Online lessons: Interview with Michael Schülke
Many primary schools are currently running alternating lessons. The higher year groups continue to be taught remotely with weekly timetables and via video conferencing.
We talk to Michael Schülke, managing owner of Verlag J. Maiß GmbH and founder of the "Maiß Aufgaben-Portal", about the tension between digitalisation and tradition and about his vision for digital learning.
As an expert in school and teacher supplies, Maiß Verlag developed the "Maiß Teacher App". In response to the school closures during the first lockdown, the "Maiß Aufgaben-Portal" learning platform, which is hosted in the SpaceNet data centre, followed at the beginning of 2020.
It's been around a year since corona confronted the school landscape with a completely new situation. How did you experience this time?
Michael Schülke: It was a very eventful time. Much of our traditional business was difficult because of the school closures. Our publishing house has been around for 150 years and we have a good market position. But when times change, the product range has to change too.
That's why we quickly set up a digital learning platform during the first lockdown in spring 2020, which was very well received.
How were you able to react so quickly to the situation?
Michael Schülke: Long before coronavirus hit in September 2019, we launched the teacher app as a comprehensive planning and management tool. Together with the software developers from Weptun, we had already started development in 2017. So we had a few years of experience. The teacher app is used to plan normal lessons. But that was of course a good basis, which helped us a lot in developing the task portal as a learning platform.
How well prepared were the schools?
Michael Schülke: The schools were very differently prepared. There were all extremes: from schools that focussed purely on printing out worksheets to schools for which our learning platform was not yet digital enough.
How does the task portal work?
Michael Schülke: The task portal supports teachers and pupils in their day-to-day teaching. Teachers can set tasks and weekly plans for each class (or group). Pupils download tasks or work on them online. The special feature: For each task, the teacher receives a list of the students who have looked at the task and those who have already completed it. Teachers can see whether they have already corrected this task. This enables a good assignment at a glance. There is also an integrated chat and communication function and our hosting partner SpaceNet also offers a secure video conferencing solution that is hosted in a Munich data centre. The good thing is that no IT administrator is required for the learning platform. Around 4,200 teachers are using it so far.
Your publishing house was founded in 1873 and proves that tradition and innovation are not mutually exclusive. What was the driving force behind your digitalisation and how did you approach it?
Michael Schülke: The dawn of the digital age is probably down to me. I drove it forward when I took over the publishing house from my mother in 2018 and am now the fifth generation to run it.
There have been many steps in this direction. We are looking at which products can be better offered digitally. For example, we successfully transferred paper calendars and analogue organisational tools into the digital world with the teacher app. Or let's take school law online. Here, the path led from a loose-leaf collection to a CD to a convenient and comprehensive online solution. Our credo: digitalisation not for the sake of digitalisation. There must be added value, a new functionality that simplifies and saves work.
Can your digitalisation concept also be applied to schools?
Michael Schülke: My advice is not to go digital for the sake of going digital, but to create greater benefits, save a lot of duplicate work steps and automate and interlink certain processes - only then does digitalisation make sense.
What about data protection on your learning platform? Where is the data?
Michael Schülke: Right from the start, we attached great importance to data protection and data security and therefore chose SpaceNet as a strong partner because they advise us personally, but especially because the data is stored securely in the Munich data centre without outside access.
What do you advise schools? Microsoft Teams & Co or better German platforms?
Michael Schülke: In terms of data protection, I would not recommend American platforms. Teachers and parents are also more likely to accept secure solutions from Germany.
Digital learning 2021: What's next? How can it become even better and more secure?
Michael Schülke: Many schools have learnt a lot. We have received a lot of positive feedback on how well remote learning works. Of course, there is still room for improvement: standardised guidelines for data protection would be helpful. A lot is currently permitted due to coronavirus, but this will certainly not remain the case. Improvements need to be made here.
What will remain of digital learning if there is a complete return to face-to-face teaching at some point?
Michael Schülke: I would also be very interested in that (laughs). I believe that interest in digital support for teaching has risen sharply. Many people now realise that the platforms can complement normal lessons very well.
And if the infrastructure is in place in the future, pupils will be able to take part in lessons even if they are ill or travelling with the school orchestra or to sporting events, for example.
How do the employees at Maiß Verlag cope with homeschooling? Are there any advantages to being a "professional"?
Michael Schülke: It makes no difference (laughs). Our employees had to overcome the same challenges as all parents. And they had no influence on the use of our task portal. Many had to cope with a jumble of systems and parallel solutions. This makes communication much more difficult when several tools are in use at the same time instead of a proper learning platform.
Thank you for the interview!