Festo Didactic Fosters Individualized Learning, Provides Customizable Digital Learning Portal
Festo LX is a highly-customizable digital learning portal designed for trainees and employees alike. Daniela Follmer, product manager at Festo Didactic, provides insight into Festo LX, the “heartbeat of Festo Didactic’s learning ecosystem.”
As manufacturers continue struggling to fill skilled labor, companies have taken an increasing role in supporting learning institutions and educating the next generation of workers.
Festo Didactic, a “stand-alone” company part of Festo Group, offers a digital learning portal: Festo Learning Experience (Festo LX). With Festo LX, Festo Didactic fosters individualized and flexible learning in automation, addressing industry needs.
I had the opportunity to learn more about Festo Didactic and its digital portal from Festo Didactic SE’s Product Manager of Digital Learning, Daniela Follmer.
Festo Didactic's digital learning portal seeks to teach trainees and employees of any age and level skills necessary for industrial automation. Image used courtesy of Festo Didactic
Who Is Festo Didactic?
Festo Didactic is the training arm of Festo, the global motion automation company, that focuses on technical education rather than manufacturing and promoting products and solutions. Like Festo, Festo Didactic provides automation equipment; however, the tools and solutions it provides are used as learning systems for technical training facilities and "learning laboratories" in community colleges.
In response to my question about who Festo Didactic is, Follmer explained the company’s origin: “The Didactic division was founded in 1965. We started to offer face-to-face trainings for pneumatics for our industrial customers as our owner family soon discovered that people are an essential factor for innovation and productivity of a company.”
Since its beginnings, Follmer explained that Festo Didactic has grown to serve “the high-school education market (for STEM programs), technical colleges and universities up to continuous education in industry where we provide training and blended learning offers.”
The Festo LX digital learning portal focuses on individualized learning to prepare the next generation of skilled workers. Video used courtesy of Festo Didactic
Festo Learning Experience (Festo LX)
Festo Didactic's digital learning portal, Festo LX, seeks to teach trainees and employees of any age and level skills necessary for industrial automation. Festo LX focuses on flexible and individualized learning. Follmer explained that “Festo LX is different from any learning platform or learning management system seen before. Our intention wasn’t to be another system in the market or to offer a standardized set of courses and learning programs.”
By designing Festo LX for highly-customizable and individualized learning, various technical professions can benefit from the portal, with users able to put together courses and modules needed for each individual’s track. With “micro learning,” Festo LX users can learn in increments—each of Festo LX’s lessons are short, and learners can go through courses on their own timeline.
Flexibility and learning style are also taken into account, with training that can be done anywhere, anytime, and on any device: phone, tablet, or computer.
Festo LX also incorporates extended reality into its training, allowing learners to engage with content in virtual and augmented reality settings, providing “in-person, hands-on learning.” This is an approach Festo Didactic believes will also help familiarize trainees and employees with digital technologies they may utilize in the workplace.
“Our digital learning portal, Festo LX, supports the learning process with relevant curricula and theory in an interactive and engaging way,” Follmer expressed.
Festo LX serves educational and industrial clients, as well as individuals interested in personal growth. Image used courtesy of Festo
Evolving Education in Automation
Not only is Festo Didactic concerned with the skilled labor shortage, but also the rate at which technology is rapidly evolving. With this in mind, Festo LX is not only a tool for the classroom but also the workplace, serving educational and industrial clients.
Follmer explained that “Festo LX was initially designed for our educational customers, but we also have a lot of industrial customers using Festo LX to qualify their technicians, maintenance people or engineers in technical topics. We are constantly expanding our features and contents and are planning to have a comprehensive offer around trends in automation and technical education for both our education and industrial clients.”
Individuals outside of the classroom or a company can also access the portal.
“Heartbeat of Festo Didactic’s Learning Ecosystem”
In her response, Follmer referred to Festo LX as “the heartbeat of Festo Didactic’s learning ecosystem,” going on to explain a few of the future “fun and engaging functionalities” the team is currently working on, including:
- “integrating Festo Didactic’s successful software FluidSIM for simulations to have their own circuit diagram creation tool,”
- “connecting Festo Didactic’s hardware learning systems directly with Festo LX contents and integrated measuring instruments,” and
- expanding on learning opportunities in virtual and augmented reality.
Festo LX is offered as a cloud- and subscription-based solution, which, according to Follmer, provides users with the latest content and features. Creating a Festo LX account is free, and a customized learning experience is just a click away.
