Reference

"Digital school of the future" - Parent-financed tablet classes Kardinal Döpfner primary and secondary school in Großwallstadt

Tablet instead of blackboard - digital media concepts for schools

Cardinal Döpfner primary and secondary school heads digitally into the future

The Kardinal Döpfner School in Großwallstadt (Lower Franconian district of Miltenberg) is run in a school association (middle school, elementary school, lower secondary school, intermediate school, open all-day school) with the neighboring municipality of Niedernberg. The secondary school looks after over 150 pupils in grades 5 to 10 and prepares them in the M classes for the intermediate school leaving certificate, which is equivalent to the secondary school leaving certificate. The school focuses on numerous practical career guidance measures.

Initial situation and objectives

It is thanks to a forward-thinking public authority (the municipalities of Großwallstadt and Niedernberg) that the Kardinal Döpfner School (KDS) has been provided with generous budget funds for some time now, independent of funding from the Free State of Bavaria and the federal government, in order to push ahead with the expansion of digitalization. The measures really took off during the coronavirus pandemic. For example, with the use of teacher notebooks and loan devices for learners or the replacement of chalkboards with modern, interactive blackboard systems. A high-performance fiber optic network has also been available since 2021. These are the best and necessary prerequisites for being one of seven secondary schools in Lower Franconia to take part in the Bavarian Ministry of Education's "Digital School of the Future" pilot project for the 2022/23 school year. The aim of KDS is to profitably integrate the digital world into lessons and their strongly vocational content.

Challenges

Previous access to digital tools and resources focused on the interactive whiteboard systems as well as the two school computer rooms and the school's 30 or so notebook loaners. The pilot project introduced 1:1 tablet classes to the entire sixth and seventh grades for the first time. With parent-financed iPads, which were subsidized by the state of Bavaria with 300 euros each and became the property of around 40 pupils. To ensure that socially disadvantaged families could also participate in the project, the responsible local authorities financed ten additional loan devices. The challenges involved in introducing the first tablet classes in January 2023 were many and varied. In addition to creating the technical, organizational and didactic prerequisites, teachers had to be trained to use tablets in the classroom.

Solution and realization

Felix Behl, a member of the college and digital education consultant for the district of Miltenberg, among others, played a key role in guiding KDS on its digital journey. The ACS Group was able to contribute its extensive expertise in the introduction of parent-financed iPad classes, as around 300 similar projects have already been implemented in Bavaria alone. In addition, the certified Munich-based Apple education partner is now supporting 115 of the 250 Bavarian pilot projects.

The ACS Group took over the complete organization and device procurement for the Kardinal Döpfner secondary school. This included order processing via a store set up specifically for the school and parents with a free choice of devices, payment processing with parents, delivery of the fully preconfigured devices and free webinar training courses for teachers and parents. As it was already clear at the start of the project that the school did not have the necessary capacity for device management, ACS also implemented its comprehensive iPad manager management solution.

Result and outlook

The expectation that the new iPad classes would test methods, content, tools and a digital learning culture at the school and help to develop new didactic and methodological approaches to digital learning has been more than fulfilled. A continuation in future grades is already planned. More and more areas of application for the digital tools are being explored and are convincing even initial skeptics. At the Kardinal Döpfner School, for example, the numerous career guidance measures are an important focus. This includes, for example, close cooperation with the many local companies. It is now even easier for them to introduce themselves virtually, present exciting stories and interact with the students.

Are you also interested in introducing parent-financed tablet classes?

Then please contact us at tabletklasse@acsgroup.de or arrange a non-binding consultation