WDR’s Doku & Digital editorial team, represented by editor Klaus Geiger, is thrilled about this recognition. “Our aspiration was to design digital school lessons on climate change in a entirely new way: innovative in form, immersive in experience and participatory in content development,” Geiges states. Obviously, this approach was appreciated not only by experts, but also by the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft.
The climate app uses augmented reality to allow students to experience regional climate events, such as the catastrophic flooding of the Ahrtal or the forest fires in Gummersbach, in their real classrooms via tablet or smartphone. In an interactive and playful way, they can reflect on their own role in climate change. The WDR team and the programmers as well as the interdisciplinary team of programmers and visual designers from the MIREVI working group at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf, also worked closely with a school class from Cologne to develop the app and adapt it to the pupil’s needs.
The Deutsche Digital Award, presented annually by the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V. in Berlin, honours outstanding achievements in the digital economy from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The climate app was therefore recognized as a pioneering guide to digital education.
This award emphathises the relevance of digital solutions to the school curriculum and the importance of supporting teachers in creating engaging content. The WDR climate app allows to raise awareness of regional climate events and to actively involve students. It is an excellent example of how technology can be used to educate and communicate about the topic of climate change and climate protection.
We congratulate the entire team at WDR, the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf and the participating school class for this well-deserved success. This achievement is a milestone in the search for a more sustainable future and encourages us all to continue to look for digital approaches and solutions that can further promote climate protection.