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Digital instruction and learning in integration courses , , Challenges and potentials from the instructors' perspective
Working Paper 91 addresses the experiences of integration course instructors regarding the use of digital media and instruction formats in integration courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the advantages and disadvantages of digital instructional elements as perceived by instructors, and the conditions which they believe must be met in order to make successful use of digital media and virtual instructional formats in the integration courses.
The data basis is formed by 17 interviews with a total of 19 instructors on general integration and literacy courses from all the Federal Länder, as well as three expert interviews with employees of the responsible working areas of the BAMF. The study was conducted as part of the project entitled "Evaluation of the integration courses (EvIk)", which examines integration courses from a variety of perspectives in order to provide indications for the further development of the integration course system.
The main results
- Support for the use of digital media: Almost all of the instructors interviewed feel that digital media and instruction formats are beneficial for their instruction, and are in favour of continuing to use them in the future where analogue and digital instructional elements can be combined more frequently.
- Experience with digital instruction depends on attendees' literacy skills and educational backgrounds: The possibilities of using digital learning programmes and other media depend on attendees' input. Attendees who have a comparatively high level of education and experience in using Internet applications find it easier to use digital media and instruction formats than those from literacy courses, who frequently need the support of others to find their way around digital offerings.
- Specific advantages of digital instruction: Instructors consider these to lie in the fact that partner and group work can be organised and restructured very quickly. Another advantage of digital instruction is imparting skills in the use of digital media and Internet applications.
- Negative impacts of digital instruction formats on the social function: Instructors consider a significant disadvantage of purely virtual instruction formats, on the other hand, to lie in the lack of personal encounters before and after the lessons. This means that the integration courses are less effective in terms of their social-integrative function, as the courses are also places where cultures meet, mutual support can be provided, experience is exchanged and personal relationships develop.
- Didactic support in the use of digital media and instruction formats: The instructors would like to receive support in the task of flexibly and appropriately integrating digital elements into instruction practice through preparatory training. This underlines the importance of initiatives by the BAMF to expand digital skills among integration course instructors, such as the expansion of the additional qualification for integration course instructors to include the optional module entitled "Media competence".
The Working Paper was drafted by: Ramona Kay, Dr. Jan Eckhard and Dr. Anna Tissot
This publication is only available in German.