Mobile Learning Applications for Technical

Vocational and Engineering Education

The Use of Competence Snippets in Laboratory Courses and Industry 4.0

Steffen Jaschke
Technical Vocational Didactics
University of Siegen
Siegen, Germany
steffen.jaschke@uni-siegen.de

This paper focuses on the facilitation of mobile learning
processes in technical vocational and engineering education as well
DVLWV¶LQWHJUDWLRQLQOHDUQLQJRQWKHMREVFHQDULRV of the industry
4.0. This includes the distribution of classical learning materials
like texts, pictures, videos, or simulations, but, here, workplace-
based learning environments are of particular importance. While
electronic learning (e-Learning) is well known and broadly used in
different kinds of education, this is not true for mobile learning (m-
Learning), even though it offers new possibilities as a supplement
beyond micro learning.
Keywords—e-Learning; m-Learning; industrial revolution
(industry 4.0); engineering education; life-long learning;
I. INTRODUCTION
Frequently, mobile learning is considered as a mobile
version of e-Learning where the content is adapted for mobile
devices, former cellphones. Today, the development of m-
Learning is closely connected to the development of the mobile
technologies themselves, above all, smartphones and tablet
computers [1]. Existing e-Learning material is revised and
transformed for mobile platforms which is not subject of the
authors¶ work. Instead, the focus is on learning processes that are
even not feasible without mobile devices, or else, are
extraordinary improved by mobile concepts. As a result, a
mobile learning application is being developed that enables a
quick access to learning content in laboratory and mobile
environments. The capabilities of mobile devices are getting
constantly expanded so that they have a lot of sensors and
interfaces embedded. Using these interfaces as a connection to
the cyber-physical environment allows learning processes that
depends heavily on the cyber-SK\VLFDOV\VWHP¶VVWDWH
7KH DXWKRUV¶ ZRUN regarding learning in industrial work
processes is influenced by research on laboratory courses in
computer science education. Some of the considered problems
concern engineering and vocational education also. Thus, the
motivation and the development of the described mobile
learning system as well as its¶ field of application have
references to both, laboratory courses and work processes of the
fourth industrial revolution.
II. FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Interfering to a discussion whether ongoing changes in
industry can be seen as an evolution or a revolution is not the
way teachers and researchers should face the upcoming
challenges. Undisputed is the fact that production processes are
affected by the increasing appearance of cyber-physical systems,
and, just as well, their extended capabilities.
³Cyber-physical production systems will drive industrial
manufacturing to the digital-age and create technological as well
as the organizational basis for the 4th industrial revolution.´[2]
Compared to further industrial revolutions, the impacts
seems to be less drastic which may be caused by the fact that this
is (just) another application area of cyber-physical systems or
degree of networking.
Each industrial revolution has changed work processes
dramatically. 6RPH ZRUNHUV¶ SURIHVVLRQ ZDV REVROHWH, some
emerged, and of cause, many changed slightly. To sum up, each
industrial revolution was a revolution of the work processes and
as a result a revolution of the education of workers.
The working group ³LQGXVWU\´ founded by the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research identified eight key
areas in which research and development is mandatory [4]:
x Standardization and reference architecture
x Managing complex systems
x A comprehensive broadband infrastructure for industry
x Safety and security
x Work organization and design
x Training and continuing professional development
x Regulatory framework
x Resource efficiency
At first sight, only the areas ³training and continuing
professional development´ seems to have a strong educational
perspective, but going into detail shows that research on
engineering education has to face manifold problems. The

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2014 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (ICL)
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underlying technological development requires new
competences of ongoing engineers as well as the significantly
changed role of work in smart factories. Assuming that this
process will continue over decades the educational perspective
is as important as the technology driven ones.
