Print version Recommend this page Press release
21/ 2005
Bonn, 19.05.2005
Recognising the potential of IT - and using it for the transfer of knowledge and technology in vocational education and training!
How can the quality of initial and continuing vocational education and training be assured and promoted by the deployment and use of PC and network supported media and technology (e-learning)? The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), which is considering this question in various research projects, is now presenting selected results of its investigations in several publications. The general conclusion of the research work is that the new media and technologies offer diverse possibilities for the promotion of transfer of knowledge and technology in vocational education and training, but that this potential is not yet sufficiently exploited in practice. The deployment and use of central elements of e-learning, including network supported learning infrastructures, online communities and manufacturer information is in its infancy in vocational education and training!
How can these IT supported teaching and learning arrangements be integrated into vocational education and training and what effect can they have?
- Network supported learning infrastructures can serve as a virtual information, communication and learning tool for the whole of an occupational field. They are established on a learning platform / server and contain specialist and target group specific information, instructions and learning content which can be interlinked. Network supported learning infrastructures make it possible to access information required from a variety of places of learning (vocational school, inter-company training institutions, companies etc.), enabling training to be supported systematically through media, current problems to be solved or any issues arising to be clarified.
One example of a network supported learning infrastructure is the Elkonet skills network in the electrical engineering and information technology branch, a learning infrastructure for electrical craft occupations. With the support of the BIBB, Elkonet is being established and further developed by several training institutions and is available online under http://www.elkonet.de/ or http://ueba.elkonet.de/
What role virtual learning infrastructures can play within the framework of initial and continuing vocational education and training was the theme of a workshop jointly held by the BIBB and the operators of Elkonet. One result of the event was that in branches where processes and technologies are planned and implemented in a computer and network supported way and the deployment of information and communication technologies, up to and including the digital factory, is more marked, such as, for example in the chemical industry, engineering, the automotive industry, but also in innovative craft trades companies, such as in electrical engineering, information technology and buildings systems technology, the realisation of process integrated learning infrastructures will be possible (and necessary), enabling process planning and process control to be linked to learning infrastructures.
Documentation relating to the workshop has been published online by the BIBB and is available under http://www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/Workshop-Zinke-gesamtdokument.pdf - Online communities can develop from learning infrastructures when these give rise to the need for occupation related or inter-occupational communication with others. Informal groups of people or networks with common interests wishing to exchange information about specific questions or to solve problems can establish contact with one another and swap knowledge and experiences, thus learning from each other. The guiding principle of online communities is give and take.
An online survey on the use of occupation related online communities conducted by the BIBB confirms that this principle is accepted by the participants and used for the communication of know-how. Questions are asked and answered, suggestions are exchanged and assistance is given for the solution of current problems. The result of the survey is, however, that first and foremost communities are dependent on the initiative, motivation and work situation of their users, companies only rarely using them as a instrument to transfer knowledge.
The results of the online survey are available online under http://www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/Magdeburg-zinke1.pdf
In order to promote and support the use of online communities within the framework of initial and continuing vocational education and training, the BIBB had developed check lists and organisational recommendations for the planning of their use in practice - available online under www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/
a32_org_materialien_checklisten_online_communities.pdf - Manufacturer information can be linked to network supported learning infrastructure in order to complete them. Investigations as to the extent of order-related informal e-learning in crafts companies and in small and medium-sized companies with network supported information, instruction and qualification services show that these services are often used during the normal working day. Informal e-learning with manufacturer's software, servers and communities has already become part of modern order-related and specialised work, especially in building process control technology and engineering (see the aforementioned workshop documentation mentioned).
"New media in use. Practical examples in vocational education and training" is a current BIBB publication documenting the multitude of possibilities of use for new media in vocational education and training. Eight good practice examples are presented, going from "virtual learning scenarios" via "e-planning games" all the way to "advancement online", which illustrate new forms of learning in practical vocational education and training with the intention of encouraging their wider use.
"New media in use. Practical examples in vocational education and training", edited by Anke Bahl and Gert Zinke; available at the price of € 24.90 from W. Bertelsmann Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Postfach 10 06 33, 33506 Bielefeld, Tel. 05 21/9 11 01-11, Fax: 05 21/9 11 01-19, e-mail: service@wbv.de
For "new media" information from the BIBB, please contact:
- on the theme "e-Learning and trainer promotion":
Anke Bahl, Tel.:0228/107-1407, E-Mail: bahl@bibb.de - on the theme "Learning infrastructures, online communities":
Angela Fogolin, Tel.:0228/107-1427, E-Mail: fogolin@bibb.de
Gert Zinke, Tel.:0228/107-1429, E-Mail: zinke@bibb.de - on the themes "manufacturer information, informal e-learning":
Klaus Hahne, Tel.:0228/107-1422, E-Mail: hahne@bibb.de
