How do we make decisions? What does it mean to think in a flexible way? Here is a little puzzle on cognitive flexibility for you. Take a look: Taking decisions – connecting the dots!

The workshops organized by the Sky4.0 partners,  INNpuls and Aviation Valley, that took place in Poland on the 11th of March were an enormous success! More than 100 students participated in this session and were always motivated to learn and exchange knowledge.

As for us…We continue to support the development of your soft skills, especially cognitive flexibility.

Have a look at a little puzzle which is a small sneak peek at the cognitive flexibility Moodle Course for future industry workers.

Sky 4.0 relies on Moodle for encouraging young talents in aerospace to improve their soft skills

Today, the learning process exploits a variety of electronic platforms, which, on the one hand, significantly increase the pool of students, but, on the other hand, hinder the development of soft skills, if the courses are not properly designed. Even more, the COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly accelerated this digital immersion.

Preparing students to face the challenges of the 21st century requires improving their soft skills by taking them beyond traditional classroom teaching and incorporating these values also in virtual learning. In the first instance, soft skills can be developed through active and interactive methods during in-class learning, but they should also be developed as well through well design interactive activities embodied in the electronics platforms that are currently part of the training and learning process.

To achieve this objective, we have built a kind of soft skills mentor supported by Moodle, to prepare young talents for the exciting yet challenging world beyond the technical subject studied in the classroom.

Moodle is a virtual learning platform that functions as a repository of course content and activities that can be used to teach soft skills. Moodle is one of these electronic tools commonly used for academic activities all around the world. It has become a standard, and students are well familiarized with it. Although up to now, Moodle has been mainly used for teaching and learning hard and technical skills, the synergies and scale factor of using Moodle for developing soft skills are huge.

This is not the first initiative promoting the development of soft skills supported by Moodle but it is the first one that concentrates on the soft skills required from future workers by industry 4.0. We are convinced that this approach to soft skills for young people will set the basis for future developments in this area.

Join the Webinar “The Educational Revolution: Active Learning for Industry 4.0 on Aviation” on 30^th and 31^st of March at 11:00 (CET)

Sky4.0 is an Erasmus+ project that aims to help Aeronautical companies from different European countries to meet the challenges of Industry 4.0 by improving the soft skills of their human resources. Nowadays, to keep up with the fast pace of the world we need to daily work on ourselves, we need to “upgrade” to our best version! And how can we do that? By learning! Learning is the key to our personal development!

In Sky4.0 we acknowledge the importance of continuous development and realize how sometimes can be difficult to go through this journey of growth. Therefore, in this Webinar, we want to reach not only you – the trainer, teacher, and/or leader – who is worried about improving the team’s productivity and motivation but also you – the individual – who wants to learn new skills!

Probably now you’re wondering… but how can I do that?

The answer is ACTIVE LEARNING! To learn something we need to be engaged in the learning process…the era of being seated down listening to the teacher for several hours is gone! Due to Industry 4.0, our days are going faster and faster, we are more connected than ever and are always receiving lots of information. And so, training is important to keep up with the pace of the industry!

We know how the process of learning can be tough, especially when the target is not concrete, but something within us… So, in our project’s materials, the trainee is in the center!

In this Webinar, we will present our Erasmus+ project Sky4.0, its goals, and the main results so far. Afterward, with a strong panel of experts, we will discuss the impact of Industry4.0 on the Aeronautic Sector and Educational System. To conclude, we will explore how the training of soft skills can be potentiated through the focus on each trainee’s individuality! We will work on:#Active Learning #Soft skills for Industry 4.0 #The Generations #Future of Education #Future of Industry 

The webinar is free and open to all! We promise to make it as interactive as possible!

⇒  Register here! ⇐

Check out the agenda of the event:

Sky4.0 and skill-UP are two ERASMUS+ projects that focus on the innovation and development of new skills and good practices in the aerospace and aviation sector.

In today’s world, there is an incredible amount of competition for jobs and people are realizing that a college degree is not enough to make it into the job market! Skill-UP and Sky4.0 are here to help current and future aeronautic workers navigate the labour market by understanding the necessary competences one needs to have.

Skill-UP aims to define the knowledge, skills, and competences that future workers from the aeronautic sector are required to have. Afterward, the project will develop VET training programs to cooperate on the innovation of the sector and the skilling, upskilling, and reskilling of workers in the air transport industry, a portfolio of training assessment tools, and a knowledge centre platform designed to collect all outputs of the project.

The first result of skill-UP is already available and consists of a detailed report “From Theory to Practice: Understanding user-profiles and training needs” focused on perceiving how theoretical and practical knowledge acquired through education and training prior to employment is later applied in the workplace. Also, another task of this report was to develop Personas, namely the target users of the future aviation VET training programs, to describe the competences (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) needed to undertake the essential tasks in the future operational scenarios and related training needs.

Sky4.0 wants to help improve the development of soft skills among the human resources of aeronautical companies and future workers of the sector. Therefore, with the cooperation of projects like skill-UP, it’s possible to improve the knowledge of current aerospace and aviation employees and fight the gap in pre-employment training by promoting the acquisition of skills and competences that students might need in their future employment at industry 4.0 companies.

