Using Digital Tools to Promote Discursive Skills in Socioeconomics (DigiDiscurSS)

In an environment of increasing polarisation and the danger of social division, the ability to think about socio-economic issues in an unbiased, differentiated and critical manner and to discuss them adequately is of central importance. This is where the DigiDiscurSS project comes in, in which a teaching concept for promoting students' discussion, judgement and reflection skills is being developed, tested and evaluated using a digital discussion platform. By means of digitally supported discursive discussion of exemplary socio-economic controversies (e.g. inheritance tax, organ trade), students are encouraged not only to develop an awareness of the complexity of socio-economic issues, but also in particular to distinguish substantiated arguments from mere opinions, to understand other positions and to support or refute them on the basis of various sources, as well as to recognise the conditionality of their own position and to elaborate or revise it if necessary. In addition to the digitally supported discursive debate, the concept also provides for the creation and use of video tutorials on selected cross-thematic skills (e.g., building arguments, active listening, adopting perspectives).

The evaluation will take into account, among other things: 1) perceived learning supportiveness of the concept elements; 2) subjective and objective learning success; 3) competence transfer. Questionnaires and analyses of the students' arguments with regard to content quality and integrative complexity are used.

DigiDiscurSS enables an interdisciplinary exchange on a variety of topics and can be used in different subjects as well as outside university teaching.

The project is funded by the InnoMA Initiative supported by the Foundation Innovation in Higher Education.

Project status: ongoing

Project team

  • Prof. Dr. Carmela Aprea
  • Ronja Baginski
  • Manuel Vogler

Cooperation partners

Prof. Dr. David Leiser Leiser (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel); Udi Lion (SUGIA)