(36)DIGITAL TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN STUDENTFOCUSEDTEACHING CONCEPT: MAKING IT WORK IN THETECHNOLOGY ORIENTED CONTENT

摘要

The work presented in this paper is based on more than 20 years experiences atUniversity of zilina, Slovakia in the area of engineering education for an effective use oftechnology to diagnose knowledge needs and to determine key competencies in teachingand learning process, especially in the focus of forming engineering technology student’sarchetype. This paper deals with confrontation of past years technology design andproduction sector has changed dramatically and so have employees’ competencies,habits, methods and expectations changed. The Universities faced ever-increasingpressures on market oriented education in digital environment. Our objectives are toprovide students with theoretical, practical and relevant training at all times. Realizing theneed for change, our vision was to create a competencies-oriented study programs thatenabled engineers and managers to cope with the challenges of today’s marketplace andmaximize knowledge based potential, by taking advantage of the latest tools andtechniques available. In 2001 we started research to redesign the MechatronicsCurriculum (based on 1990 Mechatronics Study Program). The redesigned StudyProgram needed to improve the education of Bachelors and Engineers level as well assupport the implementation of the industry strategy. In addition, new employees neededto successfully address the challenges of e-Technology training tools and the currentmarket characteristics. To understand the training requirements, we conducted in-depthresearch with learning content and competencies as a synergy of internal trainingenvironment and external industry environment benchmarking across key competencies,focusing on what: a) competencies of designers need to succeed, b) the role ofmanagement in this process, c) identification of the gaps between what was offered in thepast and the present competencies needed, and d) the envisaged changes the industrywill face. Analysis of the research confirmed that mathematical skills and product designknowledge training were critical (cognitive domain), and computer aid skills wereexcellent (affective domain). Other key research results were the need for standardizationof tools and performance measures across the academic and industry environments. Thearticle describes new methodology for study program design for specific tutors′ andstudents’ competencies to create a performance based team in project-oriented strategy,namely a matrix of the necessary design process steps in relation to product andtechnology objectives, tools and techniques, key measurement criteria and themanagement support needed, thus allowing a simple yet comprehensive, visual,understandable and real-life application. Key milestones, including pilot programs, wereclearly defined, agreed with regional key players. This process ensured on-goingcustomer involvement, quality consistency and helped to minimize any potential risksalong the digital learning content development cycle, methodology and didactics included.The article describes elements in study program life cycle critical to technology basedteaching and training in mechatronics – visual imagery, movement, virtual modelling andsimulation, and the like are completely compromised with the real industry environment.