The 91 Protestant schools under the umbrella of the School Foundation of the Lutheran Church of Saxony (EVLKS) pursue different pedagogical concepts and yet are united in orientation and philosophy. True to the motto "Main subject: People", living and learning places of living faith were and are created, in which people are the center of attention. Here, everyone is accepted - regardless of external or internal characteristics and with all strengths and weaknesses.
School education - individual and inclusive
One of the most important concerns of schools is to enable as many children and young people as possible to participate in school education. Learners should receive individual support and encouragement and be given the opportunity to develop to the best of their abilities in heterogeneous learning groups.
To achieve this, more than half of the schools that use the digital teaching and learning portal (dLLP) rely on the itslearning learning management system. The deciding factor was that it fits their needs and offers easy accessibility to staff and learners via a single sign-on.
The journey of the EVLKS school foundation with itslearning LMS.
True to the Foundation's motto "Developing digital schools instead of just equipping them technically," the Protestant schools in Saxony signed a framework agreement with the learning management system (LMS) itslearning in the midst of the Corona pandemic. A lot has happened since then. In this article, we want to give an overview of how the EVLKS school foundation's collaboration with itslearning is shaping up in the meantime and provide an insight into how it is being implemented in practice at various schools. We will start with the Evangelische Oberschule Klipphausen (EOK) in Tharandt, but first take a brief look at the beginning of the EVLKS School Foundation's journey with itslearning LMS:
March 2020: Volker Schmidt and Martin Herold (School Foundation of EVLKS ), Martin Lorenz, Stephan Delkus and Peter Sidro (itslearning) sign the framework agreement digital/analog. You can learn more about it here.
itslearning at the Protestant High School Klipphausen (EOK)
At EOK, the itslearning LMS has been in use since spring 2021. Due to its ease of use, even for younger students, itslearning was chosen in the first Corona Lockdown 2020. While initially a padlet and the video conferencing solution BigBlueButton were used, the LMS increasingly prevailed due to its ease of use and questions associated with its implementation were reduced more and more.
itslearning has been in use on EOK's spacious school grounds since spring 2021 - and is already an important component that staff and learners no longer want to do without...
itslearning guarantees individual accessibility and saves resources during lockdowns
The switch to itslearning in all classes took place at EOK during the first lockdown in 2020. In the meantime, the LMS is used in all classes on several levels. For example, the school now organizes its weekly schedule work (WPA) entirely via itslearning. This saves a lot of paper, because many materials no longer have to be printed out. In addition, students can be reached more quickly and individually as long as enough digital devices are available.
Better support for home learners
The supervision of home learners at EOK also runs largely via itslearning. On the one hand, the integrated work tools are used to share important materials as well as tests, tasks and assignments. Synchronous and asynchronous communication takes place via itslearning Messenger. This way, no one is left behind and all messages are accessible in one central location.
Calendar, bulletin board and digital staff room
With the help of the integrated calendar, teachers note conferences clearly and in direct relation to the associated course. Dates for performance assessments are also entered there by some teachers. A special bulletin board in the course system provides all learners with a quick overview of important dates and school-wide information - such as daily substitution schedules.
The integrated file manager and an appropriately set up course function as a digital teachers' room and staff directory as well as for planning and coordinating joint dates and projects. The integrated booking system is also used at the school. This is often used for the simple distribution of resources, rooms or digital end devices.
High acceptance within the college
Thanks to the many positive experiences, itslearning is now enjoying a high level of acceptance at the EOK. Patrick Karges, teacher and IT admin at EOK, summarizes this as follows:
"The high flexibility of itslearning is great on the one hand, but also requires good consultation within the college. Overall, however, we are very happy to have itslearning at our disposal. The acceptance in the college is high and the LMS is gladly used by a large part of the college. Especially during the homeschooling times and most recently the continuous absence of individual learners, the LMS has made coordination much easier. We no longer want to do without it."
