The project RELOAD (DE/07/LLP LdV/TOI/147058, www.project-reload.com), European funded and dealing with information transfer, designs an e-learning concept for the continuous and effictient knowledge update of employees of the building and do-it-yourself industry.

The building and do-it-youself industry is confronted with an ever-expanding amount of information. Employees of hard ware stores have to handle a big amount of products and corresponding amount of product information.

As there are no uniform self-improvement standards in this industry, new, demand-oriented learning concepts, among others, come to be developed within the scope of RELOAD. These shall be oriented at meeting the requirements of the target group (the employees) and allow for an efficient knowledge update on the job.

The goal of RELOAD is, to develop an e-learning concept which allows for a target-oriented and efficient knowledge update for the employees of the building and do-it-yourself industry.

The introduction of the employees to self controlled and computer-supported learning is to the fore of the project. So called ‘micro trainings’ are utilized for this purpose. Micro trainings are short learning units which are capable to be well integrated into the hard ware store employees’ everyday working due to an extent of only approx. 10-15 minutes. To this several topics are combined into modules which can be called up on demand at any time.

Furthermore a didactic model for the generation of micro trainings by means of which product manufacturers can work up their product information is come to be worked out within the scope of RELOAD. Therefore a knowledge transfer along the value-added chain starting at the product supplier, along the hard ware stores and ending at the final customer is taking place.

RELOAD follows two didactic approaches which complement each other.

The “didactic decrease” is about the shrinkage of complex facts to their substantial elements in order to make them readily comprehensible and apperceptible for the learners.

“Anchored Instruction”: The key idea of this approach are so called “narrative anchors”, i.e. stories that are embedded into authentic and interesting problems. The stories are to arouse the learners’ interest, to activate their previous knowledge and enhance active learning.

The final product is this knowledge platform which can be integrated as a learning system into everyday working processes of the employees.

The primary component of the knowledge platform are multimedia learning units, the so called micro trainings. The content delivering takes place by means of target group specific didactics.