About Us

Here you can find out everything you need to know about the Digital Learning Campus (DLC): Discover our learning locations, find out about our public relations work and the promotion of future skills. We introduce you to the trainer program and show you how you can get involved yourself. Learn how we promote educational equity, what values guide us, and get to know the team behind the DLC. Click through and discover more!

The DLC – An Opportunity For Everyone!

At the Digital Learning Campus (DLC), we consider inclusion, diversity, accessibility, and participation from the outset.

Our goal is to develop learning opportunities that are so diverse that everyone can find the right learning opportunities for themselves and prepare themselves for the future. It is important to us that there are as few barriers as possible to learning online and in learning environments. That is why we are constantly working to ensure that learning opportunities are accessible and usable. 

The goal is to enable all learners – regardless of their abilities and learning styles and taking into account their diversity – to participate effectively and equitably in learning.

To achieve this goal, the DLC is working to offer barrier-sensitive learning opportunities. Barrier-sensitive means:
Paying attention to barriers that can hinder other people. Taking into account the different needs of people.
Dealing with these needs consciously and respectfully. Even if a learning opportunity is well designed to be barrier-free, there may still be situations in which people reach their limits.

Barrier sensitivity helps in such cases: You notice when someone needs help and work together to find solutions. This makes dealing with barriers humane and flexible.

How Do We Achieve Barrier-Sensitive Learning Opportunities?

We take several things into account when it comes to barrier-sensitive learning opportunities: rooms and technology are made barrier-free, and language that is easy to understand and takes into account the diversity of learners is used.

The DLC team has drawn up requirements for barrier-sensitive learning locations and opportunities. To do this, we have followed the accessibility guidelines of Aktion Mensch

Participants should be able to visit the learning locations. For example, there should be ramps, elevators, or wide passageways instead of stairs or narrow doors. Public spaces should also be designed to be barrier-free. This makes it easier for people with disabilities, older people, or parents with strollers to participate. Our goal for the DLC is to implement the following aspects at all learning and event locations:

  • Event locations should be at ground level, close to the street, have parking spaces, and be easily accessible by bus or train.
  • Clear signage throughout the building.
  • Blind people can orient themselves using a floor guidance system.
  • The rooms do not echo and speech can be easily understood.
  • There are automatic doors.
  • Elevators are available if necessary. They should be at least 110 centimeters wide and at least 140 centimeters long. There should be an announcement of all floors.
  • all stairs have ramps with a maximum gradient of 6% and a minimum width of 120 centimeters
  • all stairs have handrails and banisters
  • all relevant doors in the building are at least 90 centimeters wide
  • all tables are suitable for wheelchair users and there is enough space between the furniture.

Learners should be able to understand the information and language. Everyone should be able to participate and learn. We want to use understandable language, explain foreign words, and use aids such as diagrams or subtitles. We use appreciative, gender-neutral, anti-discriminatory language that treats diversity with respect (e.g., no stereotypes, no derogatory terms) and represents the diverse realities of life. Another goal is to offer courses in German sign language. People should be able to communicate their needs. These should be taken into account. We pay attention to open and supportive communication. It promotes exchange and breaks down barriers such as language difficulties. There should be learning opportunities in easy language. To this end, we talk to self-advocates from the target group in order to create suitable offerings. We also want to offer learning opportunities in other languages.

Users should be able to understand all information. That is why DLC offerings should also be accessible with assistive technologies such as screen reader programs. All films and videos made for the DLC have subtitles and audio descriptions. The DLC platform is accessible and is constantly being developed. There are digital events and events at the learning locations that are broadcast as livestreams.

Further Development Of The DLC-Platform

The Digital Learning Campus is a project that is constantly evolving and is not yet complete. Users can participate in its development from the very beginning.

The DLC platform has been available in a beta version since November 2024. Beta means that the platform is still under development and not all features have been implemented yet.

Throughout the project, there will be ongoing updates to the platform. Several updates are already planned. These include improving barrier sensitivity on the platform. 

Do you have any questions, requests, or ideas? Then feel free to contact us and send an email to bildungsgerechtigkeit@dlc.sh

About The Digital Learning Campus

At the Digital Learning Campus (DLC), you can get involved and learn new things. You can help shape your future, your company, and your region. Whether you come from education, business, trade, culture, or civil society, here you can learn important skills for your field. You can build new networks. Your ideas can create innovations for the economy and society in Schleswig-Holstein.

The DLC is the educational network for Schleswig-Holstein. It consists of a digital learning platform and learning locations. The learning locations are in Flensburg, Kiel, Heide, and Lübeck. The universities and their partners offer you a wide range of learning opportunities there.

