The future of digital learning

Attractive learning solutions not only for lockdown periods

Digitalization influences all areas of life. Not only the working environment is changing fundamentally, but also the way people learn. Learning trends such as mobile learning, micro learning, gamification, adaptive learning and virtual reality are also shaping technical education and training. For this reason, Festo Didactic has developed a digital learning portal; the Festo Learning Experience, in order to be prepared for the future of learning and to create individual learning experiences for teachers and learners.

Lifelong learning

New technologies change jobs and bring challenges for employees and managers. “In the future, it will no longer be possible to make it through one’s entire career just by graduating today. We all need to continually improve our qualifications and learn new things,” says Dr Ute Gebhard, Head of the Digital Learning and Training department at Festo Didactic. She is convinced that lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important today. Employees must, therefore, be prepared for a constantly changing environment. “Specialist knowledge becomes obsolete ever more quickly, which means that methodological competence in the sense of implementation and transfer skills is becoming increasingly important for everyday work,” says Stefan Dietl, Head of Training at Festo. For this reason, technical training and further education is subject to enormous change.

Learning trends in basic and advanced training

The learning units are very short and have a clearly defined learning goal. In addition, they can be grasped quickly and can be put together in modules. The advantage: You can pick up each learner exactly where he or she is standing right now. This makes learning much more individual. The flexibility of learning increases. Also, by means of the commonly known mobile learning, where smartphones or tablets are used for learning – regardless of time and place.

Furthermore, virtual reality and augmented reality are formats that are becoming increasingly important.

Through virtual reality, the learner with VR glasses dives into a virtual learning world. Augmented Reality fades in information into the real environment, for example by scanning a QR code with a smartphone or tablet.

The right mix: the combination of hands-on training and online learning

Digital formats will not replace presence formats. The combination of both formats is essential. “In the future, too, learning with all the senses, including the haptic impression, for example, will ensure sustained learning success,” explains Regber. The combination of hands-on training and online content allows the full learning potential to unfold optimally.

Festo LX – the digital learning portal for individual learning experiences

Festo LX – Festo Learning Experience – was developed to meet the growing demand for more individualization options in learning. The learning portal provides didactic learning resources for various technical training professions in small nuggets which can be individually assembled into courses and entire learning paths. The trend towards micro learning is also taken into account by the small learning nuggets. Available online, independent of time and place, Festo LX fits in with the information behavior of today’s generation of trainees, who spend a lot of time on smartphones or tablets.

The learning portal also proves to be particularly practical in terms of new possibilities in the field of Connected Learning. A search function finds all suitable online courses for the Festo Didactic learning systems available on site.

Learn more about the new learning portal Festo LX

“In the future, learning nuggets will also enable adaptive learning, which means that learning methods are individually adapted to the learning progress and learning type of the individual,” says training expert Regber. This creates competence-oriented adaptive learning paths that can be adapted to the learner’s prior knowledge. In addition, these learning paths will take into account which didactic media the learner prefers.

Please don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Philipp Melzer, Product Manager Festo LX, phone: +49 (0)711-3467-1580, email: philipp.melzer@festo.com in case of questions

Article submitted by

Maren Gülck
Festo Didactic SE
Germany