Modern Training Approaches in the Industry - Digital Media as Tool

for Work Embedded Learning Environments

- Executive Summary -

National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB):

FORUM 2006
”Transforming Globalization - Opportunities for America´s Workforce

The Renaissance Hotel

Washington, D.C.
February 25 - 28, 2006

Federal Institute for

Vocational Education and Training (BIBB)
Robert Schuman Platz 3
D-53175 Bonn
Infos: www.bibb.de

Contact:
Michael Härtel
Section 3.2
Quality Management, Distance Learning
- Training Personnel -

E Mail:
haertel@bibb.de
Infos:
www.foraus.de
www.af-bibb.de
Modern Training Approaches in the Industry – Digital Media as Tool for Work Embed-
ded Learning Environments
(Michael Härtel, BIBB)

The industrial society of the 21st century is characterized by rapid technological advances which, if
companies and economies are to remain competitive, mean that human knowledge and skills have to
be constantly updated and expanded. Catchwords such as “lifetime learning” and “learning-on-
demand” are proof of a trend towards change in training forms and the associated media and commu-
nication forms. Viewing the process of globalization economic structures and the world of work have
changed sometimes dramatically. Internationally, a radical change from industrial societies to so
called information societies or knowledge societies is to be observed. Ever more workplaces are
equipped with information technology.

Knowledge sharing and related project cooperation in this area is of great significance, because major
areas of industry will be Internet-based due to the growth rates in internet technology in a few years.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offer a fundamental opportunity to allow access to
education and knowledge anywhere on our planet, without place and time restrictions. The internet will
develop into a global library with overpowering influence as an information and knowledge database
for all fields. Access to this database, i.e. provision of the technological prerequisites, the availability of
the necessary infrastructure, and the training of personnel qualified to implement and control specific
knowledge management systems will become strategic resources or, in other words, factors contribut-
ing to added value in all national economies.

New software offers, ever more complex hardware, modern means of communication and an ever
greater supply of information demand a continual adaptation of practised labour processes. Purchas-
ing, production organisation, marketing and sales, in short, the whole of business logistics is changing
visibly and at shorter and shorter intervals. ICT is one of the most powerful motors of these transfor-
mations and has become an almost natural part of modern economic and production processes in the
meantime.

In the end of the day the competitiveness of enterprises (and national economies) in a globalized
world is strongly dependend on a highly skilled workforce which is able to act in flexible work proc-
esses changing from day to day. Vocational education and training has to realize this changing de-
mands an offer solutions for modern and updated training concepts in this respect.

Taking this development into account, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training
(BIBB) is active in various research and development projects in close cooperation with the corporate
sector. Such Public Private Partnerships (PPP) are able to find solutions to face the most challenging
problems of work embedded learning processes: The permanent transfer of information and knowl-
edge into practice. Within this the car industry - one of the backbones of Germany`s economy - plays

2
an important role in jointly finding innovative approaches for target oriented modern training concepts
which use all devices of ICT as a tool for explorative learning which is integrated in the manufacturing
process.

The realization of these projects has allowed the creation of new opportunities for companies in the
form of new qualifications routes that place a greater emphasis on learning and the possibility of ob-
taining information at the workplace itself. However, a wide range of issues still remain to be ad-
dressed in terms of the actions companies themselves can take to enable them to use the develop-
ments described above to integrate new potential information provision and learning opportunities into
their specific field of work in a targeted way. There is still a general lack of the coherent concepts re-
quired to translate these new (network supported) approaches to information and work into a didactic
framework and thus facilitate the process of conversion to work integrated learning applications. Con-
tent providers have also signed up to this aim, and the sector is introducing its own initiatives and
business models in an attempt to establish a market place for digital media. The intention is to create
broad-based and cross-sector content provision for e-learning that can be used interchangeably and
in endlessly varying new combinations. In the long term, this has the potential to pave the way for
lower cost production of digital media. The Content Forum is a representative example of this devel-
opment within trade and industry - www.contentforum.de.

Against the background of these developments, BIBB is looking into the fundamentals of enabling the
integration of electronic information into a methodological and didactic concept, with the aim of using
this as a basis from which to investigate the learning potential involved. Debate is ongoing as to
whether such electronic information can serve as learning modules for the purpose of (mobile) proc-
ess-related qualification. The course of developments in media and technology based training is open-
ing up opportunities to deploy digital media in the shape of a (mobile) configured information, teaching
and learning infrastructure, particularly with respect to in-company qualifications and service proc-
esses and in the sales sector with its wide variety of service-related aspects.

