Chairs

As of 2020, the department consists of following chairs:^[1]

• Business Education
• Didactics of Chemistry
• Didactics of Computer Science
• Didactics of Life Sciences
• Educational Psychology
• Formal and Informal Learning
• History of Technology
• Information Search, Ecological and Active Learning Research with Children
• Mathematics Education
• Methods in Empirical Educational Research
• Personality and Social Psychology
• Research on Learning and Instruction
• Science Communication
• Teaching and Learning with Digital Media
• Technical Education
• Vocational Education

Controversies

Facebook has committed to funding the institute with a total of €7.5 million over a five-year period, which has attracted substantial criticism. Although the contractual agreement between the university and the American company remained confidential, the "Facebook Unrestricted Gift Letter" was made public. As per the grant terms, Facebook retains the right to discontinue further funding at any time after its initial payment of $1.5 million without providing any justification. Politicians and the media perceived this as an attempt to suppress unfavorable research findings. The agreement also explicitly mandates that the institute must be headed by founding director Christoph Lütge, who holds an endowed chair in business ethics at TUM, endowed by former Siemens executive Peter Löscher. Should the university desire to appoint a different institute director, Facebook's prior written approval would be necessary.^[4][5]

Christian Kreiss, a professor at Hochschule Aalen, accused the university of becoming an extension of Facebook's marketing arm through this funding arrangement. Alexander Filipović, a professor of media ethics at the Munich School of Philosophy, expressed concern but stated that he trusted the university.^[6]

Chris Köver, in an article on Netzpolitik.org, noted that numerous media outlets, ranging "from Tagesschau to Süddeutsche Zeitung", reported on the company's commitment to AI ethics immediately after Sheryl Sandberg announced the partnership. Köver argued that Facebook had effectively purchased a relatively inexpensive image campaign within the German media landscape for 6.6 million euros.^[5]