AZUKIT

Digitization in training for environmental professions

Innovation and digitalization in vocational education and training are crucial to increasing the attractiveness and quality of training programs. This is particularly true for training programs for “environmental technologists for wastewater management.” Given the shortage of skilled workers in Germany and the low number of training completions, digital innovations can help attract young people to training and improve the quality of learning.

The AZUKIT project: Digital learning environment for wastewater technology specialists

As part of the InnoVET PLUS project AZUKIT, coordinated by inter 3, research is being conducted into how a digital, learning-friendly environment can increase the attractiveness of training. The development and integration of digital learning media and their linking to an intelligent tutorial system (AI tutor) will create an adaptable digital learning environment. The AI tutor will relate the theoretical parts of the training to practical situations by evaluating the trainees' responses to authentic professional performance situations and adaptively asking follow-up questions and making recommendations. In this way, trainees are specifically made aware of their knowledge gaps and at the same time receive relevant, didactically appropriate learning materials to close these gaps.

Benefits for trainees

The digital learning environment offers trainees personalized and flexible support by identifying individual learning needs and providing tailored content. This not only promotes the linking of theoretical knowledge with practical applications, but also enables mobile learning that is accessible anytime, anywhere. The AI tutor provides trainees with immediate and constructive feedback, helping them to better track their progress and learn in a targeted manner.

Benefits for trainers and training centers

Trainers and training centers will also benefit from the use of digital tools. They will have access to comprehensive knowledge resources and will be able to accurately evaluate the learning progress of trainees using learning analytics. This will allow learning processes to be customized and made more efficient. At the same time, the system bridges the gap between theoretical and practical training content, especially in the case of training units that are separated in terms of time or location.

The AZUKIT project is represented by four partners, each of whom contributes their technical expertise to the project. inter 3 is responsible for project management and coordinates the media-supported development of the learning environment. The ultimate goal is to transfer the results of the project to other environmental technology professions. The project is funded as part of the InnoVET program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to increase the attractiveness and quality of vocational training in Germany.