The challenge here is to provide information systems offering ease of navigation and use, allowing
content to be accessed easily, and featuring learning elements that also contain qualifications compo-
nents. The searchable information, moreover, needs to be presented in the form of the smallest viable
learning units possible (“granulated units”). In the interests of achieving the highest level of flexibility
possible in terms of the reuse of content, it is vital to think in terms of a sub-categorization in small
learning modules which can be dynamically combined to form learning pages or exercises. The granu-
lar format and the structured clarity of availability of learning content represent one of the key prereq-
uisites for the convenient preparation of content for the purposes of media-based training that allows
use in a variety of work process related target formats and application scenarios.

The ever increasing pace of technological change within production processes could ultimately lead to
the decentralization of training, bringing with it new demands with regard to individual learning process
support activities, both for trainers and skilled employees providing training. Within this specific con-

3
text, the promotion of self-directed qualification by means of information and knowledge management
represents a further strategic challenge for trainees.

With the aim in mind of securing the international competitiveness of the vocational education and
training system, BIBB is placing particular emphasis on the development and piloting of terms of ref-
erence that support process oriented learning within the work process itself (a social, organizational
and technological infrastructure). The aim is to use the analysis of company practice planned in con-
junction with this to highlight current trends and develop recommendations for the qualifications stages
of a sustainable system of vocational education and training. Only if it is possible to develop powerful
need and target group-oriented (that is to say for training personnel, trainees and jobholders) interac-
tive user interfaces, it will be possible to deal with the radical changes in the learning and working
worlds which go along with the increasing use ICT.

Therefore the BIBB engages in launching a project initiative which focuses on the use of IT-based
(mobile) learning environments in the manufacturing process, the maintenance (sector) and the ser-
vice (sector) of the car industry. Partners of this initiative shall be enterprises of the car industry, the
Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and Macomb Community College, Michigan. The project
approach is open for additional partners which should be identified during the planning process and
the discussions which take place between the BIBB and representatives of the industry, the AACC
and the Macomb Community College in the very moment.

What`s the Issue?

Today skilled workers in the industry are not only expected to manufacture products of flawless qual-
ity. Given the cost of the production systems which manufacturing workers are responsible for operat-
ing, overseeing and inspecting, these have to be maintained to ensure high production levels at all
times. Possible faults or damage need to be spotted early on, and prevented or corrected as quickly
as possible in order to keep stoppages to a minimum.

The newer equipment is fitted with electronic control and regulation systems and stoppages are rela-
tively rare, but it differs from a mechanical plant in that faults are often impossible to identify directly.
Instead, it is necessary to undertake abstract analytical checks. Skilled workers may not find the fault
simply by inspecting their equipment, but may also have to consult circuit diagrams and drawings in
order to locate the problem. This calls for knowledge and understanding of the abstract symbolic
codes relating to the given equipment. One program command may indicate the machine's problem,
and another program command may be necessary to restore it to working order. In both instances, an
intellectual connection must be made between an abstract command and a mental representation of
the process.

Within this IT-based learning environments (like e-learning or mobile learning) support the delivery of
training successfully if it is integrated into the overall context of initial and continuing education and
training with a view to establishing a holistic and user-centred new approach. As a prerequisite, a stra-

4
tegic concept for teaching and learning must be developed. To ensure coherence, it has to be needs-
driven and matched to workplace demands. Its innovative potential derives from linking workplace
learning with enjoyment and efficiency, with a focus on accomplishing business goals.

Nonetheless, the use of ICT in itself is no guarantee that workplaces will be highly conducive to learn-
ing. An infrastructure must be provided which supports learning processes. On the one hand, informa-
tion systems need to have a (web-) didactic shell if they are to be appropriate for targeted learning:
this may consist of link lists, information on searching, support with the organisation of company news-
groups or other forms of organisational support: for instance, provision can be made for time-slots for
training, or multipliers can be trained to help others with learning problems. On the other hand, the
very openness of the new information media requires independent learners to demonstrate a great
deal of determination and clarity of focus. These, too, can be fostered by making independent learning
skills a learning component in their own right, and by offering simple self-evaluation tools.

The on-going conversion of jobs, for example in the steel industry, in mining or even in the stagnant
construction industry, shows that bucking the trend can only succeed if the workers concerned are
given a fair chance to train further. The challenge is therefore a macroeconomic one to which not only
the employers and trade unions who are affected but also the workers themselves must respond.

Changes are being introduced in weekly and lifetime working hours, and alongside these there are
new employment models which would not have been conceivable without electronic integration and
networking. For example, teams of experts can come together and network on a joint project. Projects
and sub-projects can be carried out by external teleworkers or self-employed persons working from an
office at home or a satellite office. Work is thus becoming independent of time and space. Individual
full-time jobs can also be split up into several part-time jobs with the work being carried out by several
workers on the basis of a time-share scheme. Electronic workplaces can also thus be redesigned as
learning stations, to be used alternately for learning and applying what has been learned.

