PoliQ

An online tool for enhancing political knowledge and media competence

PoliQ provides young users with an empirically developed test to check their political knowledge. Furthermore, with PoliQ, users can compare their results with others anonymously. An algorithm matches suitable media recommendations, which help the user to expand his or her current knowledge. The media recommendations cover classical media, like print media and TV, as well as youth-targeted online media, which present political topics in unconventional ways.

The idea of PoliQ evolved in 2013 in the master course “Computer-Mediated Communication”, led by Prof. Dr. Sabine Trepte and Josephine B. Schmitt. The prototype of the online tool was continuously refined with the support of various cooperation partners. Since May 2014, Laura Loy joined the team.

To find a name for the tool, a contest was carried out and “PoliQ” was chosen as winner. A video made possible by the support of the agency Yaez and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, bpb) explains the features and benefits of PoliQ in a comprehensible and entertaining way.

Five experts from the fields of political education, media psychology, test construction, political science and the Federal Agency for Civic Education assisted in evaluating the knowledge questions in terms of their relevance for political knowledge and quality. Then, the questions were tested in a large sample.

Workshops with adolescents in schools provided valuable hints for the revision of the media recommendations. Furthermore, qualitative interviews were carried out to gain insights in media usage habits as well as media preferences of teens and young adults.

Contact Persons

Prof. Dr. Sabine Trepte
E-Mail: sabine.trepte@uni-hohenheim.de

Josephine B. Schmitt
Laura Loy