This is why, in summer 2001, the German Children and Youth Foundation and the Mercator Foundation joined forces in developing SCHOLA-21 as an online platform challenging both students and teachers and supporting them in their efforts to firmly establish project-based learning and open classroom situations in their daily school activities. These approaches help children and young people grow in their competencies – method and media competencies, most importantly – in various ways. They learn how to learn independently and how to work collaboratively in such a way that everybody is encouraged to contribute their knowledge and individual strengths.

In cooperation with the Mercator Foundation and with support from additional partners such as O2 Germany and the Jacobs Foundation, the virtual learning environments LEARN IT and DO IT were created at the end of 2005, providing methodological tools and didactic assistance to guide students, teachers, and external partners through all stages of a project. SCHOLA-21 was successfully put to test in all types of schools and at all grade levels, receiving the digita educational software award for best didactic tool in 2004.

In spring 2006, a new and revised virtual learning environment was launched, incorporating the experiences from five years of development and practical application in schools. The next generation SCHOLA-21 effectively combines pedagogical and didactic expertise with innovative database technology and cutting-edge design. The result is a comprehensive online resource integrating three main focus areas:

1. Unlocking schools and creating communities

SCHOLA-21 helps to transcend the boundaries of classrooms, schools, and countries. What makes project-based learning so beneficial from a pedagogical point of view is first and foremost the fact that students start their investigations with real-world questions they care about and then look for answers in the “real” world as well. The virtual learning environment of SCHOLA-21 offers many kinds of didactic assistance and provides orientation throughout the entire course of a project, thus improving its overall quality. In addition, modern internet technology facilitates the inclusion of experts and external partners through virtual project rooms, email, blackboards, forums, and chat rooms, for example. But SCHOLA-21 takes project-based learning even one step further: All users of the new SCHOLA-21 form one virtual community. As a result, individual members as well as whole project groups may contact each other, exchange ideas, learn from one another, and initiate new projects together.

2. Meeting individual needs

A good school is a school that places children and young people with their respective skills and diverse needs at the centre of attention, recognising them as unique personalities. SCHOLA-21 provides methods and tools for best addressing each student’s needs according to their current level of learning and for strengthening them in their development. Learning journals, learning agreements, task cards, observation and feedback sheets, for example, may be employed flexibly during each project phase, adapted to current classroom requirements, and administered within the learning environment.

3. Documenting processes and results

SCHOLA-21 assists the individual student, smaller work groups, and the entire project team with planning and structuring their learning processes. Each individual step and result is being documented during the course of a project and may be displayed at any time in a clearly arranged format. It only takes a mouse click, for example, to create a project homepage or to print a comprehensive project portfolio. As a result, learning paths and strategies become transparent and may be analysed and evaluated. These appealingly designed displays of results also serve as presentations, of course, allowing parents, partners, friends, and relatives a share in the project work and an opportunity for acknowledgment.