E-learning in education and training

During their training, aspiring road construction foremen no longer need their hands only for operating machines or handling picks and shovels: At the Sursee campus - probably the largest central training center for aspiring construction specialists in Switzerland - they log onto the Konvink e-learning platform on laptops and complete individual learning sequences there. In addition, they check their training units there and test the knowledge they have acquired themselves straight away. The learners then decide for themselves whether they are sufficiently prepared for the final examination. They must therefore play an active role in the acquisition of knowledge and skills, since it is no longer the teacher who lectures. Instead, the teacher increasingly acts as a learning coach.

Learning with personal responsibility

The polierschool located at the Sursee campus thus focuses on self-organized learning. The entire concept still bears a high practical relevance. "The modules are structured even more comprehensively according to work activities, which promotes the networking of different subjects," writes Campus Sursee in this regard. The modern form of teaching of blended learning is not trivial: Since the students determine their own learning pace, a high degree of self-responsibility is required of them. The learning platform is available 24 hours a day. In principle, students could continue to cram in the middle of the night - the infrastructure of the campus with its restaurant and hotel facilities makes this quite possible.

"What we are doing here is contemporary and prepares our students for the digital future," says Adrian Häfeli, head of training for the construction site cadre, as he presents his learning platform. In the future, holistic skills will be needed to keep up with the rapid pace at which the foreman's job description is moving. Knowledge becomes a consolation prize when the methodological and soft skills to apply and implement that knowledge are lacking. "Our model better equips learners for the modern working world because they become more independent, reliable and proactive," says Häfeli.

Positive conclusion

The Sursee Campus has taken a decisive step into the future with the e-learning platform Konvink. The first modules were set up in 2017. As of August 2018, the new form of teaching will also be used in the areas of structural engineering, civil engineering and construction separation. Other schools and education-related organizations are also increasingly interested in the training courses developed by Campus Sursee, according to reports. And the support of the industry is also guaranteed: "I was amazed at how well blended learning was accepted even by those construction workers who until now had little or nothing to do with computers," says Matthias Forster, managing director of Infra Suisse, the industry organization of companies active in infrastructure construction. "However, one must be aware that with this development, the demands on the reading and language skills of the trainees are also increasing. That's something to keep in mind."

Other schools should follow suit

Marc Aurel Hunziker, Vice Director and Head of Vocational Training at the Swiss Association of Master Builders, points out a circumstance that should not be underestimated: "Blended learning requires the learner to pay a lot of attention to his or her own learning process and the teacher to be particularly attentive to the diverse needs of the learners. If attentiveness and mindfulness meet, this is an optimal prerequisite for the desired learning and teaching success." Methods such as blended learning are therefore no guarantee that teaching and learning will now be easier for everyone. Experience shows, for example, that students who were used to rigid frontal instruction in their previous education still have difficulty with the required self-organization.

More information: Campus Sursee