³,QGXVWU\  ZLOO UDGLFDOO\ WUDQVIRUP ZRUNHUV¶ MRE DQG
competence profiles. It will therefore be necessary to implement
appropriate training strategies and to organize work in a way that
fosters learning, enabling lifelong learning and workplace-based
&3'´[2]
,QWKHDXWKRUV¶ZRUNWKHIRXUWKLQGXVWULDOUHYROXWLRQLVQRW
considered as a process in manufacturing only, but as work
processes that are heavily aided or affected by the increasing
usage of cyber-physical systems.
III. LABORATORY COURSES
Experiences gained within a laboratory course focused on
embedded systems development for computer science students
underpin the needs for e/m-Learning. In order to go not beyond
WKHVFRSHRIWKLVSDSHUWKHFRXUVH¶VGHWDLOVDQGUHVHDUFKDERXW
competences of embedded systems developers are not described
here, but can be seen in [5] [6] [7] [8]. To give a short insight,
the evaluation of the laboratory course has be done applying a
non-participating observation (see [9]) that revealed one big
question: How can we enable the students to apply, up to now,
unknown concepts of programming and the operation of
laboratory equipment without access to the hardware/lab?
Although the students had all required documentation and
literature available in advance, and, although they had to pass
multiple choice tests, they had not been enabled to complete the
lab without applying a trial-and-error strategy. In order to gain
competences, in sense of being able to solve problems, trial-and-
error is not the only, and of course, not the preferable approach.
Especially, operating the oscilloscope was a big obstacle. In
consultation with the students it was found that this was due to
VHYHUDOFDXVHVOLNH³WKHPDQXDOZDVQ¶WUHDGEDVLFVRIHOHFWULFDO
engineering (voltage/power) have been unknown, as well as how
WRPHDVXUHWKHPDQGKRZDQRVFLOORVFRSHZRUNVLQJHQHUDO´[8]
Nevertheless, a structured approach is not applicable without
understanding the basics of electrical engineering and how the
oscilloscope is to be connected. Thus, beside reading manuals
and literature, simulating an oscilloscope in advance and/or
having an extensive support in the lab is absolutely required. The
latter one cannot be afforded by staff considering the size of
group and the time needed. The former is currently not available
and its development would cost too much effort for too little
benefit. Thus, a system is required that supports students, for
example, at the operating of laboratory equipment or the
procedure of measuring voltage within a circuit right at their
working place.
A. Technical Vocational Education and Training
Within a laboratory course for teacher training for technical
and vocational education and training (TT-TVET) that focuses
on practical work on selected case studies in the field of
automotive service, comparable challenges have been
recognized. A car is considered as a large and complex system
where, in fact, it is impossible to overview all components with
their manufacturer-specific technical details. Nor is it possible to
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perform all services from memory, even less, if the students are
not fully trained in this field. Thus, a strong support within the
ODERUDWRU\FRXUVHLVHVVHQWLDO,QWKHDXWKRUV¶studies, almost no
student has competences in the field of automotive service.
Nonetheless, within their professional field as teachers in
vocational colleges they need to be able to create projects
deducted from e.g. automotive diagnosis but other domains too.
Because it is not feasible for students to gain all required
information within a preparation phase (as mentioned before),
the use of mobile equipment and mobile support is mandatory.
Claiming, these requirements hold true for many areas of
technical vocational and engineering education and are
transferrable to many engineering disciplines, a new application
for mobile learning in technical vocational education that
facilitates learning processes in the first place has to be
developed.
IV. E-LEARNING IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Ongoing engineers can benefit in many ways by the use of
e-Learning that it is considers as learning with aid of personal
computers. First of all, simulations and visualizations enable
insights to systems and processes that are otherwise invisible.
They also provide abstractions of very complex systems or
components. Beside these exemplary didactical factors,
economic reasons cause a shift from classical presence events to
e-Learning or blended learning concepts, as it save time of
laboratory usage and staff [6]. For the selection of appropriate
simulations, the educators, first, have to decide whether a
professional tool or some kind of dedicated educational
simulation should be worked with. The former may be a big
hurdle as the capabilities of professional simulation tools may
overtax the students that may led to demotivation. Otherwise, the
students would be prepared for work in industry later on.
