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ICTE in Regional Development

A virtual interactive training application for supporting service

technicians in the field of high voltage equipment
a

a
Tina Haase *, Wilhelm Termatha
Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF, 39106 Magdeburg, Sandtorstrasse 22, Germany

Abstract

The demands on professional qualification and training courses have changed in recent years. A high variety of products and
shortened product lifecycles require the training to be very flexible. The trend goes to training on the job and shortened time for
face-to-face training sessions in favour of self-learning phases.
Following the concept of active learning, interactive 3-D training additionally facilitates flexible, time-independent and user-
adapted training irrespective of the availability of a machine or piece of technical equipment.
An interactive 3-D-training application is utilized to design interactive training lessons in different fields of application, e.g.
mechanical and plant engineering, shipbuilding and power engineering 1,2,3. The paper at hand presents the didactic concepts on
which it is based and gives an introduction on how these concepts are transferred to virtual interactive learning environments.
Besides it addresses the role of expert knowledge in complex processes.
This paper focuses to the domain of high voltage equipment whereas most requirements are valid and therefore transferable to
other domains as well. As the tasks within maintenance processes are very complex it is not sufficient only to show the solution
to the trainees and to ask them to imitate what they have seen. In fact, complex tasks require decision making skills that can only
be gained within the working process. In case the real machine is not available for learning, it is necessary to create similar
conditions (in a virtual world) under which knowledge can be experienced 4.

©
© 2015
2016 The
TheAuthors.
Authors.Published by by
Published Elsevier B.V.B.V.
Elsevier This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Sociotechnical Systems Engineering Institute of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Sociotechnical Systems Engineering Institute of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences
Keywords: 3-D visualization; Virtual reality; Virtual interactive training

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tina.haase@iff.fraunhofer.de, wilhelm.termath@iff.fraunhofer.de

1877-0509 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Sociotechnical Systems Engineering Institute of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences
doi:10.1016/j.procs.2015.12.372
 208 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214

1. Conditions of manual work processes in the field of high voltage equipment

Assembly, commissioning and maintenance are typical tasks for service technicians in the field of high voltage
equipment. These tasks are characterized on the one hand by some very dangerous processes that require highly
qualified and experienced staff. Technicians need to be sensitized for the risks they are facing in their daily working
processes. On the other hand those tasks include processes that are often not visible due to very fast processes inside
the machine or housings that make a look inside impossible. Those restrictions make it difficult for learners to
understand the interior processes. Figure 1 shows an operating mechanism in the virtual environment that overcomes
the mentioned restrictions as the housing is hidden and some parts are transparent to allow a view inside.

Fig. 1. Operating mechanism of a high voltage circuit breaker in a virtual interactive learning environment.

So far, manuals and installation instructions as paper mould are delivered with the product. Those documents,
combined with experiences gained during the technician’s work life, form the basic knowledge base in the daily
work process.
As high voltage equipment is sold to the international market it is not always sufficient to use only the
conventional kind of manuals and documentation. Because of different educational levels and the necessity of
multilingual texts the work process may lead to different results in different cultural areas.
Another aspect that needs to be taken into account is the big variety of product types that require much
specialized knowledge from the technicians.
Furthermore those products have an economic life-time of 40 years and more what makes the saving of the very
specialized know how and experiences even more important as it needs to be taken over to the next generation.

2. Qualifications and competencies

The described framework reveals that the demands on service technicians exceed the conventional curriculum of
technical knowledge. Having comprehensive and interdisciplinary expert knowledge on demand is a basic
requirement for task management and needs to be updated continuously. It is additionally necessary to consider
economic, ecological and juristic aspects.
Cooperation in interdisciplinary teams refers to requirements like being able to work in a team and the sense of
responsibility. Because of the special significance of cooperation among different disciplines and hierarchy levels
within the company, the term competence will be explained in more detail as this allows to more precisely focus the
requirements for maintenance processes.
 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214 209

The conference of German cultural ministers has presented guidelines for the development of the curriculum in
vocational schools5.
Following these guidelines, the development of decision making skills and responsibility is the centre of
vocational acting which contains the dimensions professional expertise, human related competence and social
competence. The three competences describe the disposition and ability of each individual to behave in a socially
responsible manner, in professional, social and private situations.
A study for competency development in times of modern communication technologies 6, especially under the
keyword WEB 2.0, describes competency as the “disposition for self-organization” by means of internal
preconditions for controlling tasks.
Self-organized acting is characterized by open problem- and decision making situations.
The relevance of this discussion for the definition of a qualification profile in maintenance processes gets clearer
when the term competence is defined with regard to attributes like skills, ability, knowledge and qualification.
The acquirement of skills is less dependent from talent but more from practicing a task. Skills are directly focused
to the activity, require only little mind-control and are more restricted to stereotypic vocational fields of acting.
Abilities are described as psychological conditions and biographically acquired characteristics that manage the
performing of tasks and actions.
Qualification is described as a defined complex of knowledge, skills and abilities that are necessary for
performing vocational tasks on demand.
With respect to7 Erpenbeck and von Rosenstiel prove the embedding of the competence approach to the field of
self-organization.
The concept of competence is applied:

