Digital infrastructure in everyday daycare: The Murkel parents’ initiative shows how modern technology is revolutionizing everyday educational life – with better accessibility, less bureaucracy and plenty of space for creative learning.
The Kita Murkel ranch is located in the middle of nature in the Siegburg area. A few children brush the ponies, one pushes a small cart for the manure, others look after the chickens and the tomcat. “The children learn responsibility here – for the animals and themselves,” explains teacher Cyrille Meik. Suddenly her cell phone rings, a call from the main building: commonplace today, unthinkable two years ago. “At that time I had almost no reception anywhere on the ranch, arrangements were complicated, I had a box with addresses and phone numbers, Excel lists, folders for emergencies,” she remembers. Today – thanks to the latest digital infrastructure and a well-thought-out IT solution from Telekom – such challenges are a thing of the past: everyday life at Murkel is now more efficient, safer and more open to new educational opportunities.
Away from the patchwork carpet – towards a networked structure
“The Murkel Parents’ Initiative has developed enormously since we were founded in 1989,” says Jürgen Schäfer. He is responsible for IT. “Murkel has three children’s homes and the ranch. We look after two all-day schools and have our own kitchen that prepares 1,200 meals a day. We have long been a medium-sized company with 120 employees.” But the evolved structures brought problems: “Each facility had one or more of its own main lines, telephone numbers, customer numbers – nothing was linked,” he explains. “This made technical support in particular very complicated. Our processes were completely analog.”
This changed with digitalization, with VDSL connections from Deutsche Telekom, new IP-capable landline telephones and mobile phones, as well as a telephone system from the cloud for location-independent telephony and video conferences. In addition, the entire network was equipped with components from LANCOM Systems and a comprehensive WLAN was set up. The IP-capable landline telephones enable the team to continue to use the previous telephone structures in parallel with the cloud telephone system and cell phones, for example for individually programmed speed dial buttons.
Today, a central telephone number connects all locations, and employees can be reached quickly everywhere – easily via speed dial numbers: in the building and outside, even on excursions. And modern office software makes administrative tasks easier.
Modern everyday life: media education and creative learning
“For us, tablets are not for sitting still. We use them to learn how to use digital media,” explains Cyrille Meik. When we find a snail outside, we research together: What species could it be and why is it important for nature? For us it’s about discovering knowledge in a playful and interactive way.”
“Or we use it to encourage children’s creativity,” adds colleague Barbara Latak. “The children love creating animated films.” Figures made of plasticine, paper, Lego or dolls are photographed image by image, always from the same perspective, in order to then create a film. Thanks to the comprehensive WiFi, this can be implemented directly on site. “We can use reading apps together, research on the tablet or document our activities – a real benefit for educational work.”
And: The technology relieves the burden on the educators: Documentation is much easier today: I can take photos with the iPad, assign them straight away, and the parents can see what their child has done,” reports Barbara Latak. Every child has a digital file in the cloud. “In the past, I had to unload and sort pictures from the SD cards of the digital cameras after the childcare period,” adds Cyrille Meik. “Today I save about ten hours a week. And it’s data protection compliant.”
Attractive as an employer: More flexibility through digitalization
In social environments it is often difficult to attract qualified staff. But Murkel shows how digitalization can be a plus. Barbara Latak was able to work from home on an hourly basis during her parental leave: “I digitized all the documents and was able to work from anywhere via Teams meetings and shared documents. That was important to me because I wasn’t completely out of working life.”
Team communication and working on shared documents are now done digitally: “This has significantly improved collaboration,” explains Barbara Latak. “We have regular hybrid meetings in the parent council – some on site, others online. Minutes are written and uploaded directly in real time, which prevents misunderstandings.” Jürgen Schäfer agrees: “For me, the possibility that every employee can now access all the materials developed is the biggest advantage of digitalization. This brings transparency and openness and is significantly more effective – especially between the companies – than the previous data exchange.”
Of course, the switch to digital processes also brings with it challenges. “I, for example, went into the social sector so that I didn’t have to have anything to do with IT,” adds Cyrille Meik. “Some people need time. But it can have a motivating effect if work processes are made easier. Especially when it comes to administrative tasks.” Thanks to digital structures, there is ultimately more time and energy for what is most important: working with the children.
A digital path with a future
The wireless, high-performance network is the basis for further digitization components, such as the Murkel parent app, the interface to parents. There you keep your child’s data up to date, name those authorized to pick up and plan pick-up times or exchange ideas with the educators.
For Jürgen Schäfer, digitalization is more than a technical update. “It’s a win for the children. Every effort is worth it.” With the new central telephone number, the networking of all locations and the cloud solutions, Murkel is now fit for the future. Double protection, because a redundancy solution based on mobile communications (5G) ensures that everything remains functional even in the event of fixed network failures, for example due to construction sites.
“We have always been more progressive – animal-assisted pedagogy, the first facility in the Rhein-Sieg district with inclusion, consideration for working parents through long opening hours. Now we show that we are also way ahead in digitalization.”
LANCOM Systems from Würselen near Aachen is a leading European manufacturer of network and security solutions. The company is certified by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and stands for quality “Engineered in Germany”.
LANCOM’s network components include routers, switches and access points. Switches are network devices used to connect multiple devices within a local network. Access points enable additional wireless network connection. They are particularly useful in environments where there is a lot of mobile device use or in large areas where a wired connection is impractical.
Special Digital Education and School
Deutsche Telekom – responsibility