About the person
Academic and professional values
2024 Professor of Digitalization and Social Responsibility Fachhochschule Dortmund
2021 - 2024 Professor for Digitalization and Mediatization in the Field of Social Work Katho NRW/Aachen
2015 - 2021 Research assistant at the FernUniversität in Hagen - Department of Education and Difference (Prof. Dr. Katharina Walgenbach)
2012 - 2015 Research assistant at the University of Hagen - Intercultural Educational Science/Internationalization of Educational Processes (Prof. Dr. Rainer Jansen)
Leading positions in open child and youth work, open all-day schools and adult education
Studies/training
2023 Habilitation - University of Hagen Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences. Venia Legendi: educational science. Topic of the habilitation thesis: Neo-materialist perspectivization of materialist pedagogy
2018 Doctorate (Dr. phil.) with a discourse-analytical thesis on digital educational media - University of Augsburg Chair of Education Prof. Dr. Eva Matthes
Studied educational science, European history and literature - University of Hagen
Vocational training as an interior decorator and state-approved educator
Membership of committees
German Society for Educational Science (DGfE) Section for Media Education and General Educational Science - Commission for Philosophy of Education and Educational Philosophy/Pedagogical Anthropology
German Sociological Association (DGS) Section Sociology of Science and Technology and Media Sociology
International Society for Textbook and Educational Media Research (IGSBi)
Associate member of the research focus digital_culture FernUniversität in Hagen
Member of Kollektiv_Diffraktiv
Reviewer: Medienpädagogik Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung / Soziale Arbeit - Zeitschrift für soziale und sozialverwandte Gebiete / Journal of Educational Media, Memory and Socienty / merzWissenschaft / Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziale Arbeit
Research
Theoretical work:
Digital Materiality
Post-Humanism
New materialism
Sociology of technology/philosophy of technology
Theory of education
Entanglement of materiality, digitalization and education
Empirical work
Transformation of pedagogical orders through the digital
Educational media research
Publications
Monographs & Anthologies
Dindas, Henrik; Giercke-Ungermann, Annett; Wunder, Maik (Eds.) (forthcoming) “The Power of Grades? Grading Cultures in Social Work and Social Pedagogy Studies.” Weinheim: Beltz-Juventa.
Wunder, Maik (forthcoming): Textbook on Digitalization and Society. Cologne: UTB.
Bettinger, Patrick; Farrenberg, Domink; Wunder, Maik (eds.) (2026): Posthumanism—Pedagogical Connections and Critical Potential. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
Wunder, Maik; Giercke-Ungermann, Annett (Eds.) (2025): Digitalization of Higher Education in Social Work. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.
Farrenberg, Dominik; Hahmann, Julia; Hunner-Kreisel, Christine; Schierz, Sascha; Wunder, Maik (forthcoming): Sense, Meaning, and Understanding: An Introduction to Social, Epistemological, and Scientific Theoretical Perspectives for Pedagogy and Social Work. Opladen: Barbara Budrich.
Leineweber, Christian; Waldmann, Maximilian; Wunder, Maik (eds.) (2023): Materiality – Digitalization – Education. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt.
Wunder, Maik (ed.) (2021): Digitalization and Social Work. Transformations—Persistences—Challenges. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt.
Wunder, Maik (2018): Discursive Practices of Legitimation and Delegitimation of Digital Educational Media—A Discourse Analysis. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt.
Series Editors
Wunder, Maik, in collaboration with Botzum, Edeltraut; Kappler, Karolin; Lehmann, Robert; Ley, Thomas; Unger, Alexander; Witzel, Mark. (Eds.): Digitalization and Digitality in Social Work. Nomos: Baden-Baden.
Journal Articles
Wunder, Maik (2025): Digitalization and Society. Martin Leupold in conversation with Prof. Dr. Maik Wunder. In: Weisses Kreuz 100 (1), pp. 6–8.