x with respect to the successful performance of complex tasks that require self-organized acting
x in case the completion of these demands requires cognitive, i.e. functional methodological, motivational
(personal), self-controlled as well as social-communicative components
x in case the degree of complexity of the demands is that high that it can’t be realized with self-organized acting
strategies
x in case learning processes, in particular in terms of informal and implicit learning within working processes, are
an indispensable prerequisite for task completion.

For maintaining high voltage equipment, service technicians need to responsibly judge operating conditions,
measured data and identified errors. Besides the qualified analysis of the situation, the correct consequences have to
be taken, e.g. from error messages and maintenance reports.
Therefore employees need to be able to make decisions on demand. For this responsibly and problem solving
acting it is of high importance to internalize professional values, norms and rules beyond the pure technical expert
knowledge (see Figure 2).
In professional work processes the development of competence is based on the internal reflection of the
technician on the experiences gained during previous tasks.

Fig. 2. From knowledge to competence (following Erpenbeck/Sauter ).

6

From the pre-mentioned facts, consequences for the further education can be deduced.
 210 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214

Acting in professional maintenance processes requires the expert technicians have a suitable qualification and the
competence for the entire and complete managing of the task.
Following Anderson’s ACT*-theory8 the acquisition of work process related and procedural knowledge is, in
addition to declarative knowledge about technical facts, a step by step process, embedded into a real working
situation9.
For the development of a professional training program this yields the necessity of linking all content directly to
the real work processes.

3. Virtual interactive learning environment

3.1. Model of the complete professional action

With the assignment of situation related learning tasks within the training session, complete professional tasks
taken from the corporate practice will be handled.
This comes up to the didactic principle of the complete professional action.
It encourages trainees to act independently and usually contains all phases of a complete work process.
The complete professional action will enable trainees to understand and control complex corporate processes.
First trainees have to collect information about the given task. In the next step they need to plan their work, before
they have to decide on one solution. In phase 4 the chosen solution is performed. In phase 5 the achieved results are
checked. Finally an evaluation of the whole process follows (see Figure 3).
Learning tasks are designed to be practically relevant, complex and to be looked at in their entirety, containing all
phases of a complete professional action and giving trainees room for own decisions.

Fig. 3. Model of the complete professional action.

3.2. The phases of the complete professional action within a virtual interactive learning environment

This section describes how the didactic principle of the complete professional action is applied within a virtual
interactive learning environment.

3.2.1. Inform
During the information phase learners make themselves familiar with the initial situation and the given task.
Therefore they can acquire very different kinds of information within the interactive learning environment. This can
be any kind of document, e.g. manuals or documents, images or 2-D-animations.

Figure 4 shows a checklist that is delivered with the circuit breaker. It is taken from the original manual and
contains information about the work steps of the commissioning procedure of this circuit breaker. In the virtual
learning environment the checklist has been extended by an additional column “information”. Videos and documents
 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214 211

that are already available in the company can be linked here. This allows users to access all relevant information
very comfortably.

Fig. 4. Checklist of the commissioning process.

3.2.2. Plan and Decide

Work planning includes choosing equipment, tools and utilities that are necessary for managing the given task.
The user can choose the items needed and the respective number.
This requires users to grapple with the task and its solution in a very early phase during the working process.
Users need to plan their work in mind and need to think of what they may need.
Tools and equipment that are not chosen in that phase won’t be available in a later phase, e.g. when the task has
to be performed. But users will get the opportunity to re-plan their work and to choose their equipment again.

The planning and decision phases also include the choice of the working steps that are to be performed. Within
the learning environment the user can choose from a set of prepared steps. Those steps include animations, but they
are not named. The user is now asked to choose if the visualized step is essential for the task that is to be solved. For
each chosen step the user has to name the step. This requires finding words for what was shown and for what has to
be done in the performing phase. Following the theory of Galperin 10 talking about the tasks that are to be performed,
supports the learning process.

After the user has chosen a set of working steps he will have to choose the correct order. Therefore the learning
environment offers a drag & drop task. Every chosen step is presented with the given name as one puzzle piece and
with drag & drop an order can be defined.

