Digital Education and Informatics – You can’t have One without the Other

Abstract

The discussion about informatics as a school subject and media education is almost 40 years old. In Germany for example, it was decided in the 1980s to teach ”basic information technology” in an integrated way, i.e. hidden in other subjects. This has not worked well for many reasons. This talk wants to show the connection between the shift towards digital education and the increasing relevance of informatics as a school subject. These developments are mutually dependent: digital education is not complete without informatics, but in many places the compulsory school subject of informatics has only been introduced because of the requirements for digital education. The ”Dagstuhl Triangle” [2] is one of the models that helps to understand the developments of recent years. It is also an important starting point for thinking about the meaning and purpose of our subject. Therefore, in this paper the main aspects of this model are explained briefly.