With the advancement of digitization, opportunities for the individual support of students are increasingly opening up. Digital media can help to better take into account students' individual prerequisites, needs, interests and inclinations, learning preferences, and differences in performance in the classroom (e.g., Holmes et al., 2018; Petko et al., 2017; Brühwiler & Vogt, F., 2020). Although previous research points to these potentials, the use of digital media for individual support has not yet been widespread in Germany (e.g., Gerick et al., 2017). This leads to the assumption that the implementation of individual support with digital media requires a lot of preconditions and opens up the question of the conditions for success at different levels. This is where a research project in Germany comes in. 

The research project aims to identify conditions for success in individual support with digital media from the multidimensional perspective of school actors. A model of school development and school effectiveness with digital media (Eickelmann & Drossel, 2019) is used as a theoretical approach. Individual support is located on the process level and it is assumed that conditions for success can be identified on the school input level as well as on the process level.

In the context of this research project, individual support is understood to be all pedagogical actions within the framework of school teaching-learning processes that are carried out with the intention of supporting the learning development and process of all individual learners by identifying and taking into account their specific (learning) prerequisites, (learning) needs, (learning) paths, (learning) goals, and (learning) opportunities, based on Kunze (2008) and Behrensen and Solzbacher (2012).

Against this background this contribution will focus on the following research question:

Which success conditions can be identified for the individual support with digital media?

To answer the research question, (group) interview data from school leaders (n=8 interviews with overall 12 persons), teachers (n=25 interviews with overall 36 persons) and students (n=13 interviews with overall 60 students)) from eight schools in Hamburg (Germany) are analyzed (4 primary schools, 2 secondary schools, 2 Gymnasia). These eight schools were selected criterion-led out of a pool of 60 schools, which were characterized by strong individual support in the Hamburg school inspection. Analyses are conducted using qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2021).

The results show firstly that teachers and school leaders in the participating schools deeply reflect on the challenges of individualised learning. In particular, these reflections focus on the tensions and antinomies that derive from issues of individualise. School actors deal with these issues in a very situational and contextual way. Secondly, it can be shown that teachers critically discuss the special potentials of digital media. In doing so, they perceive digital media both as a tool for teaching and as an object of teaching. This points to a strong awareness of the challenges of digital education in the 21st century. The findings will be discussed against the background of current European discourses and research results about the prerequisites for the use of ICT in teaching and learning.

Behrensen, B. & Solzbacher, C. (2012). Grundwissen Hochbegabung in der Grundschule. Weinheim: Beltz Verlag. Brühwiler, C. & Vogt, F. (2020). Adaptive teaching competency. Effects on quality of instruction and learning outcomes. Journal for educational research online 12, 1, S. 119-142 - URN: urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-191216 - DOI: 10.25656/01:19121 Eickelmann, B. & Drossel, K. (2019). Digitalisierung im deutschen Bildungssystem im Kontext des Schulreformdiskurses. In N. Berkemeyer, W. Bos & B. Hermstein (Hrsg.), Schulreform (S. 445-458). Beltz Verlag: Weinheim. Gerick, J., Eickelmann, B. & Bos, W. (2017). Zum Stellenwert neuer Technologien für die individuelle Förderung im Deutschunterricht in der Grundschule. In F. Heinzel & K. Koch (Hrsg.), Individualisierung im Grundschulunterricht (S. 131-136). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Holmes, W., Anastopoulou, S., Schaumburg, H. & Mavrikis, M. (2018). Personalisiertes Lernen mit digitalen Medien. Stuttgart: Robert Bosch Stiftung. Kunze, I. (2008). Begründungen und Problembereiche individueller Förderung in der Schule. In I. Kunze & C. Solzbacher (Hrsg.), Individuelle Förderung in der Sekundarstufe I und II (S. 13 – 26). Baltmannsweiler: SchneiderVerlag Hohengehren. Mayring, P. (2021). Qualitative Content Analysis. SAGE Publications. Petko, D., Schmid, R., Pauli, C., Stebler, R. & Reusser, K. (2017). Personalisiertes Lernen mit digitalen Medien. Journal für Schulentwicklung, (3), 31-39.