Teachers
Ready-made walking tours with audio guide and didactic supporting material for lessons in history, ethics, digital basics or the new compulsory subject “Medien und Demokratie” (Media and Democracy).
i.grow
Media literacy
Media literacy, civic education & AI literacy – learning by making.
From consuming to creating
With i.grow, students become creators of their own learning content. In our workshops they explore topics in their own everyday context and ask: “What does this have to do with me?” They bring their perspectives to the table and build tours that are genuinely engaging for them and their peers. Along the way, they don’t just learn technical skills — they also engage critically with media ethics and digital storytelling.
Who is i.grow for?
Classes & project weeks
Workshops where students create their own digital walking tours – from research and media production through to publication. Perfect for project weeks or term-long projects.
Educational institutions
Partnerships with teacher training colleges, universities of applied sciences and education authorities, developing new formats for media literacy, civic education and AI literacy in the classroom.
i.grow is the educational stream of i.appear and brings media literacy, civic education and digital skills within reach of schools. We offer two core approaches to integrate digital learning environments into the school day and to actively involve young people in the design process: curated walking tours with audio guide and participatory workshops.
On one side, i.grow includes professionally produced digital walking tours designed specifically for classroom use. Topics like history, ethics, plural society or urban development become multimedia experiences right on location. To support teachers in integrating these into the curriculum, the tours come with didactic material, lesson plans and worksheets. The smartphone becomes a mobile classroom.
On the other side, i.grow runs workshops where students themselves become creators. In a project-based process they develop their own digital walking tours and engage deeply with topics from their own world – from media ethics and critical thinking to democracy and community, to AI literacy and digital storytelling.
Our focus areas
What we already do – and what we’re working on
Media literacy & media skills
Students learn not just to consume media, but to create it. They produce audio, video, photography and interactive content – and reflect along the way on media ethics, source criticism and responsible media use. Two existing school projects already show how this works.
Civic education & community
How do we live together? What holds a society together? In our projects, young people engage with values, diversity and democratic participation. The ethics tour “Buntes Dornbirn” (Colourful Dornbirn) and the “Zusammenwachsen” (Growing Together) project in Feldkirch show how civic education can come to life on location.
AI literacy & digital basics
Artificial intelligence is changing how we learn, work and communicate. We develop formats where students try out AI tools critically and understand them: What can AI do? Where are its limits? What does this mean for media ethics and society? In collaboration with PH Vorarlberg and FH Vorarlberg.
New formats in development for the 2026/27 school year
Why now? The new compulsory subject “Media and Democracy”
From the 2027/28 school year, “Medien und Demokratie” (Media and Democracy) becomes a compulsory subject in the upper secondary years (AHS-Oberstufe). Topics like fake news, disinformation, democratic participation and a critical approach to AI-generated content move to the centre of the classroom. At the same time, Digitale Grundbildung (Digital Basics) is being expanded further in lower secondary education.
i.grow sits exactly at this intersection: we connect media literacy with place-based learning and put tools in students’ hands so they can become creators – rather than staying passive consumers. The content is aligned with the Austrian curricula for Digital Basics, ethics, and the new compulsory subject.
Principles of our media literacy workshops
Project-based workshops
Students themselves become creators. In a guided process they build their own tours and engage intensely with topics from their immediate world.
Interdisciplinary support
The i.appear team supports the process not just on the design side, but also with subject expertise. Disciplines: geography, history, ethics, philosophy, psychology.
Active content creation
In teams, the participants produce their own content – audio pieces, videos, AR elements.
Lasting outcomes
The result is a digital tour that stays accessible long-term for peers and the public.
Principles of our curated walking tours
Multimedia depth & immersion
3D models, AR elements and exclusive audio interviews create a layer of experience that classic excursions can’t match.
Expert-curated knowledge
All content is reviewed by subject experts.
Seamless fit into the school day
Without much organisational lead time, the tours can be slotted directly into double lessons or project days.
Access to hidden places
Digital production opens up places that are physically hard to reach.
Walking tours for schools – Dornbirn
hist.appear (school edition)
Send your students on a journey through time across historical Dornbirn. An interactive map and a colour-coded timeline let them dive into different eras. Across 11 interactive locations, the content becomes multimedia and immersive – right where history happened. Hist.appear spans witch trials, the bourgeoisie of the late modern era and industrial history through to migration in the 20th and 21st centuries. Supporting teaching material is provided.
Buntes Dornbirn
The ethics tour “Buntes Dornbirn” (Colourful Dornbirn) offers a complete package on the topic of plural society. Students meet people from different generations and walks of life, hear voices from different bubbles and encounter their stories. The tour invites them to switch perspectives. It’s curriculum-aligned and comes with detailed lesson plans and worksheets.
Important: get in touch with us so we can unlock the central locations for you and your students.
School projects – Feldkirch
Zusammenwachsen
In the “Zusammenwachsen” (Growing Together) project, students at MS Levis worked around the question: What holds us together? And which values do we share? The young people worked out their personal values, talked about them in interviews, wrote stories around them and translated those into images, animations, photos and short films. The result is a tour with many colourful facets, carried by the voices and experiences of the students. Made possible by “Kunst ist Klasse”, a programme of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture.
Start the tour →Ein Oktobertag
In the i.grow project “Ein Oktobertag” (One October Day), students at MS Oberau worked on the bombings over Feldkirch in 1943. Together we approached the topic of the Second World War through questions, conversations, research and creative methods. Five locations now lead young and old from Feldkirch’s old town to the Antoniushaus. Made possible by “Kunst ist Klasse”, a programme of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture, in collaboration with Erika Kronabitter and a contribution from sound artist Arno Oeri.
Start the tour →Want a workshop or a digital walking tour for your school?
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