To promote media literacy at an early age, WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management and several other donors are supporting the municipal daycare center "Haus für Kinder” in Vallendar with donations in kind. In addition, WHU has ceded its reservations in the town hall to the elementary school to enable face-to-face teaching.
WHU donated an iPad to support the media education projects of the municipal daycare center "Haus für Kinder". It was presented to the head of the daycare center Petra Krämer by the director of the WHU IT Department, Alexander Werle, in the presence of the Mayor of Vallendar Wolfgang Heitmann, the Chairwoman of the Sponsoring Association Mareike Grund, and a few pupils, in a small, Corona-compliant circle on April 8, 2021. The daycare center has also received further iPad donations from VR Bank Mittelrhein, the Lions Club Vallendar, Energienetze Mittelrhein GmbH Co.KG and MotionHaus Development GmbH.
The fact that media and the competent handling thereof are of enormous importance for our society has become particularly apparent since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially in times of social distancing, they have become an even more important instrument of social interaction for many families. In order to introduce the next generation to the appropriate technical tools at an early age, the Vallendar daycare center is now using tablets in its work with the children. The aim is to link the development of media skills with the promotion of language and reading skills. "Books, audio plays, digital cameras, television, video and computers are all part of children's everyday lives," says daycare center director Petra Krämer. "With the help of the tablets, we want to produce a small, animated film with the children in the future, for example, creatively film a picture book, produce audio plays ourselves, or even redesign our educational partnership with parents."
"We are, of course, pleased that we can make a small contribution to the education of Vallendar's children, given that Vallendar is known as the location of one of the leading business schools in Germany and Europe," says IT expert Alexander Werle. "It is important that we support each other in these difficult times."
Mayor Wolfgang Heitmann emphasized the high priority that education maintains in the city's public policy: "One of our current most important projects is the digitization of the elementary school. And I'm very pleased that even younger children can now be introduced to the sensible usage of digital tools thanks to the iPad donations." Heitmann also welcomes the fact that WHU has ceded its time slots in Vallendar's town hall - booked primarily for exams - to the elementary school. This is because COVID-19 social distancing regulations for schools mean that Vallendar Elementary School is in urgent need of additional space. "Financially, this is of course burdensome for the municipality, as we would urgently need the income from the hall rental," says Heitmann. "However, enabling face-to-face instruction for our elementary school students is a clear priority here."