The GEBF conference was organized by the Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg and the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in the year of the 10th anniversary of the Society for Empirical Educational Research. Prof. Dr. Yvonne Anders, Prof. Dr. Cordula Artelt, Prof. Dr. Barbara Drechsel, Prof. Dr. Corinna Kleinert, Prof. Dr. Steffen Schindler, Prof. Dr. Jennifer Paetsch, Prof. Dr. Sabine Weinert and Prof. Dr. Ilka Wolter formed the scientific conference team.

Keynotes

The three keynotes highlighted different aspects of the conference motto. To kick things off on March 9, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Cress spoke on the topic of "Knowledge" in the digital age. Starting from the fundamental question "What is knowledge?" the director of the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media (IWM) explained how digitality has changed the reception and production of information. One focus was on collaborative construction of knowledge in Wikipedia, with which Ulrike Cress explained how knowledge is jointly generated online. She concluded that the challenges for society and education are not to focus on digital tools, but on the comprehensive social and cognitive processes of knowledge construction and reception.

On the second day of the conference, Prof. Dr. Herman G. van de Werfhorst from the University of Amsterdam shed light on the impact of pandemic-related school closures and the resulting often forced and rapid digitalization, on inequalities in learning by social class, migration background and gender. Using data from the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) from seven countries and the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) from 45 countries, he showed that schools and learners varied in how well prepared they were for digital distance learning, but that differences between schools were not systematically related to the composition of students by socioeconomic status and migration background.

In her presentation on the last day of the conference, Prof. Dr. Kristina Reiss focused on the topic of subject didactics in the digital age. Using numerous examples from school practice, the mathematics didactician from the Technical University of Munich discussed possible adaptations to methods of teaching and learning and the reflection of the content of lessons. She concluded her keynote with a call for a holistic approach that conveys current content, is the basis for learning across the lifespan, motivates and shapes the responsible use of knowledge.

Sessions

In around 150 sessions, researchers from various fields of empirical educational research presented and discussed their research findings in symposia and individual contributions. The more than 500 conference contributions focused on a wide variety of aspects of the area of tension between education and digitalization: from theoretical foundations and methodological practices in educational research to teacher (further) training and the effects of the Corona pandemic on education and upbringing.

Program (PDF)

Current forum on the war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine as a currently overshadowing topic also moved many of the participants during the conference. For this reason, the Bamberg conference team decided together with the GEBF board to offer a forum during the conference, which provided the opportunity for informal exchange about possibilities of support. In addition to the offer of an open exchange of experiences, an overview with information on support possibilities was also compiled.

Social Evening

At the social evening on March 10, 2022, the tenth anniversary of the GEBF was duly celebrated. At the beginning of the evening, GEBF President Prof. Dr. Cornelia Gräsel and GEBF Vice President Prof. Dr. Johannes Bauer presented the solutions of the anniversary quiz, which had been designed especially for the conference, and awarded two young publication prizes. Beate Plugge, Managing Director of Waxmann-Verlag, together with the Chair of the Jury Prof. Dr. Simone Dunekacke from FU Berlin, presented three poster prizes before Prof. Dr. Steffen Schindler from the University of Bamberg handed over the symbolic baton for the GEBF Conference 2023 to Prof. Dr. Detlev Leutner from the University of Duisburg-Essen and thanked all helpers. Afterwards, the participants met on the online platform Gathertown, where they had, among other things, the opportunity to exchange ideas in a virtually created "Little Bamberg", to play games and to dance to the music of the GEBF DJs.