The "Frankfurt Triangle" is an interdisciplinary model that highlights the perspectives and dimensions of education in a digitally networked world. Computer scientists, media educators, and media scholars collaborated to develop it, initiating the project through workshops held in Frankfurt am Main in 2017 and 2018. These workshops followed the Dagstuhl Declaration of 2016. The model integrates three perspectives: technological-media, socio-cultural, and interaction. Thus, it provides a framework for analyzing, reflecting on, and shaping digitally influenced artifacts and phenomena. Since its initial publication in 2019/2020, the framework has been adopted by numerous studies, used as a reference, and further developed. In pedagogical practice and curriculum development, it serves as a theoretical and conceptual point of reference.

The current focus is on continuing the interdisciplinary discourse with the aim of operationalizing the Frankfurt Triangle for pedagogical fields of action. This will make the framework usable for research, teaching, and practice. Additionally, the author team is translating, reviewing collaboratively, and preparing for international publication of the framework. This will establish the model not only in German-speaking contexts, but also internationally, as an openly accessible reference framework.

Duration: since 2016

Target audience: Researchers and teaching staff at universities and schools

Project funding: Frankfurt Technology Centre (german:Frankfurter Technologiezentrum [:Medien] – FTzM )

Since this mainly concerns publications in German, citations were formatted according to German citation style.

Brinda, T., Brüggen, N., Diethelm, I., Knaus, T., Kommer, S., Kopf, C., Leschke, R., Missomelius, P., Tilemann, F., & Weich, A. (2020). Frankfurt-Dreieck zur Bildung in der digital vernetzten Welt. Ein interdisziplinäres Modell, In: Knaus, T. /Merz, O. (Hrsg.), Schnittstellen und Interfaces – Digitaler Wandel in Bildungseinrichtungen (Bd. 7). München: kopaed, 157–167.  

Brinda, T., Brüggen, N., Diethelm, I., Knaus, T., Kommer, S., Kopf, C., Missomelius, P., Leschke, R., Tilemann, F., & Weich, A. (2025). Frankfurt Triangle – An interdisciplinary model. MedienPädagogik – Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung, (56), 186–198.  

Knaus, T. (2016). digital – medial – egal? – Ein fiktives Streitgespräch um digitale Bildung und omnipräsente Adjektive in der aktuellen Bildungsdebatte, In: Brüggemann, M., Knaus, T, & Meister, D. (Hrsg.), Kommunikationskulturen in digitalen Welten – Konzepte und Strategien der Medienpädagogik und Medienbildung, München: kopaed, 99–130.

Knaus, T. (2017). Verstehen – Vernetzen – Verantworten. Warum Medienbildung und informatische Bildung uns alle angehen und wir sie gemeinsam weiterentwickeln sollten. In: Diethelm, I. (Hrsg.), Informatische Bildung zum Verstehen und Gestalten der digitalen Welt (INFOS 2017), Lecture Notes in Informatics, P-274. Bonn: GI – Gesellschaft für Informatik, 31–48.