From New Work to New Learn!
Axel Springer Learning Lab — be part of awesome.
Axel Springer Learning Lab — newly founded experimental learning space at the heart of Axel Springer. Set to provide our colleagues with opportunities and tools to learn, share knowledge, and use technology as a learning tool, not just the cool new thing.
Under the influence of digitalization, not only the way we work is changing with the speed of light, but also the way we learn, the way we consume information, and pass it on. We are getting more efficient, more emerging, and way more demanding.
With the construction of the Axel Springer New Building, we have made a strong statement in the direction of a new world of work. It clearly manifests a spirit of optimism in our company. Optimism for a future, where our success lies in direct dependence on networking, collaboration, and the exchange of knowledge one every level, between each and every one.
An architectural masterpiece has redefined not only the way we work but also the way we learn. The increasing relevance of the topic of learning is already evident in the planning of the building’s space with over 400 square meters of learning spaces that spark a thirst for knowledge and enable a sustainable and innovative learning environment.
Successful learning environment — a reflection of Axel Springer growth drivers
We were extensively engaged in the planning aspects of the new Axel Springer Building. Our company`s strategic growth drivers Purpose, Speed, Tech, Innovation, People & Customer Focus helped us to identify our pathway and goals for the sustainable and innovative learning environment, which in long term contributes to the success of the company.
Purpose: From Axel Springer Purpose “We empower free decisions” to Learning & Development Purpose “ We empower to grow”. We empower by strengthening self-learning skills of the Axel Springer employees and giving each individual space to develop their potential.
Speed: Quick learning success through hybrid and sustainable training offers.
Tech: Making Tech visible, tangible and inspiring.
Innovation: is reflected in our learning rooms, which not only invite you to learn but also boost your creativity and virtual experimentation.
People & Customer Focus: in needs-oriented learning environments that are designed to be experience-centric.
Sustainable learning environment and what is the right mindset behind it?
This was one of the main questions behind our strategy. How can we design a successful and sustainable learning environment with media and technology, being our core? What is the right mindset to approach this goal? How can we strengthen our employees’ self-learning skills and giving each individual room to develop their full potential?
And we have found the solution!
Learning Lab — inspire and get inspired!
Learning Lab helps us to make Tech more tangible and thus reflects Axel Springer as media and technology company. Learning Lab can be seen as a platform where our colleagues showcase their Tech projects and use it to test their MVPs with colleagues from other departments to gain feedback.
With various interactive content, communities, this dynamic space stimulates multidisciplinary interaction and helps Axel Springer colleagues to become more skillful, more knowledgeable, more capable, and more successful in the long run.
First Tech projects showcased in the Learning Lab
Merge Cube — Beyond the 3rd Dimension
Our Merge-Cubes have unique encrypted QR codes on every cube sides. These special codes access the ‘Cube Matrix’, where they are decrypted, identified, and the browser that scanned it redirects you to the 3-Dimensional Version of Axel Springer New Building and teaches you the Axel Springer values and growth drivers. It’s easy to tinker by downloading and printing a sheet of paper, it is accessible for all of our employees around the world.
Inhouse Corona Hackathon or “How to build a fully functional BABYLON.JS Game in 3 Days. “
While being in quarantine our tech teams have searched for possibilities to overcome the sudden obstacles and an opportunity to keep up with the hackathon routine. After some extensive brainstorming, a cool project was born. A multiplayer game helping to connect and socialize online. It is set in a bakery in which two teams compete against each other in baking bread: The players need to gather water and flour, bring both to a mixer and mix it. Afterward, the dough needs to be put in the oven to finish the bread which has to be delivered to the counter for the customer to pick it up. After a decade of successful hackathons and a lot of experience with game development and also a lot of code written that could be reused.
In the Learning Lab, every Axel Springer Employee can try it, play with and against each other and potentially get inspired for the next online hackathon, even in the time of Corona.
Coffee-Maker-Mood-Bot — aka. Endorphin booster
Bad mood? Not an issue. Thanks to the creative heads of the Axel Springer Family, our Learning Lab Coffee-Maker — Mood-Bot recognizes your bad mood in the morning and tells you a joke. The Coffee-Maker-Mood-Bot observes the person in front of the coffee machine with a camera. The image is not saved, but only evaluated and then discarded. As soon as a face is recognized in this image, a neural network calculates whether the face appears rather happy or unhappy. If there is an unhappy tendency, the bot will tell a joke from his joke database.
“Hey, what`s up, you look sad. Let me tell you a joke: Chuck Norris was once on Mars. That is the reason, why there is no life….Ahahahahaha…..”