Dedicated simulations or visualizations focus on the learning
process and try to match the learners¶ preconditions and the
WDVNV¶SDUWLFXODULWLHV The decision depends heavily on the target
group.
Ongoing engineers should be equipped with a set of methods
and tools that are used in practice as well. The question is now:
when to introduce professional tools? The authors claim that
professional tools should be integrated in areas of specialization
within the last semesters where the students can estimate the
importance of a tool and understand the underlying processes.
Within the first semesters the students would waste too much
time for e.g. tools they never will use again, or, even not
understand so that they apply try-and-error strategies. In general,
state of the art software/hardware should be used, if a
professional tool is chosen, only. The same is true for vocational
education and the corresponding teacher training where students
are trained towards different industries, employers, and where
the work processes are changing fast. Within the first semesters
in engineering education the students should focus on basic
processes, technologies, and methods where the handling of
industrial tools is of minor importance.
To summarize, the authors proposes to use dedicated
environments where the students are to solve problems by
oneself (in teams), but, with the extensive use of e-Learning that
is built for a particular learning process. Without mobile devices,
learner would be forced to get the information by paper or
03-06 December 2014, Dubai, UAE
computers, distributed in the laboratory. Especially, training on
the job scenarios in fast changing environments require mobile
devices as well as m-Learning to support workers in industry.
V. MOBILE COMPETENCE SNIPPETS
Knowledge floaters are short (five minute) multimedia
supported units of learning (video/slides). These units are not as
comprehensive as parts of textbooks or even Wikipedia articles.
Furthermore, they are not necessarily scientific. Knowledge
floater contain the information required to give a broad overview
or exactly the information that is necessary to solve a given
problem. For example, the question is how to disassemble the
car¶s breaks? Watching a video tutorial or reading a very short
manual would be much more helpful than reading a scientific
article about breaks and their fastening technologies. This can be
transferred to the operating of an oscilloscope, mentioned above.
It is not necessary to know the function of all buttons or the
IXQFWLRQ RI WKH HOHFWURQ EHDPV¶ control. The students need a
short introduction or little help to overcome a particular hurdle.
)XUWKHUPRUH LI WKH\ GRQ¶W NQRZ ZKDW IXQFWLRQ LV OLQNHG WR D
VSHFLILFEXWWRQWKH\QHHGWREHDEOHWRORRNXSLWV¶GHWDLOV7R
state one point clear, this is not meant in the sense of a
comprehensive electronic manual, but a quick mobile support.
:LWKLQWKHDXWKRUV¶ work, the term knowledge floater is not
appropriate. Instead of providing videos that contains theoretical
and factual knowledge, MoLeApp (Mobile Learning
Application) serves as a step towards competences. Here
FRPSHWHQFHPHDQVWKH³proven ability to use knowledge, skills
and personal, social and/or methodological abilities, in work or
study situations and in professional and personal develRSPHQW´
[10] . This links in particular to problem solving strategies that
enables the student to overcome a given hurdle. In addition, each
learning object is considered as one snippet of a whole, a snippet
for a given task. Thus, the term competence snippet is used,
although it may consist of multiple learning objects. At the
moment, a database containing texts, pictures and videos is
under construction. In order to achieve competences in the field
of automotive service, this includes checklists of diagnostic
steps as well as video tutorials of concrete procedures
To deliver an application that provides all snippets
hierarchical seems to be the most pragmatic way, but meets two
problems. First, the selection of the snippet is not easy if the
terminology itself is unknown, and second to orient oneself in
case of a huge amount of snippets. One possible solution is to
deliver one app per topic e.g. one for the oscilloscope, one for
the multimeter, and one for the function generator. This would
improve the orientation but neglects the problem of unknown
terminology. Furthermore, it means high administrative costs.
Therefore, a one-app solution seems to be more appropriate. In
case of relative simple or small systems/devices like a
multimeter this proceeding is sufficient. Now, by using tablet
computers, students have a large quantity of snippets at hand.
