Passionate Educator Enters (Un)Retirement

Ralf Lankau, a native of Lübeck, has come a long way—not only from the “Marzipan City” on the Baltic Sea to the “City of Freedom,” Offenburg, on the Kinzig River, and not only in terms of sports, whether cycling or walking, but also professionally. He studied Classical Philology and Art History, German Language and Literature, and Cultural Anthropology. In 1985, at the age of 24, he began teaching design techniques using both analog and digital methods. In 2002, he finally joined Hochschule Offenburg as a professor of media design, graphic design, print layout, screen and web design, and the design of interactive processes. Until the end, his research focus was on media design and media production using EU GDPR-compliant open-source programs, media education, and media ethics. In addition, he earned his doctorate in 2014 at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Otfried Schütz on the topic “Design as a Form of Knowledge.”

At Hochschule Offenburg, Ralf Lankau played a key role in establishing the mgp design program and served for a time as chair of the examination board. He founded the university’s grafik.werkstatt and led this space for interdisciplinary collaboration on joint media and cultural projects. In addition, as the author of textbooks and teaching materials on digital, graphic, and web design, as well as design instruction using both analog and digital techniques, he organized numerous professional events at the University. As a member of the Association of German Scholars, the board of the Society for Education and Knowledge, and the initiator and founding member of the “Alliance for Humane Education,” he repeatedly succeeded in bringing numerous renowned experts to Offenburg. This passionate educator was also actively involved outside the University. For example, he taught intuitive drawing at the Offenburg Art School and, together with his students, designed a logo for a school in the region. Through his research projects “futur iii: Digital Technology Between the Promise of Freedom and Total Surveillance” (https://futur-iii.de) and “The Pedagogical Turn” (https://https://die-pädagogische-wende.de/), he made a name for himself as a critic of the premature use of digital devices and screen-based media in daycare centers and schools.

And so Ralf Lankau bid farewell as he entered his (un)retirement, which began on September 1, with a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to become more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” True to this motto, he will now devote his time as a volunteer to promoting reading among children and young people and to developing alternative approaches to digital literacy.