Creating Information- and Learning Management Environments

With the help of a joint pilot project which took place over a period of several years the BIBB and se-
lected training departments of DaimlerChrysler, Germany, did develop the philosophy of so called
“Learning Islands” which did change to “ProcessLearningWorkshops” (PLWs) during the different im-
plementation stages in the enterprise. This project approach was initiated in order to find answers to
the problems rising from a more and more information and technology based manufacturing process
in the industry like it is described above. How can a skilled workforce face such a permanent changing
world of work? Do there exist methodological and didactic approaches to create an infrastructure
which allows life time learning? What competencies do enterprises need to set up the required techno-
logical, organizational and learning infrastructure for lifetime learning? This where only some of the
most challenging questions which the BIBB and the enterprise did hope to answer while going through
the different project phases.

5
With the development of the PLW -concept one cornerstone for facing above mentioned challenges
was found. PLWs allow the trainee to experience all the major production and process steps of a prod-
uct while passing through the relevant assignment chains. Learning assignments take place in the
associated service sectors logistics, quality assurance, planning and maintenance. At the same time
the trainee can participate in KAIZEN teams or in group work to become familiar with the most impor-
tant new method processes within the factory. .

A PLW is characterised by the following features:

• A network of decentralised learning places directly within the actual production, connecting proc-
esses and content of factory assignments and learning islands;

• The trainer is on location and controls all learning processes for the training phase concerned
together with the trainees;

• The organisation of learning is modelled on the respective process chain of manufacturing and the
service and method processes connected with it;

• Individual and group work assignments in the process chain are carried out according to defined
intervals;

• Process orientation is more important than occupation orientation;

• Understanding of the process develops through constant, intensive process reflection;

• The trainer supports company management in the shaping of transformation processes.

Training the ability of process reflection is the most important element of the PLW. Experience with
factory assignments has shown that learning in various company departments and at various work-
places alone does not lead to an understanding of the procedural interrelations. Only the logical com-
bination of learning and working assignments, in connection with reflection about these assignments,
allows the understanding of the complex interrelations of a production landscape. As a general princi-
ple, trainees in the manufacturing and service process are learning and reflecting based on everyday
situations and the problems arising from them. This happens on the one hand in assignments along
the process chain and, on the other hand, at the various interfaces, like the interfaces with planning or
logistics, or during shift changeovers. Trainees must therefore be gradually familiarised with the fol-
lowing goals of process learning:

• Ability to observe consciously;

• Ability to identify interrelations and dependencies;

• Ability to detect consequences and anticipate effects;

• Ability to distinguish relevant facts from irrelevant ones;

• Ability to analyse situations, to derive implications for one's own actions and to take the appropri-
ate action.

6
These objectives are the core of process reflection and require of the trainer not only extensive
knowledge of processes but also a high degree of sensitivity in the accompaniment of individual and
group-oriented learning processes. The training of trainers therefore is a prerequisite to achieve a
broad acceptance and successful implementation of work embedded digital learning environments .

This leads to a precise training of soft skills to enable explorative learning or self directed learning
which has to take place in the ongoing work flow. Very few examples and pilot projects exist which
demonstrate a successful implementation strategy of this “new information strategy” and “new learn-
ing” in companies. The described joint project approach has the aim to find a binational answer to this
problems which shall provide vocational education and training with a new quality of learning sup-
ported with IT-based learning environments.

Digital Media as a Tool for Self Directed Learning

Most recently, the development of a complex infrastructure on the basis of the development of ICT
and media-oriented applications (multimedia) has moved to the foreground. The dynamic of the tech-
nological transformation process generates a series of problems in addition to numerous positive-
constructive perspectives for the economy and for people. In order to retain their "market value" today
and in future, jobholders must continually update and expand their qualifications, since the half-life of
knowledge is rapidly decreasing.

Lasting employability for the individual and the currently required training need of business can only
be secured in the long-term if both sides understand the continuous adaptation and further develop-
ment of skills as their own responsibility and at the same time as a joint responsibility. In the informa-
tion and knowledge society, learning is therefore to be understood as a continual, lifetime process that
serves to ensure employability.

The integration of technology into learning environments brings together educational methods, con-
tents, services, digital media, the internet, and globally available information networks. As a conse-
quence of globalisation of economies and labour markets, this implies full utilization of international
knowledge as well as its delivery on a global scale. Acquiring knowledge and skills must therefore in
future not be restricted in terms of time to just the “classical training phase” spent at school, at univer-
sity and in companies - for example -, but must take place instead as a lifetime process (learning on
demand and just in time ) of satisfying education and training needs.

