Preparing for a digitalized working world

Digital teaching and learning lab for student teachers

From the factory to the hospital ward - digital skills are playing an increasing role in almost every profession. In the TUM-DigiLLab digital education laboratory, pre-service teachers gain a realistic sense of how the digital transformation will look in everyday life and the workplace. This will help them to prepare high school students and students in vocational education and training for an increasingly digitalized world.

Pre-service teacherLisa Teichmann stands at the control panel, tracking manufacturing orders on the dashboard. As she keeps an eye on the defect quota and assesses production times, her fellow students are putting together remote control cars at the assembly stations. In principle, a production facility like this one could be in a real factory. But it is set up in the Industry 4.0 space of TUM-DigiLLab - a teaching facility at the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology where students can experience the digital transformation as it will look in everyday life, the career world and the classroom. Assembling the toy racers is just one example of how students preparing for careers as vocational and high school teachers can simulate fully digitalized and adaptive production processes. "With two 3D printers, we can even take customized orders from our fictitious customers," says Lisa Teichmann.

Realistic scenarios from the career world

Along with the Industry 4.0 production facility, the TUM-DigiLLab contains a Smart Home, a digitalized hospital room and the Baker Space. They cover specific scenarios in the career world, but are also interconnected. "In these authentic surroundings, students experience the digital transformation in the occupational areas where they will teach in vocational schools," says lecturer Amelie Hiemer. "They work together, actively explore problems and engage in practice-centered learning." Studies show that digital learning and teaching labs increase students’ motivation and interest in the material. This boosts creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills.

The TUM EdTech Center is part of TUM Agenda 2030 and is supported by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research and the State of Bavaria under the Excellence Strategy of the federal government and the German federal states.