The Digital Learning Campus is more than just a place to learn. It offers you many opportunities to make contacts. Here you can exchange ideas with people from different fields and learn from each other. Together you can develop new ideas on future topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics, sustainability, social media, computer science, and digital design. You will also get to know exciting people and organizations from Schleswig-Holstein. Who knows what might come of it! Lively collaboration is very important to us at the DLC.

We at DLC invite you on a learning journey. You can network with others, support and inspire each other. This creates valuable connections and collaborations that will help you advance—for your personal development and the future of your region.

Everything at DLC is based on values. These values determine our learning, our collaboration, and our language. They are reflected in our openness to new ideas, our willingness to discover new things together, and our respectful interaction with one another. Anyone who participates in DLC quickly realizes that these values are the foundation that allows everyone to get involved, network, and grow with others.

Here are the most important values for DLC:

Values For The Digital Learning Campus

  1. The DLC offers free regional education and collaboration—digitally and on-site. It enables a lifelong learning journey for everyone.
  2. The DLC team motivates you to start and continue your learning journey toward future skills. You can document and use your learning progress with digital certificates and badges.
  3. At the DLC, we focus on important technological topics of the future. With the offerings at the DLC, you will learn more about digital future prospects. You will gain insights into the latest technologies and inventions.
  4. The DLC offers a large network, innovative tools, and support. This allows you to implement creative ideas and develop personally.
  5. The DLC is a state-wide hybrid campus in Schleswig-Holstein. It connects business, science, civil society, and the local population. The DLC's offerings support the further education of skilled workers and strengthen the region's innovative power.
  6. We are constantly developing the DLC further. The offerings are tailored to the needs of people in a digital world. Research and exchange with the population support this process.
  7. The DLC team wants to maintain the learning locations and digital offerings in the long term and sustainably. This will allow people to continue to benefit from the learning opportunities in the future.

The Trainer Program At The Digital Learning Campus

Trainers play an important role at the Digital Learning Campus (DLC). Their learning opportunities bring the DLC to life, making it dynamic and unique. The DLC invites learners to explore, participate, and be inspired. They can find – or rediscover – the joy of learning. In the Trainer Program, you will learn how to make learning fun and exciting.

Start Your Learning Journey At The DLC Now!

The Trainer Program is the starting point for your learning journey at the DLC. You will learn how to create learning opportunities for learners with divers backgrounds and needs and how to inspire them. The Program is free of charge, fully online, and you can start whenever it suits you. As part of the Trainer Program, you will expand your knowledge of skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world and refresh your teaching abilities. You’ll complete the Program with an assessment. Here, you can apply both skills and knowledge acquired throughout the Program as well as skills that you already brought with you. After successfully completing the Program, you will be a certified Trainer — ready to get started at the DLC!

What To Expect In The Trainer Program

You will learn more about the goals of the DLC and its learning networks. You can strengthen your future skills and understand how work and collaboration will function in the future. In short: you will discover how digital technologies shape everyday life and work. Are you primarily interested in learning new teaching methods or strategies for effective instruction? There are also suitable courses in the Trainer Program.

The Trainer Program consists of two modules:

The DLC Introduction Module consists of four courses:
  • Introduction To The DLC
  • DLC Learning Networks
  • Living And Working In Digital Cultures
  • Future Skills

The Teaching And Facilitation Module consists of three courses:
  • Pedagogical Practice & Sharing Knowledge
  • Presenting, Facilitating, Collaborating
  • E-learning

Good Reasons For Joining The Trainer Program

There are many reasons to become a Trainer at the Digital Learning Campus. These reasons are as diverse as the people in Schleswig-Holstein. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or an employee in a company — you bring your own expectations. These could include:

The DLC is an open, free, and accessibility-aware learning space for people in Schleswig-Holstein. It offers learners easy access to education. With your learning opportunities, you help strengthen a fair and inclusive society. You promote educational equity, self-determination, and inclusion!

Start your DLC learning journey as a Trainer. Discover new interests and develop your skills in key future competencies. By earning badges and certificates developed exclusively for the DLC, you can make your achievements visible for others.

Are you passionate about Artificial Intelligence, Social & Media, or Computer Science And Beyond? Great! Your passion for future-oriented topics will inspire your learners. Support them along the way — and celebrate their successes together!

Connect with other DLC Trainers and learn with and from like-minded people! In dedicated networking events, you can deepen your knowledge of future-oriented topics — while also expanding your personal network.