Baum, Markus; Rennstich, Joachim; Wunder, Maik (2025): The Changing World System in Digital Capitalism and the Future of Education. In: DiMe-Soizial (2), pp. 59–74. doi.org/10.21240/dimesoz/2025/2/54
Wunder, Maik; Berg, Mathias (2024): The Film *Morin*. The Future of Learning Is Already Here. In: *Family Dynamics: Systemic Practice and Research* (4), pp. 328–330. DOI 10.21706/fd-49-4-328
Wunder, Maik (2024): Digitalization as a Hyperobject—Implications for the Social Economy. In: Blättern der Wohlfahrtspflege: German Journal of Social Work (2), pp. 46–48. doi.org/10.5771/0340-8574-2024-2-46
Leineweber, Christian; Wunder, Maik (2021): On the Optimizing Spirit of Digital Education—Remarks on Adaptive Learning Systems as Socio-Technical Structures. In: *Medienpädagogik: Journal of Theory and Practice in Media Education* 42, pp. 22–46. doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/42/2021.03.08.X
Waldmann, Maximilian; Wunder, Maik (2021): It “Recommends Itself”—Sociological Reflections on the Transformation of Relationships of Autonomy through Recommendation Systems in Higher Education. In: Leineweber, Christian; De Witt, Claudia (eds.): Algorithmization and Autonomy in Discourse 1/2020. Hagen, pp. 86–101. doi: 10.18445/20210420-111019-0
Wunder, Maik (2021): Smart Digital Technology: An Educational-Theoretical Reflection on Its Material and Symbolic Operations. In: Leineweber, Christian; de Witt, Claudia (eds.): Digital Transformation in Discourse. Critical Perspectives on Developments and Trends in the Digital Age. Hagen, pp. 1–17. doi.org/10.18445/20210127-102854-0
Wunder, Maik (2020): Discourses and Materiality as Epistemic Sites for Acquiring Orientation Knowledge in Media Education in a Digital World. In: Medienpädagogik: Journal for the Theory and Practice of Media Education 39, pp. 48–69. doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/39/2020.12.04.X
Wunder, Maik (2020): The Right of Things to Have a Say—The Material Turn and Digital Education. In: Journal of Education and Upbringing (BuE) 73 (1), pp. 76–90. doi.org/10.13109/buer.2020.73.1.76
Wunder, Maik (2018): Symmetrical Anthropology as a Key Reflexive Category for the Implementation of Digital Education. In: Journal of International Educational Research and Development Pedagogy (ZEP) 41 (3), pp. 31–35. doi.org/10.31244/zep.2018.03.08
Wunder, Maik (2015): The Culture of Remembrance in Early Greek History in German High School History Textbooks for Secondary Schools in the Prussia/Berlin-Brandenburg Region from the German Empire to the Present. In: Eckert.Beiträge 2015/2. http://repository.gei.de/handle/11428/188
Wunder, Maik (2015): Research Perspectives on a Transforming Educational Media Market in the Context of Media Convergence, with Specific Reference to Traditional Textbook Publishers. In: de Witt, Claudia; Leineweber, Christian; Gloerfeld, Christina; Grüner, Claudia (eds.): Digitization and Media Convergence, pp. 48–76. doi.org/10.18445/20160210-124424-0
Contributions to Anthologies
Wunder, Maik (2026): Digitalization. Actor-Network Theory and Social Work. In: Spetsmann-Kunkel, Martin (ed.): Sociological Foundations for Social Work. An Introduction Based on Selected Social Challenges. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, pp. 83–117.
Farrenberg, Dominik; Wunder, Maik (forthcoming): “Becoming Related in Collectives as an Extension of Formative Communities?” (Post-)Humanist Interventions Against the Strains on Social Bonds. In: Bünger, Carsten; Jergus, Kerstin; Scherrer, Madeleine (eds.): Posthumanism and Critique. Impulses from Educational Theory. Bielefeld: transcirpt.
Wunder, Maik (2026): Real-Humanist Education and Critical Posthumanism. Overlaps—Differences—Exclusions. In: Bettinger, Patrick; Farrenberg, Dominik; Wunder, Maik (eds.): Posthumanism—Pedagogical Connections and Critical Potential. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 88–115.
Bettinger, Patrick; Farrenberg, Dominik; Wunder, Maik (2026): Introduction. In: Ibid. (Eds.) (2026): Posthumanism—Educational Connections and Critical Potential. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, pp. 7–22.
Wunder, Maik; Beranek, Angelika (forthcoming): Digitalization and Sustainability in the Study of Social Work/Social Pedagogy. In: Maurer, Jan-René; Schluchter, Björn (eds.): Digitality and Sustainability in Education. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
Wunder, Maik; Giercke-Ungermann, Annett (2005): Introduction to the Volume. In: Ibid. (Eds.): Digitization of Higher Education in Social Work. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, pp. 9–13.
