Educational Computer-Aided Tools Towards Industry 4.0: Recommendations and BioVL

Industry 4.0 is no longer a distant concept but an ongoing paradigm shift. Thus, it seems essential to prepare future engineers by fine-tuning our current educational approach. For example, advanced modelling, programming, and data analysis are now becoming fundamental skills. Therefore, it is essential to integrate these elements/subjects in the graduate and undergraduate curriculums. For a dynamic and active experience, educational computer-aided tools could be an excellent platform to teach fundamental engineering concepts and other essential tools for digitalization.

In this work, we propose the customization of the current curriculum and introduce those prerequisites for Industry 4.0’s realization through an on-line and open-source educational computer-aided platform/simulator (BioVL). Hence, BioVL is built upon: (i) the identification of learning requirements; (ii) a learning design; and, (iii) a motivation strategy that includes gaming elements and an agile microlearning approach. BioVL (available at www.biovl.com) is in its prototype stage and under continuous development and refinement. Some of the ongoing and future steps include implementing AI-powered adaptive learning so that the students can receive immediate feedback and prevent error propagation.

To conclude, we encourage building on the pillars of a successful transition towards a digitalized industry by upgrading the curriculum and integrating on-line educational computer-aided tools to prepare future engineers to be fluent in data analysis and process modelling.