Go digital: The fifth joint meeting takes place as a video conference

The global spread of COVID-19 and the related regulatory measures pose great challenges for researchers in science. But even in times of contact blocks and home offices, it is important to counteract the standstill of scientific work.

For this reason, the fifth joint meeting of the DATAFIED project took place on 27 and 28 April as an online event. On two exciting days, many content and organisational issues were addressed and discussed during the first quarterly meeting in 2020.

On the first day, the individual sub-projects presented their previous findings via video conference, which served as a basis for informative and fruitful discussions. In addition, further synergies and sub-project overlapping topics were identified, which will further intensify the work between the individual research groups and offer exciting cooperation opportunities.

But also the handling of the challenges arising from the rampant corona epidemic and the resulting changes in the school education sector were discussed. Schools in all German states are currently affected by closures and the corona crisis requires a responsible approach to the situation. All employees* in schools and educational institutions are therefore making every effort to continue teaching and therefore often use digital tools. These changes within the school research landscape offer unique opportunities that are being taken advantage of by sub-projects of the DATAFIED project. For example, video or telephone interviews are being conducted with those affected, while the analysis of software and system landscapes is also progressing.

On the second day of the association meeting, the doctoral students were given the opportunity to exchange problems and ideas. This refreshing exchange also took place with the help of a video conferencing tool and offered exciting insights into the work of the doctoral students.

All in all, it was a successful and exciting group meeting. The videoconferencing format allowed many insights into the status quo and results for further proceedings. Although the previous social get-together could not be replaced, a fruitful exchange was possible.