Wunder, Maik (2025) Revitalization of Polytechnic Education through Virtual Reality and/or Expansion of Materialist Educational Theory? In: Wunder, Maik; Giercke-Ungermann, Annett (eds.): Digitization of Higher Education in Social Work. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, pp. 153–176.
Wunder, Maik (forthcoming) The pedagogically-focused discourse on digitization between euphoria and skepticism as a field of subjectivation for learners. In Höhne, Thomas (ed.): The Field of (Socio)Economic Education: Actors, Discourses, Materials. Weinheim: Beltz-Juventa.
Wunder, Maik (forthcoming): Digitalization and Counseling. In: Berg, Matthias; Sawatzki, Maik (eds.): Handbook of Family Counseling. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Wunder, Maik (2024): Digitalization and Spirituality: Hinge of Power or Gate-less Barrier? A Power-Critical Examination of Meditation Apps. In: Krockauer, Rainer; Junhbauer, Johannes (Eds.): Spirituality and Self-Care. Insights for Social and Health Care Professions. Leverkusen Opladen: Budrich, pp. 88–108.
Wunder, Maik (2024): Heinrich Schliemann—A German National Hero? Representation and Functionalization in German School History Textbooks from the 19th Century to the Present. In: Matthes, Eva; Ott, Christine; Schütze, Sylvia; Wrobel, Dieter (eds.): Continuity and Change in Knowledge in Educational Media. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt, pp. 169–178.
Wunder, Maik, in collaboration with Leineweber, Christian; Waldmann, Maximilian (2023): Materiality, Digitization, Education: Neomaterialist Perspectives. In: Ibid.: Materiality, Digitization, Education. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt, pp. 210–256. DOI: 10.25656/01:26363
Wunder, Maik, in collaboration with Leineweber, Christian; Waldmann, Maximilian (2023): Materiality, Digitization, Education. Introduction to the anthology. In: Ibid.: Materiality-Digitization-Education. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt, pp. 7–10.
Wunder, Maik (2021): Introduction to the Volume. In: Wunder, Maik (ed.): Digitization and Social Work. Transformations—Persistences—Challenges. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt, pp. 9–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.25656/01:23157
Wunder, Maik (2021): Highlights from Theories on Digitalization. Digitalization as a Social, Sociological, and Cultural Theory and Its Potential Relevance for Social Work. In: Wunder, Maik (ed.): Digitalization and Social Work. Transformations – Persistences – Challenges. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt, pp. 31–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.25656/01:23159
Wunder, Maik (2020): Reconfiguring the World Through Migration Maps—Discursive and Material Aspects of a Phenomenon. In: Matthes, Eva; Schütze, Sylvia (eds.): Migration and Educational Media. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt, pp. 290–303.
Wunder, Maik; in collaboration with Jansen, Rainer (2017): School, Textbooks, Racism—Function and Transformation of a Orientational Tool. In Broden, Anne; Hößl, Stefan E.; Meier, Marcus (eds.): Antisemitism, Racism, and Learning from History(ies). Weinheim/Basel: Beltz Juventa, pp. 194–203.
Wunder, Maik (2016): Heterogeneous Paths of (“Self”) Legitimization of Digital Educational Media. In: Matthes, Eva; Schütze, Sylvia (eds.): Educational Media Under Scrutiny. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Kinkhardt, pp. 281–294.
Course Materials
Wunder, Maik, in collaboration with Walgenbach, Katharina; Winnerling, Susanne; ter Jung, Martina; Marten, Eike; Baumann, Christoph; Compes, Natascha; Waldmann, Maximilian; (eds.): Theories of Education, Difference, and Inequality. Hagen Distance Learning University. Course 03817
Wunder, Maik (2018): Niklas Luhmann: Introduction to Systems Theory. In: Walgenbach, Katharina; Winnerling, Susanne; ter Jung, Martina; Marten, Eike; Baumann, Christoph; Compes, Natascha; Waldmann, Maximilian; Wunder, Maik (eds.): Theories of Education, Difference, and Inequality. Hagen Distance Learning University. Course 03817, pp. 34–47.
