This is SMASCH II

Where we are going…
The “Smart Schools II” (SMASCH II) project is the follow-up project to SMASCH I. It is funded by the European Union – NextGeneration EU from January 2025 to December 2026 as part of the Centre for Digitalization and Technology Research at the Universities of the Federal Armed Forces. Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg is cooperating with the Zurich University of Education, as well as the research and development partners UXMA GmbH and rePACKtheBAG GbR.

The aim is transnational, digitality-oriented school development.

The goal of SMASCH II is to develop a transnational school development platform. This platform is intended to help actors in schools (school administrators, teachers, students, parents, etc.) navigate a digital culture and embrace a confident and creative role. The focus is on transnational cooperation and the cross-border knowledge and experience exchange on a reflexive approach to digitality.

^{_{Graphic recording of the platform presentation at the first school workshop (September 18 and 19, 2025).
Leefje Roy (https://leefje.de/home/)}}

The planned platform contains four “offers”, so-called protopractices (What are protopractices?) on teaching/school development topics. In tandems, two schools each test these protopractices and develop them further.

^{_{Graphic recording of the tandem schools getting to know each other at the first school workshop (September 18–19, 2025).
Leefje Roy (https://leefje.de/home/)}}

The four protopractices:

• VR+: Design a project week incorporating VR and sensor technology on a topic of your choice.
• Sound off!: Designing lessons and schools in the digital age with the help of audio products, such as talking posters.
• Dealing with AI: Creative and reflective approaches to dealing with and shaping AI in schools.
• Participatory technology design in school development: trying out and testing co-design methods for reflective design and implementation

Each protopractice is supplemented by analog/digital objects that are made available to the schools.

The SMASCH II project involves six schools from five European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Switzerland.

Where we come from ...
It all started with the SMASCH I project, which accompanied and researched nine schools in Hamburg and four schools in Belgium (Flanders) from 2021 to 2024. The project focused on developing sustainable, pedagogically meaningful and context-related digitalisation concepts.

These were developed:

• Orientation tools for school development in the digital age (e.g. vision, chronicle, map).
• Project weeks (e.g. VR meets bees) and teaching concepts to interlink social learning, creativity and technology.
• Multiple apps

All results, concepts and materials were processed in the SMASCH Labcademy (Moodle-based LMS) and are publicly accessible.

Research was conducted and published on selected projects.

Further information on SMASCH I.