Artificial intelligence and co.: How we are improving further education in OWL
East Westphalia-Lippe needs well-trained skilled workers. As an extensive region, demographic change poses particular challenges for OWL. As a result, the best possible training of local workers and skilled workers is of great importance. On August 28, around 80 experts discussed what the future of further training could look like in concrete terms and what solutions from the region could contribute to this at the further training dialog at the Phoenix Contact Training Center in Schieder-Schwalenberg. The event was organized by OstWestfalenLippe GmbH together with the project consortium Weiterbildung 4.OWL, the Kompetenzzentrum Arbeitswelt.Plus, the Fraunhofer IEM, the leading-edge cluster it’s OWL, the district of Lippe and the OWL regional agency.
According to data from the Federal Employment Agency, 20,000 vacancies are currently unfilled in East Westphalia-Lippe, and every second company is unable to find suitable applicants for vacancies. Forecasts also look less than optimistic – the shortage of skilled workers is threatening the region’s competitiveness. This makes the development of further training all the more important. Skilled workers, who are rooted in the six districts and the city of Bielefeld, should develop their potential as fully as possible. Digitalization enables completely new learning opportunities that allow for individually tailored educational careers. Some digital design options were presented on Wednesday at the annual Continuing Education Dialogue 4.OWL: “Lifelong learning is a key factor in ensuring the competitiveness of SMEs in OWL and having enough skilled workers for the future. There are many innovative projects in OWL that are developing important building blocks to improve further training and refine the matching between supply and demand,” summarizes Wolfgang Marquardt, authorized signatory of OstWestfalenLippe GmbH.
Regional training platform combines supply and demand
One example of such a building block is the Next Learning Hub OWL, which was developed in the Weiterbildung 4.OWL project under the coordination of OstWestfalenLippe GmbH(www.next-learning-owl.de). Participants were able to try out one element of the regional further education platform, the Next Learning Creator, for themselves in a workshop. One of the first users was the University of Paderborn. Prof. Dr. René Fahr, Vice President for Knowledge and Technology Transfer, explained the background in a presentation: “In the face of the challenges of the double transformation, the basic knowledge from the region’s universities is all the more important. We therefore need tools to transfer this knowledge quickly to companies. The Next Learning Hub OWL makes an important contribution here.”
In addition to the technical requirements, a structured transfer of knowledge is also needed within the company – this is the only way to ensure that the required learning content reaches the right recipients.
Insight into further training at Phoenix Contact
Arne Lütkehaus, Director Learning and Development at the host company Phoenix Contact, presented what such a structure can look like in a globally active company. The company pursues a triad of globally standardized further training, local (sales) training and courses specifically geared towards the business units. The core is a learning management system in which the current learning status can also be determined through reporting. Despite its global orientation, the home region of East Westphalia-Lippe is of particular importance to Phoenix Contact, explains Arne Lütkehaus: “Ultimately, learning always takes place between people. That’s why we are also regionally involved when it comes to exchanging ideas on certain challenges and support further training in Ostwestfalen-Lippe. At the same time, it is also a social responsibility to positively shape the attractiveness of the region. A well-positioned further education ecosystem can help with this.”
Artificial intelligence is an important topic for further training
For Phoenix Contact, the use and teaching of artificial intelligence – a technology whose introduction often requires special support – is increasingly a topic in the curriculum: “We have found that it is not enough to just look at the technology,” reports Salome Leßmann from the Arbeitswelt.Plus competence center, which deals with the further development of the working world through AI. “The effects on processes and structures are important, as are the effects on employees. We therefore recommend involving the workforce at every step.” How this can look in concrete terms and what reservations and challenges need to be resolved was the topic of another workshop held by the Competence Center at the Training Dialogue 4.OWL with many interested participants. The Continuing Education 4.OWL project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The continuing education dialog 4.OWL is also part of the solutions event series. Further information and events can be found at www.solutions-owl.de.