Wunder, Maik (2018): On the Genesis of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). In: Walgenbach, Katharina; Winnerling, Susanne; ter Jung, Martina; Marten, Eike; Baumann, Christoph; Compes, Natascha; Waldmann, Maximilian; Wunder, Maik (eds.): Theories of Education, Difference, and Inequality. FernUniversität Hagen. Course 03817, pp. 140–154.
Wunder, Maik, in collaboration with Walgenbach, Katharina; Winnerling, Susanne; ter Jung, Martina; Marten, Eike; Compes, Natascha (2017): Education, Difference, and Social Inequalities. FernUniversität Hagen. Course 03812
Wunder, Maik (2017): Systems Theory: Niklas Luhmann. In: Walgenbach, Katharina; Winnerling, Susanne; ter Jung, Martina; Marten, Eike; Compes, Natascha; Wunder, Maik (eds.): Education, Difference, and Social Inequalities. FernUniversität Hagen. Course 03812, pp. 144–158.
Wunder, Maik (2017): Class, Social Status. In: Walgenbach, Katharina; Winnerling, Susanne; ter Jung, Martina; Marten, Eike; Compes, Natascha; Wunder, Maik (eds.): Education, Difference, and Social Inequalities. Hagen Distance Learning University. Course 03812, pp. 21–33.
Wunder, Maik (2016): Culture as a Category of Difference. Reader introduced and compiled by Maik Wunder. FernUniversität Hagen. Courses 03800/03816
Wunder, Maik (2016): Introduction to Critical Migration Studies. Reader introduced and compiled by Maik Wunder. FernUniversität Hagen. Courses 03800/03816
Interviews/Reports/Reviews/Miscellaneous
Reuse, Benedikt (2024): Educational Science Can Be This Diverse. Report on Research Day/Inaugural Lecture at FernUniversität Hagen. Link(Opens in a new tab)
Irrgang, Bernhard (2023): Review of the book: Wunder, Maik (2021): Digitalization and Social Work. Bad Beilbrunn: Julias Klinkhardt. In: social net
Reuse, Benedikt (2023): We Do Not Stand Opposite the World. (Report on the Awarding of the Venia Legendi/Habilitation). Link(Opens in a new tab)
Reuse, Benedikt (2021): New Learning in a Material World. Conference Report: Materiality–Digitalization–Education. Link(Opens in a new tab)
Reuse, Benedikt (2020): Thinking Through Societal Context. Conference Report: Digitalization and Social Work—Transformations, Persistencies, Challenges. Link(Opens in a new tab)
Höhne, Thomas (2020): Review of Wunder, Maik (2018): Discursive Practice of the Legitimization and Delegitimization of Digital Educational Media. In: Journal of Education and Upbringing (BuE) 73 (2), pp. 198–200.
Wunder, Maik (2019): Economics Instead of Pedagogy. Researcher Criticizes Debate on School Digitization. In: *Westfalenpost*, April 16, 2019, No. 90. (Interview) Link(Opens in a new tab)
Wunder, Maik (2019): Neoliberal Ideas in the Digital Classroom? In: FernUni Perspektive. Issue 67, Spring 2019, p. 5. (Research report) Link(Opens in a new tab)
Wunder, Maik (2015): Identity. A scholarly approach. In: Pflugschar Magazine—sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth. 03/2015, p. 9.
Wunder, Maik (2013): New Media in the Empire: What Role Can the Internet in General—and Facebook in Particular—Play in Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Revolutionary Concept? Munich.
Lectures
2025/10 Artificial intelligence in higher education. A critical analysis of position papers of German organizations/institutions regarding the use of generative AI in higher education. Together with Prof. Dr. Henrik Dindas. Lecture IGSBi annual conference. University of Vienna
2025/01 AI and democracy. Panel discussion. VHS Dortmund.
2024/07 Revitalization of polytechnical education through virtual reality and/or expansion of materialistic educational theory? Inaugural lecture on the Day of Research at the University of Hagen.
2024/03 Professorial change?! Digitalization and Higher Education - Curricular Perspectives for the Study of Social Work. Workshop on co-responsibility and co-organization. Cologne.
2024/02 Posthumanism - pedagogical connections and critical potential. Authors' workshop for the publication of the same name. Co-responsibility and co-organization. Aachen.
