BeDaLA Betriebliche Datenkompetenz als Lehrkonzept

Background
The relevance of digital transformation and, in particular, data-driven technologies for corporate decision-making processes often remains unrecognised or underestimated in SMEs. This is usually due to the lack of in-house skills that we describe as “data intelligence”. The new generation of employees, i.e. the generation of “digital natives”, who use their digital skills on a daily basis in their private lives but are not taught how these skills can also be put to use in their professional careers, would be the driving force for the digital transformation of SMEs. However, this requires groundbreaking teaching as early as the vocational training stage. Since the digital transformation which has now also entered the field of vision of companies, with the emergence of ChatGPT and Open AI and the associated challenges of AI for society and industry, does not only affect IT education: data intelligence should be a cross-cutting topic in the training in all vocational sectors. The project has provided insight and encouraged preparedness for change through workshops and pilot projects. A high-level reason for this project was to familiarise the partners with the Erasmus+ programme and gain experience in transnational collaboration.

Implementation
In two workshops, one in Leipzig and one in Zarautz in the Basque Country, Basque, Italian and German vocational school teachers and trainers were introduced to the topic of data-driven technologies and their relevance for companies and thus also for vocational training. With the participants, we discussed the question of how this topic can be introduced into teaching and in-company training in a meaningful and appealing way. Based on the Basque partner’s experience with the challenge-based learning method, we then developed three pilot projects that were carried out in Zarautz and Leipzig.