As a hybrid campus, the DLC is ideal for trying out and developing new teaching concepts together. Find and strengthen your personality as a DLC Trainer — built on mutual respect and a learning environment where learners are seen and treated as equals. This way, you can make learning a positive and joyful experience.

And so much more...

What Are You Waiting For? Let's Get Started!

You can access the Trainer Program directly through the DLC Platform. First, sign up for an account. Then sign in for the self-study course for the Trainer Program. That's it – you're ready to begin! 

In A Nutshell

We've also put together a summary of the most important information about the Trainer Program. Feel free to share it with others in your network who might be interested!

Summary For Individuals

Summary For Companies

Any Questions?

Do you have questions about the Trainer Program? Feel free to send an email to trainer@dlc.sh. We look forward to hearing from you!

Talk About DLC

From press releases to social media templates, document templates, and contact details: here you will find everything you need for public relations and communication relating to the Digital Learning Campus (DLC). If anything is missing, please get in touch using the contact details below.

Contact

DLC-Geschäftsstelle 
Wissenschaftszentrum Kiel GmbH
Leitung: Dr. Ronny Röwert
Fraunhoferstraße 13
D - 24118 Kiel

kontakt@dlc.sh
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube

Media-Kit

Design And Communication In General

Templates For Documents And Presentations

Social Media

The images, graphics, and documents provided by the DLC are to be used exclusively for reporting and use in connection with content related to the DLC. The use of images, graphics, and documents in articles that are not related to the DLC is expressly prohibited.

The material is available free of charge under an open license for appropriate purposes. Reports in the press, social media, and other contexts can be sent for information purposes by email (link or PDF) or post (specimen copy) to the contact address above so that the DLC development team can track how/where it was communicated and reinforce this in the media.

 

Creation Of The Digital Learning Campus

The DLC was developed by the Ministry of Education since 2018 in many discussions and analyses, on the one hand in intensive discussions with political decision-makers and many experts from universities, companies, ministries, and organizations from all over Germany, with the Stifterverband playing a special role together with the Hochschulforum Digitalisierung (University Forum on Digitalization) and the AI Campus. Secondly, school pupils, teachers, and students were also involved, who know very well what the future of education systems could look like and whose ideas made valuable contributions to the design of the DLC. And thirdly, LinkedIn, among others, offers an indispensable daily kaleidoscope of discussions, ideas, and initiatives that open up international and entrepreneurial perspectives in particular and have also been incorporated into the DLC.

The basic concept of the DLC was then prepared in a broad-based participatory process: Why do we actually need the DLC? What advantages does it offer the various target groups? What would be their motives for participating? Does it have to be so complex? All of this was explored in depth and evaluated in numerous communication forums and a survey, and is now available in the first DLC study: DLC Participation Process Results Report

The DLC gained momentum with the prospect of funding from the state's economic program, in which such an education-focused program is still a novelty in Europe today. Are application-oriented learning and skilling really relevant for the regional economy? Will the business community participate? The EU Commission has answered this question in the affirmative and defined the DLC as a flagship project for Schleswig-Holstein, which initiated the complex process of developing guidelines: DLC Guidelines. Together with the explanatory and accompanying DLC-Handout, it still reflects the genetics of the DLC today, with key elements being formulated in section 1.1 in particular.

As a result, the DLC combines various approaches, including responses to different social challenges: demographic change, skills shortages, digitalization, and in their wake many new technologies such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality, but also increasing social crises and the growing need for personal and systemic resilience, and dynamic developments in the education market, where there is demand for more individualized, intelligent, and application-oriented learning, cross-educational structures, and a nimble exchange, especially between young people and the regional economy, is in demand, but often cannot be developed as quickly and dynamically in state educational structures, among other things.

With the KMK event „Future Skills an Hochschulen“ (Future Skills at Universities) we addressed the still pressing question of how change can be driven forward in state institutions. Students in particular are very willing to embrace change, but the forces of inertia in existing structures are also very strong.

As a result, all universities based in Schleswig-Holstein, many social actors, companies, and regional business associations successfully participated in the tendering process starting in February 2023. They organized themselves into seven networks with a total of 30 funded partners, which today form the central DLC development hub and the six learning location networks and, together with the state-funded DLC office, will implement the DLC's visions statewide.

At the kick-off event „DLC meets EU“  in March 2024, there was great anticipation as to how the EU Commission would classify the DLC; with the result that, from Brussels' perspective, the DLC is a beacon of hope for overcoming the challenges of the future together – each and every one of us individually, but also as innovators for the free democratic system and for the future viability of our regional economy and educational institutions.

