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Skills development

With the advent of Industry 4.0 in both industry and crafts, the requirements companies have for their employees have changed. Intelligent machines require well-educated employees who possess strong and responsible action competencies. This raises the question of what this development means for educational and training institutions tasked with further educating existing employees and training future skilled workers.

Competencies

Key competencies as a cornerstone of success – even in digital transformation, the human element remains at the core.

Employees equipped with the following five core competencies are ideally prepared for future challenges and their professional success:

  • Critical thinking and problem solving: Self-reflection and looking at issues from different perspectives to be able to approach new approaches and find their way in complex and fast-changing situations in a self-organized way.
  • Collaboration: Interdisciplinary collaboration to successfully implement tasks in teams and make targeted use of a broad spectrum of knowledge.
  • Communication: Important for mutual knowledge exchange through well-maintained and functioning networks, both analog and digital.
  • Creativity: A very important building block for problem-oriented action and for finding solutions and ideas.
  • Process competence: A key competence especially for technical education and training! Because when technical systems and technologies become more and more complex and intransparent, it will be essential in the future that employees understand and master the process behind them.

Learning locations, forms of learning and time models

Digital transformation introduces mobile learning locations, modular learning spaces, and innovative learning forms. While traditional formal learning remains, the focus is increasingly shifting towards individual, self-organized learning approaches, supported by digital systems. In practice, this means moving away from uniform, theoretically taught content in lecture-based instruction towards personal learning objectives achieved through self-organized, interdisciplinary learning, group work, or process-oriented learning. The assignment of learning content and the verification of learning success can be facilitated through specially developed learning platforms.

What will practical learning look like in the future?

Technology and hands-on exercises will remain essential for technical vocational training, but changes are on the horizon here as well. On one hand, special simulation software packages allow for the preparation and testing of tasks even in the theoretical phase. On the other hand, individual learning objectives will lead to flexible scheduling models and new requirements for the design of spaces and learning locations.

Our Learning room concepts

Forms of learning

  • Formal learning: The systematic and organized delivery of specified learning content and learning objectives. A concrete learning goal is targeted, the learning process is consistently aligned to it and the result can be controlled.In formal learning, the learning situations are mainly shaped by a professionally pre-trained person. Learning takes place in an institutional space and is cognitive in nature.
  • Informal learning: Here, the focus is on the holistic approach to learning. In informal learning, the learned knowledge is continuously restructured, thus the learning outcome is created through the learning process with the participation of both the learner and the teacher. The learning situations are mostly authentic problems and tasks. Informal learning is not tied to institutional settings, but can be entirely individual and unplanned.
  • Non-formal learning: Non-formal learning refers to all learning processes that take place outside of education and training. In-house continuing education or structured online learning or courses through civil society organizations are among them.There is no official qualification, but learning outcomes are defined as knowledge, skills or competencies.

Time models

New learning environments and methods require both learners and educators to significantly enhance their ability for self-organized time management.

In future work models, employees will face a range of time-related challenges that were previously non-existent. As such, time management in teaching and learning contexts becomes an essential component of forward-looking education. Learners must acquire the skills to independently organize and coordinate their learning processes, locations, and times, which increasingly encroach upon what used to be leisure time. To effectively implement self-regulation of time, it is crucial for learners to understand the importance of good time management. This not only varies with personal expectations and future visions but also demands a high level of discipline and self-management to consistently execute planned actions.