Using so called E-Learning environments vocational education and training can make full use of all
available technologies from e-mail to video conferencing and application sharing. More importantly it
will allow for cooperation among learning groups located across the world with a view to sharing and
continually updating educational expertise and experience and what the practical application of this
expertise and experience entails at the workplace. It will allow cooperation among learning groups
located across the world with a view to sharing co-operative learning and projects. It will allow access
to national and international or global (knowledge)-resources. And in the end it will allow international

7
participation on educational know how and can form the basis of international standards of educa-
tional formation.
In addition to technological and organisational questions, questions of an effective promotion of learn-
ing, of didactic and methodological standards of learning software and network supported learning
offers as well as the corresponding learning architecture are moving to the foreground in this connec-
tion. Especially education policy faces a number of further challenges. Out of many here are only
some critical aspects, which need to be clarified:

• How can we make use of the possibilities of the knowledge/information society for the benefit of
everybody, of the society and of the economy?

• What can we do to reduce the gap between those who use ICT for learning and training and those
who have to renounce the use of ICT?

• Do we need new forms of quality management and new criteria for quality standards?

• Which consequences does the use of ICT have for education and training systems?

• Where (in which sectors) and how should the state (public sector) take over an active role?

• Which are the new responsibilities and roles for the stakeholders in guarantee the use of ICT in
education and training?

• What role should the international community play in promoting improved training policies and
their governance?

E-Learning is the result of a technology driven development. The future application of E-Learning,
however, will be determined by media-didactic, organisational and financial criteria. It is necessary to
create terminology and application-related definitions of E-Learning to assist in its planning, introduc-
tion, use and assessment. In certain sections standardisation will be advantageous, for example as a
prerequisite for quality assurance, interoperability of content as well as for mixing and matching con-
tent.

The right planning and organisational embedding as well as the targeted instruction and intensive
accompaniment of the learning process by qualified teaching personnel are of decisive importance.
The quality of E-Learning is certainly determined by the underlying didactic concept and the way it is
planned and implemented by the teaching personnel, even if they perhaps do not interact directly with
the learners during the teaching/learning process.

E-Learning offers greater flexibility with regard to time, place and speed of learning than traditional
circumstances of learning. It is therefore better suited to the increasing importance of lifetime learning.
It supports self-regulated, application oriented and co-operative learning, especially in continuing edu-
cation and training. E-Learning requires a high degree of self-organisation and motivation but also
offers learners a high degree of freedom during the learning process.

8
Training Technology and Digital Media: Background Information on BIBB`s Research and De-
velopment Activities

The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB, www.bibb.de) is nationally and
internationally recognized as a center of expertise for research into and further development of initial
and continuing vocational education and training. The aims of the research and development and
advisory work it carries out center on identifying future tasks of vocational education and training,
promoting innovation at a domestic and international level and developing new practice related train-
ing proposals. BIBB’s knowledge map provides the basis for the Communication and Information Sys-
tem for Vocational Education and Training (KIBB, www.kibb.de), integrating all issues relating to voca-
tional education and training. One of the key roles of BIBB’s work is to increase the efficiency and
attractiveness of vocational education and training through such activities as supporting the develop-
ment and more effective use of interactive, multimedia based forms of teaching and learning.

Recent training technology research conducted by BIBB has very much been driven by e-learning.
The investigation of learning environments and teaching and learning processes and the development
and piloting of e-learning supported learning and media concepts for continuing vocational education
and training are the main focus of the projects and programs that BIBB is currently running, and of
those now at the planning stage. Many of these projects and programs involve collaboration with ex-
ternal cooperation partners. For insight into application-oriented practical examples relating to e-
learning, please visit http://www.ausbilderfoerderung.de/interaktives/infosystem.php3

E-learning enables necessary knowledge to be acquired independently of time and place. E-learning
is an aspect of knowledge transfer and as such represents an essential component of knowledge
management. Knowledge management is much more than the mere establishment of technical terms
of reference. It requires targeted organizational development and the transmission of methodological
skills, and it depends for its lifeblood on the networking and level of involvement on the part of em-
ployees. In the research and development projects it is conducting, BIBB has attempted to address
the consequences associated with these processes in terms of the organization of work and training.
Introducing e-learning into vocational education and training changes the activity and job profiles of
training staff and sets new standards for the qualification of personnel. This has also prompted BIBB
to draw up new forms of employee qualifications and develop alternatives to traditional qualifications
provision by integrating modern ICT technologies. This has led to the creation of the training staff
qualifications portal www.Ausbilderfoerderung.de. In addition to that www.foraus.de is a portal provid-
ing current information relating to initial and continuing vocational education and training.