3.2.3. Perform
During the performing phase the user will interactively execute the work steps he/she identified and sorted before.
For each step the user is shown the description of the work step that was also given in the phase before.
 212 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214

With easy-to-use interactions (e.g. double click on required tool and equipment) the steps can be performed.
Depending on scenario design the user will get feedback to his interactions immediately or later, e.g. in the check- or
evaluate phase.
For the interactions only tools and equipment that was chosen before, is available. That means if a screwdriver
was not chosen it will not be possible to use it for screwing. The learners can then go back and choose the
screwdriver. Depending on the learning mode that is chosen (training, exam …) this failure will be saved for an
evaluation or users can train following the trial & error principal.

3.2.4. Check
The check phase describes the feedback the user receives from the interactive learning environment. This allows
users to make conclusions about their actions.

3.2.5. Evaluate
Finally the user can evaluate his/her performance. Users can determine if the planned work was the best solution
or if it could be improved in terms of time or optimized handling. The interactive learning environment can support
this phase by offering a visualised best-practice solution that can be compared to the user’s solution.

4. Assessment

Assessments are important for providing feedback to the trainees and enabling them to rate their own
performance. Therefore, the training system has options for integrating self-assessment tests.
Such tests are designed by the author of the scenario. Assessment tests distinguish between open and closed
response formats11.
Closed response formats such as multiple choice tests, drag and drop tasks or connection tasks (see Figure 5) are
best suited for use in a computerized systems since the system itself can evaluate them immediately and
automatically. This allows users to specify their learning activities based on their learning progress.
The following response formats have been implemented in the training platform:

x Multiple-choice test. A classic multiple-choice test with at least one correct answer
x Drag and drop task. Pairs that belong together, e.g. components and their names, must be matched by dragging
and dropping.
x Arranging task. A number of items must be arranged to place the work steps in the correct order.

Fig. 5. Response formats used in this system base on Weber .

12
 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214 213

If the interactive learning environment is used in a face-to-face training session it is also very useful to include
open response formats as this increases the user’s competence for developing and phrasing solutions.
The evaluation of open response formats has to be done manually. Therefore this kind of assessment is only of
limited relevance for self-learning environments.

5. Hierarchical task analysis

Manual work processes can be found in several industrial domains. Their support is the goal of the project
ManuVAR13 funded by the European Commission.

Within this project manual processes will be improved by enabling workers to reduce testing times on real
machines that are currently very expensive.

Therefore work processes need to be prepared and tested beforehand. This can shorten times for the
commissioning phase as well as effort in terms of money.

For planning and validating work processes, a hierarchical task analysis tool is developed.
It offers two basic functionalities:

x
Creation of tasks. The user can interactively define work steps via a graphical user interface that is adapted
to the factory workers demands. Each working step can be linked to several information, e.g. animations in
the virtual environment, documents and images;
x creation process results in a list of working steps as it is defined by the planner;
The
x
Task validation. The task validation allows checking and re-organising existing tasks. Based on 3-D-data
the user can check all work steps for collision using a haptic and visual feedback.

The tool’s design is very modular with defined interfaces. This allows exchanging several components, e.g. input
devices and visualisation elements and enables very flexible use in different working environment.

Following the concept of reusing virtual data within the product lifecycle the designed procedures can be used for
product documentation and training.

6. Experiences from industrial use

The virtual interactive learning environments presented in this paper are so far used within the further education
of technical experts for the assembly, commissioning and maintenance of high voltage equipment.

The feedback of the participants was very positive. That is on the one hand due to the easy-to-use user interface
and on the other hand because of increasing motivation of employees when new media is included in the training
programme.

Surveys that were conducted after the training session have shown the learning outcome by means of better
understanding of the functionality and the preparation for assembly processes are considered higher compared to the
use of conventional media like slides.

The training application was used in groups of well-educated experts, at least one having an electro-technical
education.
 214 Tina Haase and Wilhelm Termath / Procedia Computer Science 77 (2015) 207 – 214

7. Conclusions

Future research focuses on improving the interactive training by means of a more efficient way for creating
content that will make it possible to widely use virtual interactive training applications in industry.
Furthermore training tasks need to be extended in a way that it is also possible to improve problem solving
competence that is of high value for maintenance processes.

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Tina Haase graduated from University of Magdeburg in Computational Visualistics in 2005

and is the deputy head of the business unit „Virtual Interactive Training” at the Fraunhofer
Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg. In this connection she
contributed to a great number of research projects and deals with virtual and interactive
learning environments for industrial usage.

Wilhelm Termath has been working as a pedagogue for more than 20 years before he became
the head of the competence center for training and technology, a cooperation between the
university of Magdeburg and the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation
IFF in Magdeburg. Now Mr. Termath is working as a researcher at the chair for vocational
education at the University of Magdeburg. His research interest is the identification, collection
and transfer of experiential knowledge.