Enabling Workers to Enter Industry 4.0: A Layered Mobile Learning Architecture

Abstract

Manufacturing companies have to meet a lot of challenges in continuing training for employees. Especially on the way towards industry 4.0 the workforce needs to be able to handle fast changing environments and ever-changing working contexts. Furthermore, they have to be familiar with constantly new technologies (e.g. complex user interfaces, mobile devices) that are introduced during the process of company development. Due to this, working people are facing a lifelong learning process and need to evolve to knowledge workers. To fulfill these requirements new concepts are necessary for human resources development directly at the workplace and therefore adequate artifact designs. In this paper we design a layered architecture for mobile learning at the workplace. This layered approach offers the possibility to educate employees with different qualifications and skills using an integrated solution. Further, we propose to implement appropriate components at each layer to support different kinds of learning.

The Relationship Between Work Engagement of Different Generations and Mobile Learning

“…The perceived innovativeness of mobile learning of Generation Z was more significantly associated with work engagement than that of the Baby Boomers' Generation, Generation X and Generation Y. This confirms the views of a number of scholars that mobile learning and other IT tools (Kadirire, 2009;Jaschke, 2014;Hu, Liu, Li and Zhai, 2015;Baccari, Mendes, Nicolle, Soualah-Alila and Neji, 2016;Engelmann and Schwabe, 2018) used in the workplace alter communication among employees and the learning process in the workplace, etc. Due to the fact that Generation Z has been using mobile phones and other IT technologies since their early days, they are more comfortable using technology for communication or for learning "even when the use of technology is not appropriate" (Drolet and Morris, 2000;Schroth, 2019), and Generation Z in general has shown "to be more prone to the use of different mobile technologies, far above the other generations" (Lebioda, Hahn and Martins, 2019, p. 25738).…”

“…There are several approaches and definitions for mobile learning highlighted in scientific literature. According to Kilis (2013), if initially, in the description and use of mobile learning, the focus was primarily on technology (Kilis, 2013), at a later stage, the emphasis was lain on mobility (Sampangi, Viswanath and Ray, 2010), the ability to work and/or learn anywhere at any time (Kadirire, 2009;Mockus, Dawson, Edel-Malizia, Shaffer, An and Swaggerty, 2011), the intersection of mobile computing and electronic learning (Suki and Suki, 2011), the opportunity to bring mobile learning directly to the workplace (Baccari, Mendes, Nicolle, Soualah-Alila and Neji, 2016;Engelmann and Schwabe, 2018). Laberge, Tondoux, Blanchard, Tremblay and Girard (2018) assume that if mobile learning or other IT tools are to be used in workplaces, technologies must be operative (i.e.…”

Developing technological capabilities for Industry 4.0 adoption: An analysis of the role of inbound open innovation in small and medium‐sized enterprises

“…This vision is in line with the new role of humans in I4.0 companies presented by Nelles et al (2016). According to the authors, rather than being involved in routine work activities, humans should be put in positions where they can quickly make the right decisions in production planning and control, thereby allowing them to evolve to ‘knowledge workers’ (Engelmann & Schwabe, 2018).…”

Putting humans back in the loop: An affordance conceptualization of the 4th industrial revolution

“…What sorts of machine ‘personalities’ lead to desired humanistic and instrumental outcomes, and what are ethical and appropriate decisions, actions, and behaviours in various contexts? These and other challenging tensions suggest a range of research questions, which IS researchers have begun to address (Engelmann & Schwabe, 2018; Mantello et al, 2021; Rehe et al, 2020; Strich et al, 2021; You & Robert, 2022). Nonetheless, further scientific knowledge is needed to provide robust approaches to support humanistic outcomes appropriate for specific contexts.…”