Patrick Karges, EOK
The versatile use of itslearning at the Evangelisches Gymnasium Tharandt
At the Protestant High School in Tharandt, itslearning is also in use and already deeply interwoven into teaching and organization. Here, the LMS is used, among other things, as a central communication platform, via which teaching material for sick students is posted or learning games are used in conjunction with learning paths.
It is also practical that learners in math classes can submit their solutions without an extra account in itslearning and save them for further work. ePortfolios facilitate collaborative work in the subject of chemistry and also serve as a presentation tool.
Here you can get an overview of how you can use the ePortfolio for independent work:
itslearning Tutorial: How to use the ePortfolio for independent work (German video)
In addition, itslearning is used in the following areas within the school:
- Complete room and media booking management
- Teachers' Room Calendar
- Project group exchange (interdisciplinary lessons during project weeks, method training, year teams, student council)
- Surveys on school-wide or class concerns (school festival, class trip, etc.)
- Compilation of materials for absent students
Nicole Woldrich, a teacher of chemistry and mathematics at the Evangelisches Gymnasium in Tharandt, describes the practical use of itslearning at her school as follows:
"Personally, I already use the new plan view and add all materials from the lesson on the same day. For independent lessons, I usually create a special start page and link the required materials and information to it. For free work phases, I save myself the trouble of printing out the solutions and also post them on itslearning. All of the students I teach have at least simple cable headphones with them at all times, so film clips or audio features can also be used easily and individually."
Nicole Woldrich, Protestant High School Tharandt
It's hard to imagine school life at the Evangelisches Gymnasium in Tharandt without the use of digital devices in conjunction with itslearning and other applications. Photo: Nicole Woldrich
We hope these examples could give you a vivid insight into the use of itslearning LMS at both schools. We are constantly developing the itslearning LMS in collaboration and in view of changing needs. This also applies to the numerous integrations that are intended to make pedagogical cooperation easier for teachers, learners and school authorities. This includes, among other things, the connection to Univention's ID Broker, which we would like to present to you next.
A new milestone: The connection to the Univention ID Broker
The connection of the learning management system itslearning to the Univention ID Broker (learn more about it here) also brings numerous advantages for Protestant schools. It enables a smooth transition for the connection between state, carrier or school instances of UCS@school and itslearning. This eliminates costly integration efforts that previously had to be carried out manually by school authorities. User data can thus be imported from the source defined for the entire portal - in this case, the school software.
Image source: Univention
More time for all learners
This even more convenient integration saves school administrators and teachers valuable time, in addition to single sign-on, so that they can concentrate fully on teaching and discover and use the many advantages of media-supported learning together with students.
The new interface also brings financial benefits
The new interface via the Univention ID Broker has even more advantages. It also enables other schools that use ucs@school to connect to their platforms and systems in an uncomplicated way. Compared to the individual integration of applications, this way is more cost-effective in total. The development of the connector was financially supported within the project and is now available to all interested school authorities.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the excellent cooperation and look forward to the next few years with the School Foundation of the Lutheran Church of Saxony and the further connection of (vocational) schools. Feel free to read this article again, as we keep updating it, also with regard to the ID-Broker and the planned WebUntis connection.
In the meantime, we refer to our #itsCommunity event with 7 speakers from three vocational schools. Here you can watch the recording:
itslearning an berufsbildenden Schulen: So gelingt`s
Protestant schools in Saxony
The Protestant schools in Saxony are state-approved alternative schools in independent sponsorship. They include 91 schools (primary, secondary, special and vocational schools as well as grammar schools) at 54 locations in Saxony. In their pedagogical and conceptual diversity, they are united by the Protestant profile, which is based on self-responsible action for fellow human beings and the environment.
itslearning
itslearning is Europe's leading cloud-based learning management system (LMS) for schools. Every implementation of an LMS starts with a survey of the initial situation at schools or school boards and a clear definition of the goals to be achieved. With tailored pedagogical consulting and training services, customers benefit from the experience and concepts of the globally active provider when implementing their media education concept or media development plan. Founded in 1999 in Bergen, itslearning has over 7 million active users worldwide.