Project completion: E.F.A. has escaped the jungle of obligations

After a total of over three years, the project "E.F.A. - Digital Adaptive Learning Game for Vocational Education and Training" came to a successful end in June 2022.

Since May 2019, we have been working in the project team on the goal of supporting the competence acquisition of Saxon micro and small enterprises in the social services sector with regard to the topic of occupational health and safety. For this purpose, we developed, among other things, an adaptive digital learning game with a total of four game sections, which was released on 1 July 2022. "E.F.A. - Mit Sicherheit durch den Verpflichtungsdschungel" is now available completely and free of charge to all interested parties. As an Expert:in for Occupational Health and Safety (E.F.A.), the objective is to untangle the "obligation jungle" and find a way out within the scope of diverse game missions. In two to three hours, interested parties can acquire or refresh their knowledge in a flexible and playful way. The integrated adaptive learning path control enables individual learning paths for the players and supports them in solving the learning tasks. E.F.A. enables employees, managers and entrepreneurs to acquire the knowledge they need to carry out a comprehensive risk assessment. Measures for improving working conditions in the social services sector are taught in a practical manner. In the additionally created knowledge store, this knowledge can then be deepened with linked aids such as further information, regulations and action aids from the legislators and accident insurers according to one's own needs.

In addition, we developed a further training concept in the project which focuses on the transfer of the contents taught in the learning game. A handbook for lecturers provides clear and target group-oriented assistance on how to plan and implement further training courses in the company context using the E.F.A. learning tools. In order to realise the final implementation of occupational health and safety, an innovative procedure for risk analysis within the risk assessment was also developed. This was also incorporated into a basic concept for a digital tool for risk assessment, for which fully developed contents and a design are available. The prototype has already been tested and evaluated by interested companies and experts.

The E.F.A. learning game and the associated transfer workshops were also tested with the target group during several trial phases (May/June and October 2021 as well as January 2022). This included experienced facility managers from our project partner TWSD AG, as well as future managers and trainees from a training company and managers from SMEs in the social services sector that we had acquired. A total of more than 70 test persons tried out the E.F.A learning game, completed our online questionnaires and were available for group interviews. The structure, information content, but also the design of the game were praised almost without exception. It acted as a kind of knowledge refresher or provided impulses to take up the topic of occupational health and safety again in one's own company or to think about it further. However, the access to learning through the medium of games was perceived very differently by the participants - some found the playful mediation of a rather dry topic quite refreshing and suitable, others wished for less playful interaction and a more direct engagement with the knowledge content. Criticism was levelled at the large amount of text and the control system, which we worked on optimising during the course of the project. The testers pointed out a variety of possible scenarios for using E.F.A.: E.F.A. is a suitable tool especially for new hires or for training new employees, for basic sensitisation and for the annual health and safety briefing. Managers, safety officers and all persons familiar with occupational health and safety in the company could benefit from E.F.A. in particular. The knowledge memory was particularly emphasised as a bridge and continuing tool after the game. So nothing stands in the way of using E.F.A. for further training in one's own company!

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The E.F.A. project was carried out by the Center for Open Digital Innovation and Participation (CODIP) of the Technical University of Dresden together with the Sächsische Landesvereinigung für Gesundheitsförderung e. V. and Trägerwerk Soziale Dienste AG. The project was funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the announcement of the Saxon State Ministry of Economics, Labour and Transport with the aim of developing model and transfer projects for the introduction of digitally supported learning tools for vocational education and training.