2023/11 Digitalization - educational media - subjectivation. Lecture Workshop on the DFG project: Educational Media 4.0 - Economic Education in the Context of Digitalization and New Educational Markets, Helmudt Schmidt University Hamburg
2023/11 Digitalization in child and youth welfare (together with Karen Henshen) Workshop: Barcamp: Digitization of the social and health care system. City/City Region Aachen
2023/10 Chat GPT and/or the return to sophistical education? Lecture Annual Conference IGSBi Educational Media for Adults University of Gdansk (Poland)
2023/04 Digitization in counseling - glimpses into possible futures. Lecture Conference on Counseling Research of the EFL Counseling Centers Diocese of Freiburg
2022/11 Potentials and risks of digital dating apps in youth welfare in the context of working with LGBTQ+ young people. Center for Social Work Burtscheid (Workshop)
2022/10 Heinrich Schliemann - a German national hero? Representation and Functionalization in School History Books from 1871 to the Present. Lecture at the annual conference IGSBi Continuity and change of knowledge in educational media. Würzburg
2022/06 Digital support for the assessment of child endangerment - potentials and pitfalls. Workshop Summer School Katho NRW
2022/04 Hyperobject digitization: Opening lecture symposium digitization of youth welfare. Katho NRW
2021/02 Materiality - Digitalization - Education. Conference co-responsibility and co-organization. Distance learning university in Hagen
2020/10 Digitalization and Social Work - Transformations, Persistence and Challenges. Conference responsibility and organization. Open University in Hagen
2020/05 Materialization, quasi-objects ¬, border-crossing apparatuses - three perspectives on the material constitution of educational media. Workshop Georg Eckert Institute - Leibniz Institute for International Textbook Research (Corona-related absence)
(Re-)configuring the world through migration maps in history books in the Nazi state. Lecture at the annual conference IGSBi Migration and Educational Media. Chur (Switzerland)
2019/03 Discourses and materiality as epistemic sites for the acquisition of orientation knowledge in media education. Presentation DGfE Spring Conference Section Media Education Paderborn
2019/01 Paidagógs digitalis on the test bench. Public guest lecture University of Hamburg
2018/12 Experience society, experience rationality, experience market and "the" experiential education - On the architecture of a figuration. As part of the further training for experiential educators at the Institute for Experiential Education Kassel
2018/06 Workshop: QDA Software as a Phenomenotechnique in the Digital Humanities - As part of the event: Biography and History. Introduction to the research field and methods of the Digital Humanities. Institute for History and Biography FernUniversität Hagen
2017/05 Discursive and non-discursive legitimation patterns of the digital - hybrid domination or pedagogical primacy? Public guest lecture University of Hamburg Research Workshop School and Capital: On the pedagogical problems of online teaching materials- Prof. Dr. Ingrid Lohmann/Prof. Dr. Andrea Liesner
2016/09 The antagonism between Orient and Occident as an integral part of the culture of remembrance of the early days of Europe in German school history textbooks from 1881 to the present. 11th Forum of Young Educational Historians. Conference of the DGfE's Section for Historical Educational Research. Berlin
2016/05 The 'Other': Discourses on difference in figuration with group-focused misanthropy. As part of the lecture series: "Wissenschaftliche Veranstaltungsreihe zur Flüchtlingskrise" FernUni Hagen
2015/10 The mBook NRW as a self-legitimizing actor? - Discussion from an ANT perspective. Annual conference of the IGSBI Bildungsmedien auf dem Prüfstand: Authorization, prohibition, legitimization and delegitimization. Ichenhausen
2015/05 School-textbook-racism. Together with Dr. Rainer Jansen. Conference of the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation: Anti-Semitism, Racism and Learning from History(ies). Cologne
Teaching
Teaching in WS 25/26
W 04.1 Introduction to sociological thinking
W 04.3 (Digital) capitalism. Genesis, effects, developments and resistance
W 04.3 Digitalization and society
W06.1.B Culture of consciousness in a digitalized society
W09: Practical seminar
W10.3 Technology-media-power in the context of remembrance culture (3-day excursion to the Wewelsburg Castle memorial)
W10.3 News from Silicon Valley: Robotics, AI, VR, etc. - Reflections on the philosophy and sociology of technology
W13.1 Thesis seminar
Teaching in summer semester 26
I will not be offering any courses or supervising theses in the summer semester 2026 as I am on parental leave