Lifelong teaching and learning: CODIP participates in the closed beta phase of “My Education Space”

Think back to your last application. Did you find it a hassle to get certified copies of your certificates issued? And when you needed your certificates, they were buried somewhere? Do you find it impractical to constantly create new accounts with education providers? Does the search for suitable study or further education offers take too long? That should soon be over!

With “My Education Space”, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is currently developing and designing a technical solution for people in Germany in cooperation with 40 funded research and development projects to organize their personal education simply, centrally and securely and to plan their seamless educational path from primary school to old age step by step (see Figure 1). Around two and a half years after the start of the project, which began in 2021 under the name “National Education Platform”, the development has recently reached two milestones: The first test phase of “My Education Space” as a beta version was started and the launch of a new website for the project took place.

 Figure 1: The path of users (user journey) through and with “My Educational Space” (Author: meinbildungsraum.de)

The CODIP, Center for Open Digital Innovation and Participation, of the Technical University of Dresden is also involved in the development and design of the educational space in two funding projects. In the project "Competent Collaboration in the Network (KoKoN2)" The aim is to provide teachers with easy and secure access to contemporary teaching and learning methods for digital teaching via a method kit in conjunction with a competency profile and cooperation functions. This offer aims to facilitate (media) didactic competence development (Beege et al., 2023). The second project, “Connection of a virtual-immersive 3D learning platform to the NBP using the domain example of an educational provider (AVILAB2)”, the social virtual reality environment "TriCAT Spaces" is technically linked to the educational space. The aim is to derive conditions for success for the design, implementation and use of various application scenarios - such as virtual scientific conferences - from the conception and testing of these (Dyrna et al., 2023).

Just in time for the start of the closed beta phase, in which we at CODIP will also participate, we would like to give all interested parties an overview of the potential of "My Education Space" for educational providers, learners and teachers, as well as its central functionalities. Finally, we will briefly inform you about the course of the beta phase.

Why should educational providers, learners and teachers use “My Educational Space”?

“My Educational Space” offers the following advantages for teachers and learners:

• Simplification: Uniform access (single sign-on) to various educational offerings and platforms,
• Orientation: Find educational content easily and accurately using a search function – with individual recommendations if desired,
• Collaboration: Intra- and inter-institutional cooperation through access to common structures,
• Security: Data protection-compliant storage of educational certificates and artifacts for the sovereign management of one's own information.

You can find more detailed information on the technical components of “My Education Space” on this page.

For providers of educational platforms and offers, “My Educational Space” offers the following potential:

• Reach: Reach new target groups and win users,
• Innovation: Participatory development and support of open data formats and licenses,
• Collaboration: Use common standards for collaborative offerings and benefit from interoperability,
• Security: Verify digital identities and ensure comprehensive data security.

For further information about the project please contact on this page. A description of the options for connecting to the educational space for educational providers (see Figure 2) can be found here.

Figure 2: Steps for connecting partners to “My Educational Space” (Author: meinbildungsraum.de)

What functionalities does “My Education Space” include?

Since October 2022, various development teams have been working on the implementation of the technical components of “My Education Space”. With the closed beta launch in October 2023, the project team will present the minimum viable product (MVP) of the networking infrastructure.

The MVP of “My Education Space” includes the following functionalities:

• Identity & Access Management: Access to various connected educational providers and organization-independent storage of account information,
• Management of educational data: From certificates to learning progress to application data, the filing app offers a secure and institution-independent way to receive, store and share information.
• Verification and signature: Connected partners can digitally verify and sign documents such as copies of certificates or certificates,
• Personal work environment: Access to various educational tools such as the learning pathfinder to find tailor-made learning opportunities,
• Linking information: In order to be able to provide users with tailored educational offers, to make learning levels comparable and to identify educational providers, educational taxonomies are linked and metadata are related to each other.

When and how can I try out and help shape “My Educational Space”?

Since October 10, 2023, the first test subjects have been able to put these functionalities to the test using various scenarios. The test users initially include people familiar with the project, network partners, funded research and development projects from the education sector and other stakeholders. In the course of the beta testing, the circle of test subjects will be gradually expanded.

Until mid-February 2024, "My Education Space" will be continuously developed, taking into account the feedback from the test subjects. Additional network partners will be connected in parallel in order to continuously expand the range of services and the circle of users. From spring 2024, anyone interested can register with “My Education Space” and use the service. Questions about the beta phase of “My Education Space” can be sent by email to closed-beta@meinbildungsraum.de For further information on the technical implementation of “My Education Space”, please contact here.

Further reading:

Beege, B., Eichhorn, M., Heitz, R., Köhler, T., Markgraf, D., Meier, J., Messemer, H., Schade, C., Thiering, R., Tillmann, A. (2023). Enhancing Collaboration and Digital Teaching Competencies in Higher Education: The KoKoN Project. E-Learning and Education, 15.

Dyrna, J., Lorenz, R., Galarce Miranda, C., Heitz, R., Köhler, T. (2023). Social VR as an approach to foster collaboration among scientists and educators within the networked infrastructure for education. E-Learning and Education, 15.

Authors: Ellen Boettcher, Franziska Weis, Jonathan Dyrna, Heike Messemer