21st Century Schooling & Digitality

Digital Media Concept

Our school-wide media concept aims at systematically integrating the use of media to foster learning processes throughout all school levels and subjects. Students acquire knowledge, insights, skills and abilities to meet the challenges of a media influenced world. The development and acquisition of the necessary skills for a life in a digital world go beyond basic IT knowledge, so they cannot be assigned to an isolated learning area, but are acquired, practiced and further developed in every subject and every school level. The school's media concept creates a common basis for the active design of the learning environment and lesson organization through an exchange between all those involved in the school.

Primacy of the Pedagogical

At GISSV, teaching and learning consistently follows the primacy of pedagogy - i.e. the educational mandate of the school - also and especially in the digital world. The consideration of digital change serves the goal of promoting the strengthening of independence by supplementing and changing the content and formal design of learning processes and to be able to better develop individual potential within an inclusive education, also through the use of digital learning environments. (cf. digital strategy 2017) The meaningful integration of digital learning environments requires a new design of the teaching and learning processes that are to be shown in this media concept. This changes teaching and learning, but also the range of design options in the classroom. Teaching and learning with digital media and tools has a serving function for the qualitative further development of teaching.

Key Skills of the 21st Century

A new cultural technique has developed through digitization - the competent use of digital media, which must be understood and mastered by both students and teachers. The constantly expanding availability of digital educational content also increasingly enables learners to take on responsibility for planning and designing personal learning goals and learning paths. This will develop the basic skills necessary for increasingly important lifelong learning. When it comes to learning itself, the focus is less on reproductive than on process and result-oriented, creative and critical learning, which are referred to as 4Ks (Kreativität=creativity, Kritisches denken = critical thinking, Kommunikation = communication and Kollaboration = collaboration). Overall, it will be even more important to classify and link facts, processes and developments on the one hand, and to evaluate and comment on them on the other. Digital learning environments help schoolchildren to develop these key skills: to organize themselves in a team, to develop solutions together, to use help independently. In addition, digitization enables immediate feedback. They simplify the organization and communication of work processes and help ensure that work materials and intermediate statuses are documented and available at all times. A virtual learning and working space can simplify learning situations between different learning groups within a school or between different schools as well as in contexts outside of the classroom due to its independence from fixed time intervals and physical presence.

Security

However, digital media not only offer opportunities, but also risks. In view of the increasing use of the new media and the Internet, the questions of effective protection of children and adolescents are becoming increasingly important. In addition to imparting basic and in-depth knowledge, the students should therefore be instructed to reflect on their own media experiences and to align their own active media activities accordingly. The focus is always on security. Schoolchildren are made aware from the outset to critically question media content and learn to move safely and independently in a world shaped by media. In doing so, they protect their own interests as well as those of their fellow human beings. The school supports the pupils, also in providing information and working with their parents. The GISSV relies on the gradual opening of an initially largely closed and monitored learning environment in the school network towards free movement on the Internet. The school portals serve as the first closed information and communication platforms.

Role of the Teacher

With increasing digitization, the role of the teachers at the GISSV must also develop further. The function of the learning companion comes to the fore. The heterogeneity of learning groups at GISSV, which is based on different educational biographies, language backgrounds and learner types, makes it increasingly necessary to develop and make available individualized learning arrangements in which the teacher organizes, advises, controls and gives feedback on learning processes. The realignment of previous teaching concepts in this direction creates the necessary freedom to allow the potential of digital learning environments to take effect. Overall, the opportunity is used to give the pupils more responsibility for shaping their own learning and thus to promote their independence (cf. Digital Strategy 2017). This results in a need for further training, the teachers are supported individually through further training. The new colleagues will be introduced to the GISSV media concept as part of handover management and supported in its implementation.

Graphic: Phillipe Wampfler

Technology in the Classroom

Modern conferencing system, Interactive Whiteboards etc
Laptops and tablets:
- Classroom computers (grades 1-3)
- iPads (grades 4-7)
- Personal laptops (grade 8-12)
Learning Management System:
Google Classroom
Online learning programs / apps

The Virtual Classroom

Collaborations with other classes and/or schools or institutions
Experts visit classrooms

Computer Science Classes & Afternoon Activities

Core curriculum of grades 5, 7, 10 and up
extracurricular programming
activities in grades 4,6,8,9

From the Classroom

Accreditations & Awards

MINT (= STEM) / Digital School
GISSV has been an accredited MINT-friendly school since 2013 and Digital School since 2019, by the German initiative MINT Zukunft schaffen under the patronage of the Kultusministerkonferenz (KMK).

Smart School
In 2023 GISSV was awarded as a Smart School for the first time. Annually, 15 schools in Germany win this prestigious award. This makes us one of over 100 digital pioneering schools in Germany and the first German International School Abroad to belong to the nationwide Smart School network.
> www.smart-school.de

1st Prize
GISSV won in the "Students Building Bridges Worldwide" 2023 competition for German Schools Abroad, organized by the German Chamber of Commerce (DIHK). The prize, which was endowed with €60,000, is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, teachers, and staff. Congratulations to all for this incredible accomplishment!
> Read on here

AP Course Computer Science Principles
The AP course Computer Science Principles, offered for the first time at GISSV by the Computer Science Department in the 2019-20 school year, was very successful in many ways. Among other things, GISSV received the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award from the College Board. This award is given to schools where more than 50% female graduates complete the course.

Distance and Hybrid Learning at GISSV 2020-2021

Distance and Hybrid Learning at GISSV 2020-2021

The COVID-19 Pandemic presents one of the most serious public health crises the world has experienced in generations. The German International School of Silicon Valley (GISSV) is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all its students, parents, employees, and guests.

Distance Learning

In March 2020, our campuses had to be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to be able to allow our teachers to offer students opportunities to learn, think, reflect, and grow as well as master essential skills and content in their grade level, we have switched to online lessons for the time being.

The Distance Learning model of GISSV provides learning experiences that can be managed by students and provide opportunities for connection and support. In a positive and streamlined manner, we continue to support student well-being and academic development, deliver curricular content, and maintain a sense of community. GISSV’s distance learning approach combines synchronous, asynchronous, independent, and group learning to mirror a student’s typical experience at school: to interact, to engage, to think critically, and, ultimately, to learn. In our Distance Learning Plan, which was made available to the families, we outlined the responsibilities of each constituent, the basic structure of distance learning in each division, and the platforms that are used.

Hybrid Learning

In order to reopen our campuses, we have to monitor the developments carefully and respond quickly to circumstances in our own community as well as to conditions in the county and state. This means that it is likely that GISSV toggles between different learning models quickly and with very little advance notice. Decisions are subject to constant evaluation based on the effectiveness of measures taken, reflection, and feedback from the school community.

With this Reopening Plan, we strive to create positive school and learning experiences within these challenging times. We are confident that together, we can thrive both on campus and at home.

For our campus reopening scenarios, we have developed a Reopening and COVID-19 Prevention and Mitigation Plan (RCPMP) for the 2020–21 school year that will guide our decisions regarding the reopening of our campus to students and employees as well as our overall program. We recognize that through the implementation of the following coordinated efforts, we can greatly reduce, but not completely eliminate, the risk of COVID-19 transmission in our community. We strive to balance our mitigation policies with the known benefits of children experiencing in-person learning at school.

As soon as it was possible for GISSV to reopen the campuses in Mountain View and San Francisco, the students returned to the classrooms in a staggered approach: for a short time in October 2020 and now again since February 2021. Families had the opportunity to choose between Distance and Hybrid Learning.