The organized degree program is meant to certify graduates who can act as multipliers, interacting an understanding of scientific concepts throughout society. These may include, on the one hand, instructors who gear up students to distinguish between clinical data, trustworthy details from various sources, and merely purported facts. On the other hand, they may consist of people working in science management– for instance in policy, public administration, or research financing– who engage with clinical findings, consisting of how those findings are produced and where their unpredictabilities lie. Imparting such competencies is becoming significantly crucial, as much details is no longer editorially evaluated by journalistic outlets, however instead spreads directly through a multitude of channels on digital platforms– typically along with purposeful disinformation. To guarantee that well-founded, democratic opinion development stays possible, the crucial judgement of media users is for that reason to be systematically enhanced through a series of multipliers.
The project constructs on TU Dortmund University’s more than twenty years of experience in the field of science journalism– and links this with the university’s locations of strength in teacher education and continuing expert advancement. Over the four-year financing period offered by the Foundation, the curriculum will be established to satisfy the specific needs of the appropriate primary target groups: (prospective) mentor and management staff in schools and continuing education, as well as individuals seeking to advance their qualifications for professions in science management or science policy.
The program can also be completed as a part-time certificate program
The organized program thus closes a gap in the academic landscape: no German college institution presently uses a program that integrates scientific, data, AI, and media literacy within an integrative design of “info examination skills.” Additionally, the program is created to function as a model in another regard: the curriculum will be readily available not just as a complete master’s degree, however likewise in excerpted type as a part-time certificate program. To this end, TU Dortmund University intends to make use of a prepared amendment to the Higher Education Law in North Rhine-Westphalia that will promote corresponding “micro-credentials,” thereby reinforcing the university’s role as a site of long-lasting learning.
The job is led by Professor Holger Wormer of the Chair of Science Journalism, together with Professor Bernadette Gold for the area of instructor education, and Professor Uwe Wilkesmann and Professor Cornelius Schubert, who contribute their competence in continuing education, science management, and the sociology of science and innovation. Extra academic partners include the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) and the Rhine-Ruhr Center for Science Communication Research. From the specialist side, cooperations are prepared with, among others, Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialog), the Science Library Germany, and the Wissenschaftspressekonferenz (Science Interview).
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