must be the norm. Sending worksheets by e-mail is insufficient”, says Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar, Founding Dean and Delegate Officer of the President – TUM Campus Heilbronn and Professor for Information Systems at TUM. “Digitization requires new thinking. Old processes and behavior patterns must be reinterpreted in order to be able to exploit the full potential of digital technologies. This requires not only the creation of the technical foundations, but also adapted institutional structures and the development of new skills among all those involved.”

 

The “eGovernment MONITOR 2020” is a joint study by the Initiative D21 and the Technical University of Munich, conducted by Kantar. The survey took place in June 2020 and covered 1,005 individuals aged 18 and over in private households in Germany who use the Internet for private purposes. The survey was conducted as an online survey. The complete study on the use and acceptance of digital administrative services will be published on October 20, 2020.

 

Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels

The post Study on Homeschooling During Corona appeared first on Technical University of Munich – School of Management.

Related News in this category

We're here to help you