Digitization of carpentry apprenticeships? This is how it works!

The digitization of carpentry apprenticeships - Munich's carpenters' guild is taking an innovative approach and supplementing carpentry apprenticeships with digital teaching content. The Munich Carpenters' Guild is the largest and one of the oldest guilds in the Bavarian carpentry trade. This is where they plane, hammer and saw. But above all, one thing is done here: LEARNING!

Guilds are educational institutions and vessels of knowledge. They contain the collected theoretical and practical knowledge of the craft that has been cultivated for centuries. Originating from the guild of the early Middle Ages, the modern guild trains apprentices in the carpentry trade. Master craftsmen become teachers who impart the carpentry trade to aspiring craftsmen.

In cooperation with craftguide, the Munich Carpenters' Guild wants to digitally complement this apprenticeship. But how can craft training, which is defined by working with materials such as wood, glass, metal, stone and various plastics, be digitized?

Quite simple: Via a head-mounted camera, master carpenters film the teaching content from a first-person perspective, which is otherwise taught to the apprentices in a practical manner in classroom sessions. The steps performed are explained - similar to a real classroom situation. The produced video material is then transferred by craftguide into a step-by-step format which is available to the apprentices within the craftguide platform.

From Sascha Wein, master carpenter and managing director of the Munich Carpenters' Guild, we learn how carpentry training will be digitized with craftguide, what added value he sees in it and how the future of carpentry training will be shaped by the cooperation.

How does craftguide support the digitalization of carpentry training?

With craftguide, we initially want to digitize individual teaching contents that are provided in the training. We then want to use the app to introduce this content as a supplement to the standard training.

How will the digital content reach the trainees?

As soon as more digital content is available, the apprentices will receive a welcome package before their first visit to our carpentry guild. In this, they receive access to the app and thereby to the first content. In this way, they are already exposed to our digital concept in advance. In the course of their training within the carpenters' guild, the benefits and use of the app are explained to them further.

Which goal is the carpenters' guild aiming for with the digitization of its teaching content?

The goal of training institutions is to do justice to a heterogeneous group of trainees. Through digital support, we want to compensate for knowledge deficits or advances. While weaker trainees receive personal support from the trainers, stronger trainees have the opportunity to promote themselves through additional content and to engage with carpentry content outside of the regular training. In addition, the digitized content of the regular training can also be used to refresh knowledge of what has already been learned. In this way, the regular training can be continued in the entire learning group, while individuals can digitally reteach content that needs to be repeated. Preparing with content within the app can lead to greater prior knowledge among apprentices, and the time gained can be invested in personalized support or used for more advanced content.

Which content will be digitized?

In the first step, we focus on instructional content that already has a digital character. After all, the carpentry trade is also digitized to a large extent. The Shaper Origin, for example, is a high-tech router that is ideally suited to being digitized in its application. But we also digitize analog ancillary, preparatory and finishing work that often does not receive the desired attention when dealing with a complex machine. The step-by-step instructions, for example, are intended to help explain the analog work involved in using CNC machines and always have them at hand.

Which value do you hope to gain from digitizing the teaching content?

Adapting practical training to the irreversible ubiquity of smartphones and tablets (laughs). Craft apprenticeships also need to understand that the world is changing, but the task remains the same. We provide knowledge and education.Education will continue to happen through face-to-face interaction, but digital content can cover and compensate for knowledge deficits or advances. Craftguide is one of many ways to pick up apprentices in their world. We need to make the work more innovative.

What do you appreciate about working with craftguide?

Above all, it's the pioneering spirit that is breaking new, innovative ground with a focus on the digitization of craft. That's where we wanted to be the craft of the first hour.

What should the future of training within the carpenters' guild look like in cooperation with craftguide?

Personal interaction between trainers and trainees is essential. Show, demonstrate, imitate. Nevertheless, it should be a matter of course to use the smartphone before, during and after the practical knowledge transfer in order to further educate oneself individually or to catch up on knowledge. Do I need to catch up on knowledge or have I already understood everything and can deal with additional content? These are questions that trainees should ask themselves in the future. There is less idle time and more time for the essential tasks.

What are the next steps on the road to digitization?

The goal is to professionalize the digitization of teaching content. The content should be recorded "ongoing" during the practical knowledge transfer and with few post-processing steps and transferred into step-by-step videos. We want to share our content with other guilds and education centers and further advance the digitization of the carpentry trade.

With these forward-looking words, we would like to thank Sascha Wein for his insight into the digitization of carpentry apprenticeships. We are looking forward to explore new and innovative paths in the craft together with the Munich Carpenters' Guild.

Do you also want to drive digitization in the skilled trades? Then click here! We would be glad to assist you in your digitization project.