The web plays a main role in many people’s everyday lives– whether when searching for a brand-new job or an apartment or condo, for shopping or for staying in touch with pals. As far as social involvement is worried, understanding how to use the web and what threats or benefits digital media present are ending up being increasingly important. That is why the European “All Digital Week” campaign has set itself the task of reaching out to precisely those individuals affected by digital exclusion and bringing them on board. The campaign also consists of events targeted at preventing and raising awareness of threats on the internet such as false information and bullying.
“Get Online Week” belongs to the above-mentioned European project and has been arranged by TU Dortmund University as an annual teaching-learning project at the Department of Rehab Sciences since 2015. Under the guidance of Dr. Bastian Pelka and in partnership with the Social Research Center Dortmund, Bachelor’s trainees of the Rehab Pedagogy degree program style their own workshops on internet subjects, with the goal of fostering individuals’ digital abilities in the long term and in this way mitigating exclusion. Workshop topics consist of dealing with digital hazards such as fake profiles and bullying as well as techniques for discovering lodging or jobs on the internet. At German Digital Day in 2022, the project got the audience award in the “Digital Participation” category. In 2025, the trainees held 44 courses in 20 institutions in Dortmund and drew in over 700 participants for the first time. This boost represents practically double the yearly variety of around 400 individuals.
Workshops aim to enhance the digital skills of children and grownups
The courses on avoidance in the digital world happened in schools, leisure and domestic facilities, and protected workshops. They covered 4 subjects: In the course on cyberbullying, trainees taught schoolchildren how to acknowledge and deal with cyberbullying. In a 2nd course, which concentrated on sexual violence on the web, specialists working in education learned how to develop trust and support children and youths better in this delicate location. In a third workshop, dedicated to appeal ideals on social media, school students were motivated to take a critical view of these suitables and their impacts. In a fourth course, which fixated sensitive material, moms and dads learned about the numerous kinds of damaging content, for example representations of violence or suicide, that children can be challenged with on social media and how they can protect their children. At the end of “Get Online Week”, the trainees assessed the courses and recorded their findings in a scientific report.
The next edition of “Get Online Week” will happen in April 2026, once again under the leadership of Dr. Bastian Pelka from the Department of Rehab Sciences.
More informationen about the task week
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