Companies of the German aerospace industry rely on hiring employees with no prior experience in aerospace software development, who require an elementary introduction to the relevant topics. A network of eight companies formed under a publicly funded research project aims to develop a compact, joint training course for employees who enter the field of software development without experience in aerospace. The Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences designed this training course with the required theoretical and practical content. This paper describes the methodology and the steps carried out by the university, starting with the needs analysis in cooperation with experts of software development departments of the companies. The needs analysis took into consideration the different internal work processes and compared the company needs with the subject-related study courses offered in Germany in order to accumulate the common fundamentals of potential employees. The module outline of the course was developed by selecting the content of the training covering the thematic breadth and was completed with the teaching methods and the training material. The evaluation incorporated a short training course for the target group with quantitative and qualitative research methods to assess this joint training course and to explore its benefits among different companies. The developed compact joint training course is able to fulfil the companies' aims by combining the experts' know-how within a stringent course design process. The feedback provided by the participants offered suggestions on how to develop further this methodology and the training course.
This research follows a previously published paper presented by Pourtoulidou and Frey which describes the conversion of a classroom-based to blended training for new employees entering aerospace companies [1]. This paper presents the lessons learned that derived from the analysis of the results after evaluating the blended training according to the participants’, subject matter experts’, and trainer’s perspectives. Prior to the training, Pourtoulidou and Frey analyzed the demands of aerospace companies and the labor market in order to develop this introductory training [1]. The classroom-based training was developed, implemented and evaluated in 2018/2019. Utilizing this evaluation, the blended training consisted of an online phase, which lasted six months and provided access to lecture videos, literature material, quizzes, forums and virtual meetings over the Moodle platform. In the middle of the online phase, a face-to-face session took place in October 2021 in which the participants worked with practical applications and associated with subject matter experts operating directly in industrial projects. The lessons learned focus on the training development for employees’ blended courses and on the specific limitations resulting from developing a joint training for entry-level aerospace engineers. The flexibility and further benefits of the training’s online phase were well received from the participants, while the opportunity to meet, work and exchange experiences in person during the training was highly appreciated. The impact of COVID-19 on participants’ experience and feedback was also visible and commented on.
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