Blended Learning for Specialized Consultations on Early Digital Education in Daycare Centers (BLeFaKi)
(in collaboration with nifbe e.V., funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMBFSFJ) under the guidelines for funding projects on the topic of “Early Education in a Digital World” within the Empirical Education Research framework program, FKZ 01NV2504A (March 1, 2026–February 28, 2029)
The BMBFSFJ project BLeFaKi focuses on developing a blended learning concept for early digital education in early childhood centers for early childhood center specialists based on empirical findings. Through a nationwide quantitative online questionnaire survey of specialists, group discussions with specialists, and guided interviews with representatives of childcare providers, as well as a document analysis of providers’ concepts regarding media education and specialist consulting, the survey identifies qualification needs and supplements them with existing scientific findings and qualification concepts.
Based on this, a blended learning concept will be developed that consists of self-paced e-learning—including instructional videos—as well as accompanying in-person sessions and exchange phases for specialist advisors. This concept will be tested and evaluated in a pilot phase, taking into account different provider structures, institutional conditions, and professional and organizational frameworks. Following evaluation and adaptation, the blended learning concept will be made available nationwide as an OER and offered permanently free of charge on the nifbe’s Moodle platform.
News
Call for Specialist Advisors to Participate in Our Online Survey:
Hardly anyone knows the day-care centers’ practices and their support needs regarding digital media education as well as you do. That is why your participation in the nationwide survey of day-care center specialists is crucial. Detailed information about the survey and how to register can be found here.
The Project in Detail
Background:
Children are increasingly growing up in a digitally shaped world—and daycare centers play a central role in early childhood media education alongside families. Whether digital media education is systematically integrated depends on the staff’s understanding of media education, the conceptual orientation and resources of the facilities, as well as the conceptual and resource-related framework conditions at the provider level. Professional consultants play a special mediating role here: They provide long-term support to teams, assist with their professional development, and advise providers and administrators. To date, however, they have received little attention in systematic professional development approaches focused on digital education.
Research Focus:
The project builds on the research focus on early childhood education and professional development by systematically gathering experiences, competencies, and needs from the practice of early childhood education consulting and making them available for the professional development of professional consultants in the field of digital media education. The cross-cutting themes of digitalization, media, and artificial intelligence are linked in the project to issues such as social inequality by systematically taking into account the access, opportunities for participation, support needs, and avenues for action for children, families, professionals, administrators, and consulting services in the context of digital media education.
Objectives:
BLeFaKi involves the development and testing of a blended learning concept for early digital education for daycare center specialist advisors based on empirical findings. The aim is to make a structurally sustainable contribution to the professionalization of the daycare system at various levels with regard to early digital education.
Specialist consultants are to be trained over the long term to:
- support early childhood educators in raising awareness of the topic of (digital) media education,
- encourage reflection within teams and work on the attitudes of early childhood education professionals,
- conduct an assessment of the current situation within the facilities as well as at the organizational level,
- train teams to collaborate with parents and guardians in the area of media education,
- develop and refine media concepts with daycare centers, and
- to (help) develop media concepts at the agency level.
The process is divided into four phases:
The project is supported by an expert advisory board comprising representatives from politics, academia, and the field in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.
The project flyer provides a concise overview of the entire project, including all key information.
Project Team
The project is being carried out under the direction of Prof. Dr. Nadia Kutscher (University of Cologne) in cooperation with nifbe e.V. (Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development).
You can find more information about the project team here.
Contact
Email: blefaki-projekt@uni-koeln.de
Phone number: 0221-47076212
Data Protection
The protection of personal data is our top priority. All data provided and collected will be used exclusively by the research team and processed in compliance with applicable data protection regulations (GDPR). The published results will not allow for the identification of any individuals or institutions. Further information can be found in our Privacy Policy.
