NextGen Learning in industry and construction: practising safety and craftsmanship

What is different on the shop floor

A mechanic, operator or site manager does not sit at a screen all day. Training is often a canteen with a presentation. What they need is learning that fits the place, in short pieces, in their language. And because mistakes here are expensive or dangerous, you want to practise where it can be done without risk.

Scanning the workplace and practising in it

With your phone you scan a space (RoomScan) and turn it into a 3D scene that runs in the browser. A learner walks through it and answers questions at marked spots: where is the risk, what is wrong with this set-up, which steps do you follow here? That way they get to know the place without having to go there.

Honest about the limit: there is no ready-made library, you capture your own place. That is also where it is strongest. See 3D simulations with Gaussian splatting. VR exists too, built in Unity and separate from the web platform.

Scenarios from construction

The scenario game has construction examples: formwork, a site walk and a day at the trench. A team, roles with their own information, decisions whose consequences become visible, and a debrief about who knew what when. It is no replacement for a safety instruction, but a way to practise together what you have to do afterwards on the site. See scenario games for decisions.

Short learning moments on the phone

A toolbox talk becomes a short swipeslide learning journey: a photo of the situation, a question, an explanation. A slide can ask for a photo, a video, a 360 image or a drawing. Whoever prefers listening has the text read aloud. The learning journey remembers where you were. See microlearning with swipeslides.

Capturing the knowledge of skilled people

Much craft knowledge sits in the heads of experienced people. An experienced mechanic can speak how they handled a fault: that produces a voice report with a summary, insights and actions, and the follow-up button leads on to a swipeslide. The knowledge is captured and the author can turn it into a learning moment for colleagues. See learning in the flow of work.

An example: a site walk beforehand

For a new project you scan the building site or a similar place and make a 3D scene of it. The site manager marks five spots with a question: where does the crane go here, what is the walking route, which risk do you see at the trench? New colleagues walk through the scene beforehand and answer the questions, and the site manager discusses them on the first day.

It does not save a conversation, but it makes it better: people come with questions instead of a blank look. This is an illustration of how you can use it; the organisation captures the scenes itself. See 3D simulations.

Working with different languages and levels

On the shop floor teams are often multilingual and reading levels vary. The set-up of swipeslides helps there: lots of image, little text, a text that can be read aloud and a translation with one click per text field. A video or photo question lets people show what they mean without writing.

Use short texts in plain language and have a skilled worker check the questions. If a question does not match practice, the learner drops out. See microlearning with swipeslides.

An example: maintenance procedures

A machine has a maintenance procedure of twelve steps, two of which often go wrong. A learning journey can consist of a short slide per step with a photo, an ordering question about the sequence, and a 360 image or 3D scene of the machine in which the learner points out where an action takes place. A slide with a photo answer lets the mechanic show their own work.

The learning journey suits new mechanics, refreshing after a long time and people changing roles. The experienced mechanic who has checked the learning journey adds what is missing from the manual: the practical tips that only sat in their head.

Strengthening a safety culture

Safety is more than knowing rules: it is reporting, stopping and speaking up to each other. You can practise that. In a scenario in which a colleague breaks a rule, you choose what you do and see the consequences. In a conversation with a CrewMate you practise addressing someone. A debrief makes it discussable among yourselves.

It is not about a nice score, but about the conversation that follows and what people on the shop floor do differently. See transfer to the shop floor.

How to start in a production or construction environment

1. Choose a situation where mistakes are expensive or dangerous and ask the site managers what goes wrong most.
2. Make a short learning journey with photos of your own situation, and have a skilled worker check the questions.
3. Scan one place, and build a short quiz in the scene.
4. Play a scenario during a toolbox meeting, with a short debrief.
5. After a month see what it has delivered, and ask the people themselves.

See also designing the complete learning journey.

Demonstrating and keeping records

For safety and qualifications demonstrability is important. A certificate as a PDF with a verification page and a growth path with levels help with that. Progress per learner and per step is visible, and reports show which themes are weak. See compliance training that sticks.