The Information Centre for Education (IZB) at DIPF is the central institution for research and information infrastructures in education in Germany. The Centre moreover organises research and transfer of findings and links actors in education.

About

Services offered by IZB include open access to references, support in the assessment, processing and archiving of research data, information on education in Germany and also technological support to researchers. Infrastructures are implemented as part of national and international cooperations, and accompanied by comprehensive transfer activities. The services are continually developed based on own research in close alignment with the scientific community – in a user-centred manner. They target educational scientists and researchers and address subject didactics as well as practitioners, politicians, administrators in education and the public at large.

The central research and information infrastructures of the department include the German Education Server (Deutscher Bildungsserver), German Education Portal (Fachportal Pädagogik) with the German Education Index (FIS Bildung Literaturdatenbank) and the Open Access document server peDOCS as well as the Research Data Centre (Forschungsdatenzentrum (FDZ) Bildung), which operates within the Research Data Network for Education (VerbundFDB) processing scientific data for subsequent re-usage. The intersectional departmental unit for Computer Science in Education coordinates the setup and maintenance of advanced infrastructure technologies at the department.

The Information Centre for Education also runs its own research in the areas of information management (Prof Dr Marc Rittberger) and Educational Technologies (Prof Dr Hendrik Drachsler), who collaborate closely with cooperating universities in Darmstadt, Hildesheim and Frankfurt am Main. Thematic areas of this fundamental and user-oriented research at IZB concern Open Science, educational research monitoring and education in a digital environment. 

IZB pursues its activities in a close cooperation with diverse actors and in networks for education like universities, research institutes, documentation and infrastructure institutes and libraries. Internationally, IZB is also visible with its many activities.

In 2021, the Information Centre for Education celebrated its 20th anniversary. On this occasion, the booklet "Das Informationszentrum Bildung: 20 Jahre Infrastruktur, Forschung und Transfer" has been published.

Units

Educational Computer Science

With its technical expertise and resources in the fields of portal technology, data management and software development, Educational Computer Science (EduCS) supports various DIPF activities and projects.

Educational Technologies

The EduTec Research Group is a multinational, cross-disciplinary team of specialists committed to incorporating Artificial Intelligence into educational science, as well as allied disciplines like psychology, pedagogy and didactics.

German Education Server (Eduserver)

The German Education Server is a central guide to education in Germany and an information service for education worldwide. It offers access to selected internet resources from the federal government, federal states, universities, state institutes and research institutes.

Information Management

The information management unit hosts an interdisciplinary team which researches and analyses information infrastructures and searches for information – developing open science and teaching practices in educational research and related disciplines.

Literature Information Systems

The „Literature Information Systems“ unit prepares specialised information services for the Education Research Portal.

Research Data for Education

The unit offers services for archiving and reusing research data and information and counselling on research data management. This presents a contribution to promoting Open Science in educational research. The services are supported by research and networking activities.

Management

Prof. Dr. Marc Rittberger

Contact

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Projects

Online Resources

Staff

Logo of German Education Server

Logo of Education Research Portal