A Digital Learning Environment Twin Of A Lab On Prototyping To Give Engineering Students Digital Access 24/7

Students do not always enjoy an in-depth practical learning experience with adequate hands-on activities during their academic education. In many fields, traditional laboratories are common learning spaces that are, however, not accessible 24/7 and the students’ task is mostly pre-defined, resulting in a short and very “passive” active learning. To overcome this limitation and to provide a broader availability and to foster individual learning experience, we transformed a lab from this analog world into a digital learning and teaching environment twin. The laboratory on product design with an extensive machine park (3D-printers, CNCcarving machines, laser cutter, hand tools, etc.) is digitized and finally linked with the real-world lab. All student activities arising in the lab are transferred to the digital environment and accessible 24/7. This digitalization is implemented in Moodle incorporating mostly open-source and browser-based software to control the various machines. This results in a digital copy of the lab, its equipment, that follows the underlying product development processes and includes feedback loops and assessment levels for the individual progress of students – the “digital learning environment twin”. In this paper, we illustrate the methodological approach on the established digital learning environment twin of the lab. Furthermore, we detail the transfer of analog manufacturing process to the digital world and their combination to provide a continuous digital workflow. The paper closes with an analysis of feedback (by both students and lecturers) as well as on the usability of the new digital twin.