VR (Virtual Reality) Meeting Rooms
Corona pandemic brought a tremendous change in the way we work, learn, and collaborate. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, BlueJeans, Google Hangouts — you name it! Endless icons on your desktop proof without words how far we came.
But we want to go further and make the Axel Springer's meeting experience more interactive, versatile, and real. We want to offer more engagement, increase the quality of communication, erase geographical boundaries, and digitize learning experience.
One of our current projects at Axel Springer focuses on VR Meeting Rooms: 9 of our teams are currently testing if VR Meeting Rooms can complement our current communication tools. But this affects only a hand full of people. Therefore, at Learning Lab there’s a booth making this technology accessible for everyone and gaining even more diverse feedback.
3D Printer — is it still on?
There is no need to describe what 3D Printers are. Almost every six years old nowadays will give you a sophisticated pitch about the process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
But there is a definite need of more hands-on experiences. It all goes back to the basic human senses. We learn better by touching, feeling and experiencing. And what can be more inspiring as constant success by holding in the hand something that only minutes ago was a digital piece of software?
This is our goal — to give Axel Springer Employees an opportunity to learn by doing. Gain a new skill, touch and feel Tech and accept it as new normal. And who knows, maybe you will come up with a brilliant idea or invent something that will change the world.
Wall drawing and graphic recording robot
Graphic recording — we all love it. It helps us visualizing our ideas and content — as we speak. Interactive, engaging and fun.
How about the digital version of it?
Think about instantly turning your training room into a canvas with real-time digital content within minutes? Possible? We say yes!
Axel Springer Learning Lab drawing robot allows you to draw any content sourced from the web on a vertical surface, such as a wall, whiteboard, or window — and update it in real-time. A unique and innovative way to interact by sharing sketches or notes that can appear on your wall in just a few minutes. We love it!
Digital Flipchart — sustainable expansion of presenting capabilities
Our interactive touchscreen Digital Flipchart offers endless features that greatly enhance today’s fast-paced and digital-centric workflow. It is a digital driver for even better collaboration, it considerably expands presentation capabilities and is ideal for all types of seminars, trainings, or strategy generating sessions. With Digital Flipchart we are contributing to a more sustainable paperless learning environment in order to make a positive impact in the world.
Learn Hacks @Learning Lab
Learn hacks are small tipps & tricks, which allow you to handle your personal development by yourself. They help to gain clarity about learning goals, develop your individual learning plan, and pursue it sustainably in order to achieve personal or business goals today and in the future. We also encourage every colleague to share their personal LearnHacks which will be shared in our internal communities.
Learning Area — Your space for focused learning
You are desperately trying to block yourself some focus-hours but you are still easily distracted? Want to find a peaceful moment to learn something new, but it never works? Then Axel Springer Learning Area is the right place for you!
The Learning Area is a freely accessible retreat for individual and focused learning. On a weekly basis, flow sessions are offered, in which every Axel Springer Employee can immerse in the concentration and deep focus together with colleagues. Here you will find various books to learn, relax and get inspired.
At Axel Springer Learning Lab every employee can access amazing content created by Axel Springer Techies for Techies in real-time, share ideas, projects, build bridges, and collaborate with others. In the Learning Lab, we make the innovation visible and tangible.
Badass mood pins — a bit of sarcasm for everyone
Only in the Learning Lab, you can choose your own pin, depending on your mood. In order to make your day a bit brighter. Show how you feel without saying a word!
Learning Lab — we upgrade not only our products, we upgrade our people.
When you are more skilled at something, you are automatically getting an upgrade. Almost like an IOS Software — regular and precise.
Learning Lab is an upgrade, a level up, and the next step in modern corporate education. A Stage for innovative ideas, creative people, and thrive for knowledge. Deeper and richer experience — a higher resolution of the corporate vision of the future.
We want our colleagues to become better and better at the bigger context, to act as our multipliers, and help encourage others to do the same.
You are welcome to be a part of it! Because there are no borders!
Creative Heads behind it…
- Anja Rädler: Initiator of the project, she drives it forward as Project Lead with great passion.
- Jasmin Heumann: Our New Work Expert, as a project member in the new building project, she knows every corner of the new building inside out.
- Ekaterina Schneider: As a community expert, tech enthusiast and professional in the implementation of events and meetups, is real ideas generator for the project.
- Simone Hennemann: Is a trainer herself and knows exactly what our trainers need.
- Swetlana Heidebrecht: Expert for collaborative working methods with an endless passion for learning.
- Martin Bild: As a product owner for innovation projects in IT, he is a real tinkerer in the team.
