LAdiB – Learning and Working in the Digital Revolution in the Education Sector

There is a widespread ongoing discussion about the important changes being brought about in the world of business and society in general by new ways of working and learning as well as digitalization processes. But what such working and learning methods – often referred to as New Work and New Learning – look like and how they can be designed have, thus far, not been explicitly defined as a subjects of research, discoursive practice or social debate.

The planned research activities will not focus on the actual practice of teaching or learning, rather the working and learning conditions of those working in the education sector – especially those changes that have come about due to digitalization. The project plan is based around one key research question: How are the structures and content of work and learning changing for employees in the education sector in terms of professional training, adult education and higher education during the digital revolution. The motivation and legitimation for this selection is based on the proximity of these sectors, which have rarely been examined together in previous research contexts. What is more, it is precisely these three educational areas in which students are explicitly prepared for the demands of the world of work and receive training and further education in the sense of lifelong learning.

To answer the research question, interviews are being carried out with experts from the respective education segments. In addition, two group discussions were conducted in each of the educational areas, which made a further contribution to understanding the collectively shared knowledge of the participants and thus to clarifying the research question.

The project aims to establish close dialog with practitioners from all three education segments, for instance, via knowledge exchange events with and at the Center for Research on Educational Professions and Organizations (ZeBO) as well as via short videos aimed at practitioners that will contain the key findings of the research project .