Abstract:

Like all the employees of the Centre for Information and Media Technology (ZIM) at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), the IT specialists in training have been in their home offices since the beginning of the pandemic.  In addition to teaching and learning at the vocational school, the technical-practical activities of the training at the university were thus also carried out purely digitally. The professional and technical conversion turned out to be less demanding than in other professions, such as craft professions.

Nevertheless, the ZIM faced many challenges and had to fulfil some prerequisites: If the trainee does not (yet) have a PC workstation at home, a service laptop must be acquired. Headsets and webcams had to be purchased for communication, which was accompanied by particular difficulties in procurement at the height of the pandemic due to supply shortages. Also, not every trainee in the home office has a stable internet connection. 

New challenges already arose when advertising the training positions available each year. Under pandemic conditions, what can interviews and recruitment tests look like? Can recruitment be done on the basis of digital exchange on its own? Are there technical opportunities, e.g. to carry out digitalised work samples? Do physiological aspects of a person have a decisive influence on the choice of recruitment?

Addressing the technical and professional prerequisites and challenges, the psychological and social consequences of the Corona pandemic should also not be underestimated. Due to the lack of social exchange among the trainees, fewer social bonds could develop, which can lead to a loss of motivation, feelings of being overwhelmed due to a lack of structures, as well as late effects, especially for direct job entrants. In home office, the small physical distance between work and private life in particular can lead to negative effects on mental health by shifting the work-life balance. This is accompanied by the expectation of constant accessibility in private life.

At the ZIM, we dealt with the questions: What kind of tasks would be good for onboarding, how can the teambuilding process still be supported and how can the purely digital support of trainers lead to good training?

However, the feedback collected showed that the trainees were able to come to terms with the situation despite everything, and can now handle a variety of digital tools through home schooling and home office. Additionally, they have also learned more personal responsibility and structured work. 

Keywords:

University computer center, it specialists, vocational training, educator experience, home office, home schooling.