Project completion: EFA has escaped the jungle of obligations

After a total of more than three years, the project “EFA – Digital adaptive learning game for vocational education and training” was successfully completed in June 2022.

Since May 2019, we have been working in the project team on the goal of supporting the acquisition of skills in Saxony's micro and small enterprises in the social services sector with regard to occupational health and safety. To this end, we developed, among other things, a adaptive digital learning game with a total of four game sections, which was released on July 1, 2022. “EFA – Safely through the jungle of obligations” is now available in full and free of charge to all interested parties. Within various game missions, it is important to Eexpert für Aoccupational health and safety (EFA) to unravel the "obligation jungle" and find a way out. 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 players to learn individually and supports them in solving the learning tasks. EFA enables employees, managers and entrepreneurs to acquire practical knowledge for carrying out a comprehensive risk assessment, among other things. Measures to improve working conditions in the social services sector are taught in a practical way. In the additional knowledge repository This knowledge can then be deepened with linked assistance such as further information, regulations and practical aids from the legislature and accident insurance companies, depending on your own needs.

Screenshot from the learning game

In addition, we developed a training concept in the project that focuses on the transfer of the content taught in the learning game. A manual for lecturers provides clear and target group-oriented assistance on how to use the EFA learning tools to plan and carry out training courses in a company context. In order to realize the ultimate implementation of occupational health and safety, an innovative process 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 content and a design are available. The prototype has already been tested and evaluated by interested companies and specialists.

The EFA learning game and the associated transfer workshops were also tested with the target group in several test phases (May/June and October 2021 and January 2022). These included experienced facility managers from our project partner TWSD AG, as well as prospective managers and trainees from a training company and managers from SMEs in the social services sector acquired by us. A total of over 70 test subjects tested the EFA learning game, filled out our online questionnaires and were available for group interviews. The structure, information content and design of the game were almost universally praised. It acted as a kind of knowledge refresher or provided impulses to take up the topic of occupational health and safety in one's own company again or to think further about it. However, the participants had very different perceptions of access to learning through the medium of games - some found the playful teaching of a rather dry topic quite refreshing and suitable, others wanted less playful interaction and a more direct engagement with the knowledge content. The large amount of text and the controls were criticized in particular, and we worked on optimizing these during the course of the project. The testers identified a wide range of possible application scenarios for EFA: EFA is a suitable tool, particularly for new hires or for training new employees, for basic awareness-raising and for annual occupational health and safety training. Managers, safety officers and all people familiar with occupational health and safety in the company could particularly benefit from EFA. The knowledge repository was particularly highlighted as a bridge and follow-up tool after the game. So nothing stands in the way of using EFA for further training in your own company!

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The EFA project was carried out by the Center for Open Digital Innovation and Participation (CODIP) at the Technical University of Dresden together with the Saxon State Association for Health Promotion e. V. and the Trägerwerk Soziale Dienste AG. The project was funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Free State of Saxony as part of the announcement by the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport with the aim of developing model and transfer projects for the introduction of digitally supported learning tools for vocational training and further education.

Authors: Cornelia Schade, Dr. Sandra Schulz, Antonia Stagge