Content

Abstract

Interdisciplinary work processes are becoming more and more important against the backdrop of the digital transformation. An understanding of the entire process chain in companies as well as a mutual understanding of basic knowledge for technical or commercial requirements are becoming increasingly important. Overall interdisciplinary work have become a prerequisite for innovative business development for companies. Accordingly, skilled workers of the future must be prepared for these changing requirements. For VET this has the consequence of developing teaching sequences that prepare students to be able to cooperate together esp. at the interface between different industrial-technical and commercial areas, because mutual understanding of each other in the work process became more and more important. In order to that fact the INTENT project has developed 3 exemplary modules for interdisciplinary teaching and training as well as an Escape Room with digital tools and methodes ready for use in interdisciplinary cooperation.INTENT 4.0 was a stategic partnership Erasmus + project in Vocational Education and Training for innovation started in 2019 until 2022. The acronym INTENT stands for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Training in der Working World 4.0.

One of the main goals of the project was to contribute to the increasingly important topic of interdisciplinary cooperation in the world of work. Cooperation and interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as viewing the entire value chain as one unit, is becoming increasingly important against the background of digitalisation and Working World 4.0. At the same time, the topic is still underrepresented at vocational schools throughout Europe. There is hardly any interdisciplinary cooperation, especially between technical and commercial professions. At the same time, teachers and trainers in particular need to be prepared for the importance of the topic. For this reason, the aim of the project was to make concrete offers for the further development of the topic. At the same time, one aim was to enable the participants in the project to understand the importance of the topic and to develop their own modes of interdisciplinary cooperation. Another goal was to prepare the project results in such a way that they can be used as examples in the classroom or make an important contribution to independently planning and implementing interdisciplinary work processes.

As one output of the INTENT-project we valued digital tools for practical use by vocational teachers. Project partners exchanged ideas from own pedagogical work and presented digital tools which have been implemented in their own teaching. The presented tools can be easily integrated to a teaching process and give ideas for the use as they are presented together with methodological notes. For each tool, the advantages and disadvantages of its use in the classroom were described. In addition, our own experiences in using the tools and methods are given and finally the benefits for interdisciplinary cooperation are explained.
An additional output of the project was an introductury module that can be used in teaching-training sessions to make people from different professions aquainted with each other. Therefore the project developed an Escape Room. The challenge was to solve a problem in cooperation with each other. The Escape Room can be used as an introductury session to motivate different people to work together and can be modified and adapted to individual needs.
Main output have been three different teaching-training sessions that can be used for interdisciplinary teaching and training. The modules can be used independently of each other. They are oriented towards a common supply chain. The first module was a module along the supply chain including ERP System and Production (3D Print). This learning setting was developed and executed in cooperation between two German colleges and a chamber of commerce and industry in the Chech Republic.. The focus is on the interdisciplinary cooperation between commercial and technical VET. With the help of the second module, professional disciplines can be integrated that deal with the marketing and design of a "new" product. The third module offers an introduction to the value chain, describing the concept and its elements and explaining how digital technologies are affecting the different activities involved. It provides with real cases of the application of these technologies specifically in logistics and includes a self-evaluation activity for students and a practical activity to be carried out by learners working in teams, with the facilitation and assessment of a teacher/trainer.
Additional outcomes were own learning modules that were created on the basis of the project results at the Summer School. A total of 3 interdisciplinary learning modules were developed here. Further collaborations have emerged from the work of the Summer School.
In addition, alternative product options that lend themselves to cooperation on the technical side were also made available.
Above all, however, the methodological approach to the development of interdisciplinary learning units, the understanding of process learning and the understanding of the future significance of interdisciplinary learning can be mentioned as additional outputs.