Participatory Design for Worker Training in an Industrial Context

Abstract

Developing educational designs aimed at upskilling workers in an industrial context provides a unique and complex situation, due to the different perspectives and contexts represented by workers, managers, and educators. The aim of this study is to better understand how a participatory approach potentially strengthens the development of educational designs aimed at upskilling in industry. This is done by first clarifying the theoretical foundation for applying a participatory approach, and secondly, by investigating six cases from practice in which a participatory approach (ICoED) has been applied. The findings of this article show that applying a participatory approach seems to strengthen the development of educational designs aimed at an industrial context in terms of commitment, shared understanding, and a better alignment between the various perspectives in the solution.