COMeIN - Communities of Practice NRW für eine innovative Lehrerbildung

Objective

The twelve teacher training universities of North Rhine-Westphalia and several institutions within the second and third phase of teacher training have joint forces in the cooperative project ‚COMeIN‘. Together they design products (e. g. teaching concepts) to systematically improve the digital skills of (pre-service) teachers, particularly with regard to support the organisational transformation processes of schools, and discipline-specific as well as interdisciplinary education. The collaborating project partners provide extensive scientific expertise and practical school experience, and pool their knowledge and experiences in so-called ‘Communities of Practice’ (CoP) to initiate reciprocal learning processes. The broad variety of players involved is a novelty for North Rhine-Westphalia, that is characterized by a considerably heterogeneous educational landscape. As a consequence of the research and design processes within the CoP, learning processes among the various players are initiated.

The development of a digital education framework in a digitalized world on a state and federal (Länder) level was completed in 2019. Thus, each phase of teacher training will need to face the challenge of its (practical) implementation and its further development. The findings of the COMeIN project are to contribute to the digitalization strategies of universities, teacher training study programmes, and the second and third phase of teacher training in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Paderborn University is represented by different disciplines and departments: English studies, educational sciences, chemistry, German as a second language, primary school education, informatics, mathematics, social studies and science, and special needs education. In addition, the quality management of COMeIN is conducted by Paderborn University.