Future courses will contain a part of contribution where the
students are to deliver a snippet for the catalogue. Unfortunately,
searching for the right snipped is time wasting and misses the
goal of a quick access. To solve the problem of orientation and
access to a snippet as a part of a larger or more complex
system/device an approach, promoted by new capabilities of
mobile devices, is explained within the next section.
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A. Mobile capabilities facilitate quick access
Tablet computers, nowadays, have two perfect fitting
capabilities that enables the learner to access snippets very fast,
the camera and a near field communication interface (NFC).
Each component of the car that is relevant for the learning
process is labeled with a QR-Code that is linked to the
corresponding competence snippet. Now the learner can access
a video tutorial in less than five seconds simply by scanning the
code. If the component has no plain surface a NFC tag can be
attached. This enables the access to a snippet by putting the
tablet close to the component. If this is, for any reason, not
applicable, teachers can extend the system by printing e.g.
posters with the components and the QR-Codes. This can also
be done in preparation phases and corresponding material by
printing QR-Codes on worksheets and lecture notes.
Fig. 1. QR-&RGHIRUWDVN³DQWL-UROOEDU´
B. Life Long Learning in the Industry 4.0
The scenarios described above are dedicated learning
environments where students are supported by staff and
additional competence snippets. One step further, competence
snippets seems to fit perfectly in working processes where the
focus is not on learning, but on quantity and quality. Both,
mostly, depends on the individual employee and his/her
competences. Typically, technical vocational education takes
place before working on real tasks in technical environments. If
possible, these tasks are fully accessible in a kind of a sandbox
where mistakes have no negative impacts. If the work processes
are changing or are even not transferrable to a sandbox or
simulator, learning has to take place alongside the processes.
This is true for all tasks that are typically done by semi-skilled
workers without any education referring to these processes, but
nowadays also for workers in the industry 4.0.
As a first approach, educators accompany the workers and
instruct them within the first time. Later on, workers are doing
the job independently and ask for help if needed. To intervene as
necessary is no longer possible. Because of complex and maybe
fast changing work processes of the industry 4.0, in most cases,
it is not possible to impart all eventualities, problems, and
solutions at a time. Therefore, MoLeApp will be extended with
interfaces that support workers during the process. In advance,
such an implementation should educate the workers so that some
problems or mistakes do not reappear. A system that operates
OLNH ³SUREOHP ;RFFXUUHGSOHDVHSHUIRUP <´ LV XQUHZDUGLQJ
and just indicates a process that may get automated. The workers
should be educated in order to be able to solve problems by
themselves. It is necessary to comprehend the reason for the
03-06 December 2014, Dubai, UAE
occurrence of problems DQGLWV¶IHDVLEOHVROXWLRQVThe workers
may be sensitized for the impacts of mistakes (if they are not
obvious). For the extension of MoLeApp an interface to the
cyber-physical environment is necessary that triggers the
learning processes depending on process data.
Whether to trigger learning process depends on the actual
system state. For example, systems may, in principle, not be in a
safety-critical state. The problem has to be solved pragmatically
first. Afterwards, the surrounding conditions can be part of a
teaching unit. Other processes may produce data that can be
analyzed automatically and instruct/teach the workers before an
impact may occur. Tablet computers that are embedded in the
cyber-physical environment will connect working and learning
and will help to support life-long learning as well.
Laboratory Courses Work Processes
maschine data
NFC-Tag
trigger snippet
trigger snippet
Data Analysis
QR-Code
Fig. 2. Trigger snippets by tags and process data
VI. CONCLUSION AND FURTHER WORK
The need for mLearning applications that supports learning
within the actual working process was motivated by two areas of
application.
x Laboratory courses
x Industry 4.0
Within the latter one, the learning processes can be triggered
by data of the cyber-physical systems of the working processes.
This allows mobile training on the job scenarios. The author
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proposed the use of competence snippets instead of
comprehensive material that can be accessed easily via QR-
Codes, NFC, or process data. The database of snippets is under
construction.
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