Berlin (GER), September 2010 - FIZ CHEMIE has launched a project that allows high-quality workplaces and operating processes to be presented on the free-to-access education platform ChemgaPedia. Companies can now share industrial learning units (ILUs), and CHEMGAROO special editors at FIZ CHEMIE provide technical and didactic support.
In many cases, the fields of work available to young scientists and engineers in industry are as attractive for entry-level employees as they are unfathomable. The demands made of entry-level employees are growing; the technical processes and apparatus are ever more complex.
Industrial companies complain that, in spite of their high-level qualifications, applicants often have an incorrect grasp, or no idea at all, about the positions on offer and the research and production processes that take place.
Together with the industry, FIZ CHEMIE wants to close this gap. The non-profit scientific infrastructure facility of the Leibniz Community offers companies the opportunity to present their working processes and the resources, technical equipment, and procedures used within a framework of "Industrial Learning Units" (ILUs) on ChemgaPedia. With an average of 350,000 users each month, ChemgaPedia is the most-visited scientific and technical training platform in the German-speaking area.
The companies INMATEC, KNAUER, ORGENTEC and Heraeus made the first move. The first five ILUs created with these industrial partners were activated for public access in ChemgaPedia at the end of August, at the 3rd EuCheMS chemistry conference in Nuremberg.
Specialists of each company create the training content; the CHEMGAROO editors provide technical and didactic support. In their design, the learning units integrate seamlessly into the existing learning material in ChemgaPedia, which presents specialist content clearly, interactively, and comprehensibly through the combination of text, animation, videos, and graphics.
Dr. Kirsten Hantelmann, Product Manager of eLearning at FIZ CHEMIE, sees great potential for recruiting staff through this new way of presenting fields of work. "Through ChemgaPedia, companies in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry and associated areas can reach exactly the target group from which they may obtain their future specialist employees. Students and educators in almost all scientific and technical places of training in Germany use ChemgaPedia. Conversely, those looking for work can anonymously gain a practical picture of the research and production processes taking place in companies to which they may want to apply at any time."
