SOCIETY & ”INDUSTRY 4.0”
Approaches to support learning in today´s workplace
- 1 IAT, Westfälische Hochschule Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Abstract
Workplace learning supports acquiring knowledge and practical skills also to use up-to-date equipment by formal or informal methods and means and occurs mostly in the workplace. It contributes to learning of employees, employers and the organization as a whole.
As a response to COVID-19 disease, workplace learning had to be changed. Companies need to consider Industry 4.0 to stay competitive in the market. Among the challenges regarding the transformation towards Industry 4.0 are requirements to re-skill the staff for the new work environment by using digital technologies. The staff has to adapt to the workplace transformation brought by digitalization, automation and robotic. So, learning at the workplace should be changed supporting cost-effective delivery modes, easy to access leaning resources, and flexible learning environments. This paper aims to present first some existing forms, benefits and requirements of workplace learning as well as factors that are impacting the workplace and can support to drive a new approach to workplace learning. Second, some learn ing methods
like interdisciplinary experiential ones, reflection as well lifelong learning (LLL) supported by digital technologies are proposed which can be applied within workplace learning.
Results about existing approaches in published papers, including the author ones, as well as of projects in this field have been used.
Recherche has been done by the Study Group Lifelong Learning of the IAT, coordinated by the author. Finally, the methods described in this paper for workplace learning have been tested within an Erasmus+ project with participation of the author. The results should help managers, education responsible, employees to rethink their whole approach to workplace learning: the culture, tools, methods by adopting a new, modern understanding of what it means to learn at work by using digital technologies. The results should be tested also within other projects because due to changed situation during the Covid-19 and after it not all proposed approaches have been applied in optimal conditions. The factors driving workplace learning and the combination of described learning forms described in the paper have not been applied in this form until now.
Keywords
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