Project conclusion – Innovative Training Solutions for Learning at Work

How does informal learning at the workplace work? A SFUVET study by Prof. Dr. Alberto Cattaneo and Francesca Amenduni gathered detailed information about individual informal learning strategies at the workplace in four sectors and on the digital technologies deployed for organised informal learning.

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The survey participants in the STILLLearning international research project came from the automotive sector, the construction industry, tourism and the bio-based economy. They indicated that the opportunity to interact with colleagues and to work independently were the main sources for everyday informal learning processes. The use of digital technologies for knowledge transfer is extremely well suited to organised informal learning. However, it reaches its limits when it comes to reflexive learning where employees themselves believe that such in-depth learning can only take place face-to-face.

The project analysed the need for key competencies in sectors where digitalisation is very advanced, looked at factors which promote learning and continuing education at the workplace and created a freely accessible collection of ideas for innovative forms of learning at the workplace based on workshops on learning eco-systems which are to be taught in public online courses using hypervideos.

The project produced two applications:

  1. The «Idea Bank» is an open online tool for learning current transversal skills at the workplace, such as collaboration and teamwork, active learning, creativity and digital skills for individuals and organisations. The ‘Idea Bank’ also contains suggestions in the form of one-minute video clips on how these skills can be developed in everyday working life. The ‘Idea Bank’ is on www.thinglink.com available;
  2. The hypervideo-based cMOOC is a modular and competence-based online course for planning, teaching and evaluating innovative learning and training solutions at the workplace. The course is aimed at skills developers in disruptive industries and at people working in adult education at VET and higher education institutions.

The research results of the STILLLearning project were published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Psychology - Organisational Psychology in the special issue «Informal Learning Through Work».