In their ongoing study "eGovernment Monitor", Initiative D21 and the Chair for Information Systems have been investigating the actual use of eGovernment services and the success factors and obstacles to their introduction for years. This year's topics also included digital education and how schools are dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic. The results on this thematic focus were published in advance on 13.08.2020:
Teachers' digital skills decide on support for homeschooling
About half of the parents were satisfied with the school lessons during Corona overall, while one third 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 digitally designed the lessons on their own initiative. 42 percent were dissatisfied and stated that the 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 had put the brakes on their efforts.
Initiative D21 President Hannes Schwaderer's verdict: "The best possible support for school children in digital learning should not be left to chance! We need nationwide standards to ensure that teachers have the necessary digital skills. The education and training system must imperatively impart a 'digital ABC', without which it is no longer possible today. The deficits are now sufficiently well known. The first weeks of the school start 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, only a minority uses video conferencing
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. Technical equipment at home plays only a secondary role: too little or too old equipment was mentioned by only 14 percent as a hurdle. 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.
Teaching content was most often transmitted 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. Analogous ways of transmitting learning material, such as picking it up at school (16%) or transmitting it by telephone (14%) or Post (7%) was present. "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. But in the long term, interactive formats must be the norm. Sending worksheets by e-mail is insufficient", says Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar from TUM. "Digitization requires new thinking. Previous 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 competencies among all those involved".
The "eGovernment MONITOR 2020" is a joint study of the Initiative D21 and the TU Munich, conducted by Kantar. The survey took place in June 2020. The survey involved 1,005 individuals aged 18 and over in private households in Germany who use the Internet for private purposes. The survey was carried out as an online survey. The complete study on the use and acceptance of digital administrative services will be published on October 20, 2020.