Author And Contact Persons

Stefan Lemke, Ministry of General and Vocational Education, Science, Research, and Culture of the State of Schleswig-Holstein (MBWFK), Advisor for Strategic Projects on Digital Development in Research and Teaching at Universities, in particular Future Skills, Digital Learning Campus, and AI Professorships

Discussions among DLC makers: Jochen Abke (Vice President of Lübeck Technical University) in conversation with Education Minister Karin Prien, Christoph Jansen (former President of Flensburg University of Applied Sciences) and Gabriele Gillessen-Kaesbach (President of the University of Lübeck).

Future Skills: Skills For The Future?

What exactly future skills are is not an easy question to answer. It cannot be summed up in just a few sentences. It helps to first look at the terms “future” and “skill” separately.

The future is unpredictable and changeable. That’s why we speak in the plural of “futures”. Futures can shake up our social lives with profound events, dividing them into a “before” and an “after.” One example of such an event is the widespread access to artificial intelligence (AI) through tools like ChatGPT.

For this reason, AI skills, as an example of future skills, are an important topic in society. However, these discussions are not new: for decades, societies have been discussing skills and adapting them to changes in technology or the economy. This raises the question: are future skills merely old ideas in a new form? The term “future skills” has been widely used in education policy and business since the 2010s. More important than a definition of future skills seems to be the answer to this question:

What can people do to remain capable of acting in unpredictable futures?

From Passivity To Activity At The Digital Learning Campus

The unpredictability of futures can be paralyzing or overwhelming. This is precisely why we must become active shapers of the future. The Digital Learning Campus (DLC) provides spaces — both on-site and online — for exactly these kinds of people. Here, they can experiment, try things out, and learn in the context of future-oriented topics. By jointly engaging with different future scenarios, we can develop skills. These skills can be acquired at the DLC through various learning opportunities.

The growing number of DLC Makers and new learning opportunities makes it possible to respond quickly to societal developments. Future skills are a snapshot of current changes and demands. They exist in the tension between stability and change. In this way, the DLC becomes a vibrant, exciting, and dynamic learning network for people in Schleswig-Holstein.

The Process: Future Skills For The Digital Learning Campus

Identifying the future skills that are important for the DLC is a collaborative and exciting journey of discovery. In an open exchange format, DLC Makers were able to participate. The discussion was based on the Future Skills Framework (Stifterverband & McKinsey, 2021), which describes future skills as follows:

We define future skills as cross-industry abilities, skills, and characteristics that will become more important in all areas of professional life and beyond over the next five years. [...] Future skills are both shaped and complemented by specific knowledge and an appropriate value orientation — meaning the willingness to take action. With the term “skill” (Weinert, 2001), we encompass all of these attributes (translated from German by Christiane Schätzle, after Stifterverband & McKinsey, 2021, p. 3).

The figure below illustrates the four categories of Future Skills 2021, which served as the basis for discussion within the DLC Community.

The four categories of the Future Skills Framework (Stifterverband & McKinsey, 2021)

Source: Stifterverband & McKinsey, 2021

The advantages and also the limitations of the 2021 Future Skills Framework for the DLC have been discussed. Learning opportunities (both online and on-site) should be presented on the DLC Platform in a clear, understandable, and inspiring way. A challenge stemmed from the fact that the 2021 Future Skills Framework includes only four general categories (see figure above) or 21 specific competencies. To address this, a new tagging system for the planned learning opportunities at the DLC was developed.

The Result: 7 Future Topics At The Digital Learning Campus

In collaboration with interested DLC Makers and aligned with the content of the learning opportunities, six categories for future topics at the DLC were defined. In the further development of the DLC, and arising from a need identified by the learning networks, a seventh category, Basic Skills was added in summer 2025.

  1. Artificial Intelligence 
  2. Emerging Technologies & Innovation
  3. Computer Science And Beyond
  4. Digital Cultures, Art & Design
  5. Social & Media
  6. Sustainable Development 
  7. Basic Skills

These future topics enable people in Schleswig-Holstein to develop important future skills, empowering them to actively shape the future. Whether online or on-site, the DLC invites learners to immerse themselves in these areas. Together, we can expand our knowledge and find answers to the challenges of tomorrow.

More About Future Skills

The DLC Team participated in a working group of the Future Skills Journey. The goal of this working group was to write a position paper. This paper provides organizations with guidance on how they can develop in the area of Future Skills. It is intended to support organizations in this development process. Currently, this paper is only available in German.

Impulspapier: Future Skills - Warum? Was? Wie? Der Weg zur Future-Skills-Organisation