Both projects are developing materials and new procedures that are going to provide helpful insights into the future of aeronautic and its workers. Let’s continue flying together into the future!

• Find out the conclusions of the skill-UP report here. 
• Follow the link to learn more about the skill-UP project: https://www.skillup-air.eu/
• Explore the resources developed in the sky4.0 project here.

Soft skills are becoming important in workplaces. With Industry 4.0, the business world is moving its focus from technical skills to soft skills. The aerospace and Aviation Sector is not only looking for technical qualifications and experience while evaluating applicants but the soft skills they have. In today’s world, there is so much competition for jobs as more and more people complete university degrees and other levels of training. Recruiters have a large pool of talent and what separates you from people who have the same degree at the same school is your soft skills! Let us give you some tips! When it comes to including soft skills in your CV, you need to focus on the ones that you need for the job you are applying for, and you should not just list the skills until you are well experienced. While preparing your CV, do some research, ask your friends and colleagues who know you well, and think about the different experiences you have had such as group work and projects using soft skills. Don’t forget, Soft skills are the future!

If you want to find out more about the Sky4.0 project, you can contact Alexandros Koukovinis at [email protected]

Soft skills at work in Industry 4.0 in the aviation sector  – a pilot workshop for students and teachers in Rzeszów, Poland– coming up!

The workshop will be organized by INNpuls Sp. z o.o. and Aviation Valley, Polish partners of the SKY.4.0 project, and is going to focus on the growing importance of soft skills for future employees of the aviation sector.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn about a set of online courses with interactive content and materials that include videos and interactive exercises. During these courses, the organizers will share a form that provides the possibility of self-study and self-evaluation.

The workshop will be based mainly on the example of soft competence: cognitive flexibility!

The third edition of Aerospace & Defense Meetings (A&DM) Central Europe is happening on the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th of May 2021. The A&DM Central Europe – Rzeszow is hybrid (in-person and virtual) and it’s an innovative matchmaking program for the aerospace and defense industries leaders to make new business connections and strengthen existing ones. 

This program offers BTOB meetings, where all participants can sign-up to meet suppliers and manufacturing partners or to sell capabilities, products, and services. It’s also possible to request meetings with relevant contacts before the show based on the attendee’s own choices. Besides these meetings, the A&DM Central Europe – Rzeszow offers the chance to assist high-level conferences and to participate in workshops focused on technologies and products. This is an unmissable chance for the “small” suppliers to engage with a wider audience and increase their visibility.

If you want to join this year’s edition of Aerospace & Defense Meetings (A&DM) or learn more about the characteristics and the concept of the event, go to the website here: https://poland.bciaerospace.com/index.php.

There is no surprise to anyone that we are living in challenging times. Humankind can sing to COVID-19 “You rock my world”, but this would also apply to something else… In the last years, we see in among newspapers, conferences, and websites the headline “The Arrival of the Industry 4.0”. However, these headlines are no longer updated, the Industry 4.0 is already here! You may not notice it, but it’s all around us in our bank apps, in the automatic cashiers of the corner supermarket, and in the remote work of most of us!

According to World Economic Forum (2020), the combination of the accelerated technology adoption and the COVID-19 recession is creating a double-disruption scenario for the workers, with 43% of the business leaders affirming they will reduce their workforce due to technology integration. Moreover, is expected that in 2025, 85 million jobs start being performed by machines instead of people.

Now, you are probably thinking for yourself that the picture doesn’t good look, right? It’s all a matter of perspective, so let’s shift our view! Yes, Industry 4.0 is here (and will stay) and the machines will become a huge part of our lives, but they will not make us obsolete! According to World Economic Forum research (2020), along with technology, another main issue on the global agenda until 2025 is the skills gap. In this topic, the top skills indicated by the employers are critical thinking, analytical thinking, problem-solving, active learning, resilience, and change adaptability: the soft skills! This group of skills is the unique characteristic of humans, and they cannot be replaced or discharged in any business that wants to be successful! We are irreplaceable and machines are not here to put us in the corner – nobody can put “humans” in the corner – they are here to make shine our best assets!

This shift of tasks and jobs will be disruptive for everyone, but as Charles Darwin mentioned “is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” We will go through this process together and push each other to reskilling and upskilling because only the joined effort will allow us to grow. In the Sky4.0 project, we acknowledge the “power” of soft skills and want to help everyone – employees, future workers, and business leaders – in the aeronautical sector during the process of properly dealing with Industry 4.0, so check our website and join us in taking the next step to the future!

Although the scenario looks cloudy, we encourage you to stay optimistic, because those are the ones who see opportunity in every difficulty (Winston Churchill), and we have in front of us a big opportunity!

References:

World Economic Forum (2020). The Future of Jobs Report 2020. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020

“A new revolution is underway in the industrial world supported by equipment connectivity, technology and data. It will have an impact on each and every company department, changing completely the layout where they develop their activities. Industry 4.0 will result in an optimization of the industrial processes, reducing, therefore, costs and busting productivity gains.”

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