Digital learning platform for the hotel sector in Ghana
platform3L GmbH • Gamified microlearning simple to integrate in everyday working life
In July 2019, platform3L GmbH—the German education technology company —concluded a contract for the use of its digital quiz learning platform with the Villa Monticello boutique hotel in Ghana.
This learning solution had already been used successfully with a major hotel group in Germany. Within two years, three million study questions had been played in the quiz. The questions can be created simply and on a customised basis. These initial and continuing education and training activities for hotel group employees have safeguarded and improved process workflows, customer service and the onboarding of new staff across locations.
The platform's microlearning approach (learning in small units)—a platform which can also be used on a smartphone—means that learning can be integrated into everyday working life. This can already be used to select quality ratings, from Tripadvisor or booking.com, for example, and, in the event of any critical reviews, relevant quiz content can be displayed directly to staff at the hotel concerned.
These experiences impressed Laurie Awotwi, managing director of Villa Monticello which has been awarded the title of Ghana's best hotel. The goal is to improve the quality in process flows and customer service. The Chamber of Industry and Commerce training content is presented in the form of a quiz, and she will supplement this with her own relevant content for the training and continuing education of hotel employees. This makes the training solution of even greater interest to other African clients.
platform3L offers expertise in gamification approaches. Quizzes enable procedures and processes in all sectors to be learned quickly, and not just in the hotel and restaurant trade. Each training measure has content which can be created individually and used globally in a short space of time through the use of cloud-based software, and due to the well-developed mobile networks, can also be quickly used in Africa and other regions of the world. platform3L provides clients and implementation partners such as training providers with the software needed as a white label solution and in every language required.
Not-for-profit training project "Africa 4.0"
In 2019, platform3L also participated in a Federal Ministry of Education and Research delegation trip to Ghana with Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek. Based on discussions which took place during this trip with representatives of the Ghanaian Ministry of Education, the company is now launching an initial not-for-profit training project entitled "Africa 4.0". With the help of a grant from the Social Impact Lab Bonn, the objective is to create a scalable blueprint showing how traditional training pathways can be supported or even skipped entirely with the help of the digital learning platform and how these lead young people into employment more quickly.
Africa 4.0 will address a challenge faced across Africa—there are too few jobs available for the high numbers of school leavers and graduates, and there is a lack of both value addition and companies able to generate the relevant vacancies. The training solution is based on the alternative of creating your own job.
Like many West African countries, Ghana has introduced a mandatory year for the so-called "Building a nation" programme and is seeking to develop greater added value particularly in the areas of energy, construction tourism, agriculture and education and training. The young university graduates understand the challenges in their countries but often lack the knowledge of how, with the help of new technologies and approaches, similar challenges are being overcome in other regions of the world.
Inspiration from application examples
This is precisely where the training solution comes in, sending young people successful application examples from around the world every day via email to inspire their own activities. These application examples are rated via the swarm intelligence of around 85,000 participants within this ambitious elite group of trainees in Ghana, and, as a result, it quickly becomes clear what is relevant and scalable for your own country or your own region and which ideas should be supported so that they can be implemented.
A digitally supported company building process from platform3L brings young people together who have been inspired by the same idea. On their year-long digital journey, participants build part of their future each week and as they do so are supported by digitally specified milestones and learning units. There are now 24 hubs in Ghana with which platform3L collaborates and these play a key role in this process. With an application-oriented focus, they support the digital company building process with guidance and training at a local level.
The application examples which are curated and sent from the platform3L database do not just come from the internal global pool of more than 50,000 inspiring ideas. Companies of all sizes from Germany are able to add their own application examples from their portfolio and quickly discover, without major expense, the potential uses of their products and services in Ghana. In just one year they can expect specific application examples which have been developed by interdisciplinary teams.
Relevant added value
The collaboration with German industry results in a genuine win-win situation. The jobs created produce employment opportunities for lots of young people and at the same time develop the relevant added value in a country with a future.
For implementation at a local level, support from relevant training and continuing education provision must be guaranteed not only in the industrial and technical sector, but in the commercial sector too. Training and continuing education is therefore an integral part of the process for developing added value as quickly as possible. To support for, platform3L is already collaborating with training providers from Germany and Ghana.
